DAWN+TIMES+THE NEWS+TRIBUTE.

EDITORIALS+OPINIONS.
01-06-2021
Shameful behaviour.
THE brawl in the National Assembly this week is an
unfortunate yet fitting metaphor for the state of political
debate in our country.
During the session, our MNAs, though adult men and
women, behaved no better than unruly children having a
go at each other in the playground because they didn’t
like what the other was saying. Punches were thrown,
budget documents lobbed from the treasury benches to
the opposition and vice versa, and the most unsavoury,
gendered curse words were liberally dispensed. The
principle of decorum and sanctity of parliament was
absent as charged MNAs flailed their arms about and
unleashed aggression.
Scuffles, sloganeering and name-calling are not new
occurrences in the hallowed halls of our parliament. But
during this session — in which opposition members were
expected to make their budget speech — the sergeants-
at-arms were called in to maintain order and protect
lawmakers from each other.
Some observers were quick to point out that, in fact,
these fights are not unique to Pakistan, and are seen
during parliamentary proceedings in other countries too.
None of this, however, is a justification for why our
elected representatives should behave like hooligans, or
why such conduct during Assembly proceedings is
becoming normalised. While MNAs certainly have the
right to register their protest in the Assembly, violent and
aggressive behaviour is unacceptable. It sends a
dangerous message to the voters of the respective
parties. If neither the treasury nor the opposition benefit
from such behaviour, why do we see it continuously
being played out during Assembly sessions? And what
kind of message does this send to the outside world
about the state of Pakistan’s democracy?

Read: Sparring in parliament

Our lawmakers individually and collectively must do
better. Both sides have some serious thinking to do when
it comes to communication, as these episodes only
undermine the public’s trust in institutions. And as the
ruling party at the centre, it is, unequivocally, the PTI’s
responsibility to set the tone for civilised debate in the
Assembly. Its own speaker is utterly powerless when
chaos ensues. Challenging government actions is the
work of the opposition, and its criticism can, if the
government wishes, result in a robust debate. Here, the
opposition, too, must be mindful that its criticism does
not veer towards personal attacks and insults.
Of late, the ruling party has repeatedly questioned why
the opposition should be allowed to speak if it does not
let the prime minister speak in the Assembly — an
attitude that reflects high-handedness and creates the
impression that, to the government, parliamentary
debate is irrelevant. Both sides must restrain volatile
elements in their parties. They should allow saner voices
to engage on the issue of debate and create space for
opinions to be aired and heard. The energy spent on
shouting matches can be put to far better use, given the
serious challenges that face our country.
 ‫‪TRANSLATION.‬‬
‫شرمناک سلوک۔‬
‫اس ہفتے قومی اسمبلی میں ہونے والی جھگڑا ہمارے ملک میں سیاسی‬
‫بحث و مباحثے کے لئے ایک بدقسمتی اور موزوں استعارہ ہے۔‬
‫سیشن کے دوران ‪ ،‬ہمارے ایم این اے ‪ ،‬اگرچہ بالغ مرد اور خواتین ‪،‬‬
‫کھیل کے میدان میں ایک دوسرے کے ساتھ جانے والے بدصورت‬
‫بچوں سے بہتر سلوک نہیں کرتے تھے کیونکہ وہ پسند نہیں کرتے‬
‫تھے کہ دوسرا کیا کہتا ہے۔ مکاریوں کو پھینک دیا گیا ‪ ،‬بجٹ کے‬
‫دستاویزات کو خزانے کے بنچوں سے حزب اختالف اور اس کے‬
‫برعکس البڈ کر دیا گیا ‪ ،‬اور انتہائی ناگوار ‪ ،‬صنفی الفاظ میں آزادانہ‬
‫طور پر منتقلی کی گئی۔ پارلیمنٹ کی سجاوٹ اور حرمت کا اصول‬
‫غائب تھا جب چارج شدہ ایم این اے نے ان کے ہتھیاروں کو بھڑکایا‬
‫اور جارحیت کو ختم کیا۔‬
‫ہماری پارلیمنٹ کے مقدس ہالوں میں ہنسانے ‪ ،‬نعرے بازی اور نام دینا‬
‫کوئی نئی بات نہیں ہے۔ لیکن اس سیشن کے دوران – جس میں حزب‬
‫اختالف کے ممبروں سے توقع کی جاتی تھی کہ وہ بجٹ تقریر کریں –‬
‫سارجنٹس کو اسلحہ طلب کیا گیا تاکہ وہ نظم و ضبط کو برقرار رکھیں‬
‫اور قانون سازوں کو ایک دوسرے سے بچائیں۔‬
‫کچھ مبصرین یہ بتانے میں جلدی سے تھے کہ در حقیقت ‪ ،‬یہ لڑائیاں‬
‫پاکستان کے لئے مخصوص نہیں ہیں ‪ ،‬اور دوسرے ممالک میں بھی‬
‫پارلیمانی کارروائی کے دوران دیکھنے میں آتی ہیں۔ تاہم ‪ ،‬اس میں‬
‫سے کوئی بھی جواز نہیں ہے کہ ہمارے منتخب نمائندوں کو غنڈوں کی‬
‫طرح برتاؤ کیوں کرنا چاہئے ‪ ،‬یا اسمبلی کارروائی کے دوران اس‬
‫طرح کے طرز عمل کو معمول بننے کی وجہ سے ہی کیا جاسکتا ہے۔‬
‫اگرچہ ایم این اے کو یقینی طور پر اسمبلی میں اپنا احتجاج درج‬
‫کروانے کا حق ہے ‪ ،‬لیکن پرتشدد اور جارحانہ سلوک ناقابل قبول ہے۔‬
‫یہ متعلقہ فریقوں کے ووٹرز کو ایک خطرناک پیغام بھیجتا ہے۔ اگر‬
‫اس طرز عمل سے نہ تو خزانے اور نہ ہی حزب اختالف کو فائدہ ہوتا‬
‫ہے ‪ ،‬تو ہم کیوں دیکھتے ہیں کہ اسمبلی اجالسوں میں اسے مستقل طور‬
‫پر بجھایا جاتا ہے۔ اور یہ بیرونی دنیا کو پاکستان کی جمہوریت کے‬
‫بارے میں کس طرح کا پیغام بھیجتا ہے؟‬

‫پڑھیں‪ :‬پارلیمنٹ میں جھگڑا‬

‫ہمارے قانون سازوں کو انفرادی اور اجتماعی طور پر بہتر سے بہتر‬
‫کام کرنا چاہئے۔ جب بات چیت کی بات ہو تو دونوں فریقوں کو کچھ‬
‫سنجیدگی سے سوچنا پڑتا ہے ‪ ،‬کیونکہ ان اقساط میں عوام کا اداروں پر‬
‫اعتماد کو ہی نقصان ہوتا ہے۔ اور مرکز میں حکمراں جماعت کی‬
‫حیثیت سے ‪ ،‬یہ واضح طور پر ‪ ،‬پی ٹی آئی کی ذمہ داری ہے کہ وہ‬
‫اسمبلی میں تہذیب پر مبنی بحث کے ل‪ .‬پیش کرے۔ جب اس میں انتشار‬
‫پھیلتا ہے تو اس کا اپنا اسپیکر بالکل بے اختیار ہوتا ہے۔ حکومتی‬
‫اقدامات کو چیلنج کرنا اپوزیشن کا کام ہے ‪ ،‬اور اگر حکومت چاہے تو‬
‫اس کی تنقید ایک مضبوط بحث کا نتیجہ بن سکتی ہے۔ یہاں ‪ ،‬اپوزیشن‬
‫کو بھی ‪ ،‬دھیان رکھنا چاہئے کہ اس کی تنقید ذاتی حملوں اور توہین‬
‫آمیز حرکتوں کی طرف راغب نہیں ہے۔‬
‫دیر سے ‪ ،‬حکمران جماعت نے بار بار یہ سوال اٹھایا ہے کہ اگر‬
‫اسمبلی میں وزیر اعظم کو تقریر نہیں کرنے دیتی ہے تو اپوزیشن کو‬
‫بولنے کی اجازت کیوں دی جانی چاہئے۔ یہ رویہ جو حکومت کے‬
‫سامنے پارلیمانی بحث ہے۔ غیر متعلقہ دونوں فریقوں کو اپنی پارٹیوں‬
‫میں غیر مستحکم عناصر کو روکنا ہوگا۔ انہیں سنیئر کی آواز کو‬
‫مباحثے کے معاملے پر مشغول ہونے اور رائے عامہ کرنے اور سننے‬
‫کی جگہ پیدا کرنے کی اجازت دینی چاہئے۔ ہمارے ملک کو درپیش‬
‫سنگین چیلنجوں کے پیش نظر چیچنے والے میچوں پر خرچ کی جانے‬
‫والی توانائی کو بہتر استعمال میں الیا جاسکتا ہے۔‬
………………………………………………………………………..

Sindh budget.
A CURSORY reading of the Sindh budget 2021-22
reinforces the impression that Chief Minister Murad Ali
Shah’s government has got its development preferences
right. Health, education, agriculture, irrigation, labour,
small and medium enterprises, women development and
social protection for the poor are the main areas the PPP
government appears to be focusing on through enhanced
allocations in the budget. Yet the document also cements
the perception that the party needs to work hard to
improve its capacity and competence to execute the
development interventions it proposes in the budget,
instead of hiding behind the pretext of resource
constraints because of the shortfall from federal
transfers. Instead of competing with an uncooperative
centre to prove its credentials as a more pro-people
administration through higher allocations, it is better to
work on building its capacity to use whatever funds it can
get to execute schemes for improving public service
delivery in the province. There is no doubt that the
uncertainties caused by Covid-19 during the current fiscal
year and the lower-than-targeted federal and provincial
revenue collection must have affected spending priorities
and decelerated work on the projects announced. But
that does not justify the Sindh government’s inability to
fully utilise whatever money it had in its coffers. It is
especially scandalous because the socioeconomic
infrastructure in the country’s largest city and business
hub, Karachi, is collapsing with every passing minute.
The Rs1,477.9bn provincial budget based mainly on
expectations of increased federal transfers of Rs869.7bn,
higher provincial tax revenues of Rs304.9bn and
enhanced foreign project assistance of over Rs71.5bn is
largely an extension of the priorities the government had
set for the outgoing fiscal year. Allocations for health,
education, irrigation, agriculture and other priority areas
have been raised significantly. The government has
further proposed a considerably large sum of Rs30.9bn
for its pro-poor social protection and economic
sustainability programme and decided to invest in
automation of tax payments to create ease for taxpayers
and boost collection. Women, special children and IT-
based start-ups will also get a small share from the
provincial resources. The decision to raise the minimum
wage to Rs25000 a month and the pay of provincial
employees by 20pc need to be appreciated. In short, Mr
Shah’s spending priorities are commendable. But the
question is: will he be able to deliver on his promises to
the people? Doubts remain. Especially because Sindh is
perceived to be controlled from somewhere other than
the chief minister’s office.
………………………………………………………………………..

TRANSLATION.
‫سندھ کا بجٹ۔‬
‫ کے ایک نصابی مطالعہ سے اس تاثر کو‬22-2021 ‫سندھ کے بجٹ‬
‫تقویت ملتی ہے کہ وزیر اعلی مراد علی شاہ کی حکومت کو ترقیاتی‬
‫ مزدور‬، ‫ آبپاشی‬، ‫ زراعت‬، ‫ تعلیم‬، ‫ترجیحات کا حق مل گیا ہے۔ صحت‬
‫ خواتین کی‬، ‫ چھوٹے اور درمیانے درجے کے کاروباری اداروں‬،
‫ترقی اور غریبوں کے لئے معاشرتی تحفظ وہ اہم شعبے ہیں جن میں پی‬
‫پی پی کی حکومت بجٹ میں بڑھے ہوئے مختص کے ذریعے توجہ‬
‫مرکوز کرتی نظر آتی ہے۔ پھر بھی دستاویز اس تاثر کو بھی واضح‬
‫کرتی ہے کہ وفاقی منتقلی میں کمی کی وجہ سے وسائل کی رکاوٹوں‬
‫کے بہانے کو چھپانے کے بجائے بجٹ میں تجویز کردہ ترقیاتی‬
‫مداخلت کو عملی جامہ پہنانے کے لئے پارٹی کو اپنی صالحیت اور‬
‫قابلیت کو بہتر بنانے کے لئے سخت محنت کرنے کی ضرورت ہے۔‬
‫زیادہ مختص کے ذریعہ زیادہ سے زیادہ عوامی حمایتی انتظامیہ کی‬
‫حیثیت سے اپنی اسناد کو ثابت کرنے کے لئے کسی کوآپریٹو سینٹر‬
‫سے مسابقت کرنے کی بجائے ‪ ،‬بہتر ہے کہ وہ صوبے میں عوامی‬
‫خدمت کی فراہمی کو بہتر بنانے کے لئے اسکیموں پر عملدرآمد کرنے‬
‫کے لئے جو بھی فنڈز حاصل کرسکیں اسے استعمال کرنے کے لئے‬
‫اپنی صالحیتوں کو بڑھانے پر کام کریں۔ اس میں کوئی شک نہیں ہے‬
‫کہ رواں مالی سال کے دوران کوویڈ ۔‪ 19‬کی وجہ سے پیدا ہونے والی‬
‫غیر یقینی صورتحال اور مطلوبہ منصوبوں پر کم ترجیحی وفاقی اور‬
‫صوبائی محصول کی وصولی کو اخراجات کی ترجیحات اور سست‬
‫کاموں پر اثر انداز ہونا پڑے گا۔ لیکن اس سے سندھ حکومت کی اس‬
‫قابلیت میں جو بھی رقم تھی اس کو پوری طرح سے استعمال کرنے‬
‫م یں ناکامی کا جواز نہیں ملتا۔ یہ خاص طور پر مضحکہ خیز ہے‬
‫کیونکہ ملک کے سب سے بڑے شہر اور کاروباری مرکز کراچی کا‬
‫معاشرتی اقتصادی ڈھانچہ ہر گزرتے لمحے کے ساتھ گر رہا ہے۔‬
‫‪ 1،477.9‬بلین روپے کا صوبائی بجٹ بنیادی طور پر ‪ 8697‬ارب‬
‫روپے کی وفاقی منتقلی ‪ 304.9 ،‬بلین روپے کے اعلی صوبائی ٹیکس‬
‫روپے سے زائد کے غیر ملکی ‪bn‬محصوالت کی توقعات اور ‪71.5‬‬
‫منصوبے کی امداد کی توقعات پر مبنی ہے جو بڑی حد تک حکومت‬
‫کی ترجیحات میں ایک توسیع ہے۔ سبکدوش ہونے واال مالی سال۔‬
‫صحت ‪ ،‬تعلیم ‪ ،‬آبپاشی ‪ ،‬زراعت اور دیگر ترجیحی عالقوں کے لئے‬
‫مخ تص رقم میں نمایاں اضافہ کیا گیا ہے۔ حکومت نے اس کے ناقص‬
‫معاشرتی تحفظ اور معاشی استحکام کے پروگرام کے لئے ‪ 30.9‬بلین‬
‫روپے کی کافی بڑی رقم کی تجویز پیش کی ہے اور ٹیکس دہندگان کو‬
‫آسانی پیدا کرنے اور وصولی کو فروغ دینے کے لئے ٹیکس ادائیگیوں‬
‫کی خود کاری میں سرمایہ کاری کرنے کا فیصلہ کیا ہے۔ خواتین ‪،‬‬
‫خصوصی بچوں اور آئی ٹی پر مبنی اسٹارٹ اپ کو بھی صوبائی‬
‫وسائل سے تھوڑا سا حصہ ملے گا۔ کم سے کم اجرت ‪ 25000‬روپے‬
‫ماہانہ کرنے کے فیصلے اور صوبائی مالزمین کی تنخواہ میں ‪ 20‬پی‬
‫سی کی تعریف کرنے کی ضرورت ہے۔ مختصر یہ کہ مسٹر شاہ کی‬
‫اخراجات کی ترجیحات قابل تحسین ہیں۔ لیکن سوال یہ ہے کہ کیا وہ‬
‫لوگوں سے اپنے وعدے پورے کر سکے گا؟ شکوک و شبہات باقی‬
‫اعلی کے‬
‫ٰ‬ ‫ہیں۔ خاص طور پر اس لئے کہ سمجھا جاتا ہے کہ وزیر‬
‫عہدے کے عالوہ کہیں اور سے بھی سندھ پر قابو پایا جاتا ہے۔‬
‫‪………………………………………………………………………..‬‬

‫‪West on China.‬‬
‫‪IN what seems like a distinct return to Cold War rhetoric,‬‬
‫‪the Western bloc has issued back-to-back statements‬‬
‫‪targeting China from the platform of the Group of Seven‬‬
‫‪and Nato. Beijing, meanwhile, has replied to the West in‬‬
‫‪the same coin. G7 leaders meeting in the UK lambasted‬‬
‫‪the People’s Republic for what they termed excesses in‬‬
‫‪Xinjiang and Hong Kong, while calling for “peace and‬‬
‫‪stability” across the Taiwan Strait. Beijing is particularly‬‬
‫‪sensitive about all three areas and considers criticism in‬‬
these issues as meddling in its internal affairs. The G7
also called for a new investigation into Covid-19’s origins.
Meanwhile, at the Nato summit in Belgium, the military
grouping seemed even more direct when it criticised
China’s martial activities. Though the Nato secretary
general said he did not want a new cold war with China,
the summit communiqué stated that Beijing poses
“systematic challenges to the rules-based international
order and to … Alliance security”. On the other hand,
China has termed the G7 statement “baseless
accusations” while Nato’s concerns were akin to
“slandering China’s peaceful development”.
Of course, there are genuine concerns about reported
human rights abuses in Xinjiang, targeting the Uighur
Muslim community, as well as crackdowns against pro-
democracy activists in Hong Kong. But the problem with
groupings like the G7 and Nato is that they choose to
pillory geopolitical rivals, while keeping silent about
friends and partners. For example, Israel’s frequent
butchery of defenceless Palestinian civilians, as well the
authoritarian tendencies of several Middle Eastern kings
and potentates escape censure by the Western bloc,
simply because these actors are allied with the West. If
respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are
‫— ‪the cornerstones of foreign policy — as they should be‬‬
‫‪then friends and foes must be treated the same on these‬‬
‫‪counts. Moreover, increasing confrontational rhetoric‬‬
‫‪against states like China and Russia is dangerous and‬‬
‫‪risks igniting renewed conflict. The world order needs‬‬
‫‪stability and mutual respect, not more confrontation and‬‬
‫‪sabre-rattling.‬‬

‫‪TRANSLATION.‬‬
‫چین پر مغرب‬
‫سرد جنگ کے بیانات میں ایک الگ واپسی کی طرح لگتا ہے ‪ ،‬مغربی‬
‫بالک نے گروپ آف سیون اور نیٹو کے پلیٹ فارم سے چین کو نشانہ‬
‫بناتے ہوئے ایک دوسرے کے سامنے بیانات جاری کیے ہیں۔ اس‬
‫دوران بیجنگ نے اسی سکے میں مغرب کو جواب دیا ہے۔ برطانیہ‬
‫میں جی ‪ 7‬رہنماؤں کے اجالس نے تائیوان کے آبنائے پار "امن و‬
‫استحکام" کا مطالبہ کرتے ہوئے سنکیانگ اور ہانگ کانگ میں ہونے‬
‫والی زیادتیوں کو اپنے جمہوریہ کی عوام پر تنقید کا نشانہ بنایا۔ بیجنگ‬
‫ان تینوں شعبوں کے بارے میں خاص طور پر حساس ہے اور ان امور‬
‫میں تنقید کو اپنے اندرونی معامالت میں مداخلت قرار دیتا ہے۔ جی ‪7‬‬
‫نے کوویڈ ‪ 19‬کے اصل کی نئی تحقیقات کا مطالبہ بھی کیا۔ ادھر ‪،‬‬
‫بیلجیئم میں نیٹو کے سربراہی اجالس میں ‪ ،‬چین کی مارشل سرگرمیوں‬
‫پر تنقید کرنے پر فوجی گروہ بندی اور بھی سیدھی سی معلوم ہوتی‬
‫تھی۔ اگرچہ نیٹو کے سکریٹری جنرل نے کہا کہ وہ چین کے ساتھ نئی‬
‫سرد جنگ نہیں چاہتے ‪ ،‬اس سربراہی اجالس میں کہا گیا ہے کہ بیجنگ‬
‫"قواعد پر مبنی بین االقوامی آرڈر اور ‪ ...‬اتحاد کی سالمتی کو منظم‬
‫چیلنجوں کا سامنا کرتا ہے۔" دوسری طرف ‪ ،‬چین نے جی ‪ 7‬کے بیان‬
‫کو "بے بنیاد الزامات" قرار دیا ہے جبکہ نیٹو کے خدشات "چین کی‬
‫پرامن ترقی کو بدنام کرنے" کے مترادف تھے۔‬
‫یقینا ‪ ،‬سنکیانگ میں انسانی حقوق کی اطالع دہندگان کے بارے میں‬
‫حقیقی خدشات ہیں ‪ ،‬جس نے ایغور مسلم برادری کو نشانہ بنایا ہے ‪،‬‬
‫اور ساتھ ہی ہانگ کانگ میں جمہوریت کے حامی کارکنوں کے خالف‬
‫کریک ڈاؤن جاری ہے۔ لیکن جی ‪ 7‬اور ناتو جیسے گروہ بندی میں‬
‫مسئلہ یہ ہے کہ وہ جیو پولیٹیکل حریفوں کو تکمیل کا انتخاب کرتے ہیں‬
‫‪ ،‬جبکہ دوست اور شراکت داروں کے بارے میں خاموش رہتے ہیں۔‬
‫مثال کے طور پر ‪ ،‬اسرائیل کا بے دفاع فلسطینی شہریوں کا اکثر‬
‫قصاص ‪ ،‬نیز مشرق وسطی کے متعدد بادشاہوں اور طاقت ور افراد‬
‫کے آمرانہ رجحانات مغربی بالک کے ذریعہ مردم شماری سے بچ‬
‫جاتے ہیں ‪ ،‬صرف اس وجہ سے کہ ان اداکاروں کا مغرب سے اتحاد‬
‫ہے۔ اگر انسانی حقوق اور بنیادی آزادیوں کا احترام خارجہ پالیسی کی‬
‫اساس ہیں – جیسا کہ انہیں ہونا چاہئے – تو دوست اور دشمنوں کو بھی‬
‫ان معامالت پر ایک جیسا سلوک کرنا چاہئے۔ مزید یہ کہ چین اور‬
‫روس جیسی ریاستوں کے خالف محاذ آرائی کا بیان بڑھانا خطرناک‬
‫ہے اور اس سے تنازعات کو نئی شکل دی جا سکتی ہے۔ عالمی نظم و‬
‫ضبط کو استحکام اور باہمی احترام کی ضرورت ہے ‪ ،‬زیادہ محاذ‬
‫آرائی اور ہنگامہ آرائی کی نہیں۔‬
‫‪………………………………………………………………………..‬‬
Providing this material at hourly,, daily,,
weekly,,monthly,, basis….!!
1. News papers and editorials.
i. Dawn Editorials.
ii. Tribune Editorials.
iii. The Nation.
iv. Pak Observer.
v. Express Newspaper.
vi. Daily Times.
vii. New york times or wall street journal.
viii. ‫اج کے کالم‬
2 ..Magazines.
i. The Economist.
ii. World Times.
iii. Iii.neerpear Magazine.
iv.global age.
iv. Foreign Affairs.
vi. Css Times.
3..TV News.
i. hourly news any Pakistani news channel.
ii. Aljazeera News at daily Basis.
iii. RT or TRT news at daily basis.
4..Daily videos.
i. Qasim Ali Shah mitivational Videos.
ii. Dawn news editorial or opinion with short summary.
iii. Informative videos.
iv. Videos on CSS..PMS..NTS math Questions with
solution and explanation..(not on daily basis).
5..Book.
i. CSS BOOKS. (Those books that I have in my cell memory
not all css books).
ii. CSS NOTES.
Iii GK books.
iv. Historic Books.
v. Grammar Books.
vi. Upto date study material.
Information for all competitive exams.
And other material according to css and pms exams.
Rules.
i. Monthly Fee for all of it is Rs.100 you can send me
through easy paisa on my easy paisa account no.
03457898350
ii. I’ll send those books or other material which are
mentioned above and I have in my cell memory
not all types of materials.
iv. On any type of disturbance you’ll be removed form
group and you are not allowed to send this material in
your groups.
v. After sending the fee, send me screenshot on my
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With your full name and city name.
vii. Those aspirants who send fee through easy paisa
wiil be added in new groups.
………………………………………………………………………..
 OPINIONS.
Creating a lasting legacy of collaboration
across South Asia. (DAWN)
Mushfiq Mobarak
IN February 2021, Covid-19 numbers started rising again
in South Asia with official daily case counts rising beyond
400,000 in India, 6,000 in Pakistan and 7,500 in
Bangladesh, straining health systems. The massive surge
in India soon spilled over across the border into Nepal,
leading to ‘apocalyptic’ scenes of overwhelmed hospitals.
The deadly surge in 2021 makes a regionally coordinated,
evidence-driven strategy even more critical. If we are to
move at the speed of the virus, it is necessary to
construct multi-stakeholder regional coalitions to devise
new solutions and frugal innovations that can be applied
across South Asia. Is that possible, given the troubled
history South Asian countries share? Today we write a
positive, hopeful story about a new consortium we are
involved in, with core team members from India,
Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh jointly developing Covid-
prevention strategies. The emerging consortium provides
an example of how neighbours can work together for
mutual benefit, despite political differences.
Every country in South Asia has struggled to ensure
consistent mask-wearing to stem the spread of Covid.
Beliefs, priorities, traditions and aversions to behaviour
change are more similar across South Asia than we care
to admit. These commonalities mean that interventions
that are successful in changing behaviour in one place
are highly likely applicable in other parts of the
subcontinent. We have experienced this with the
Grameen Bank microcredit model which was an
indigenous South Asian innovation that spread rapidly.
India’s digitised social protection ecosystem with Aadhar
IDs and Jan Dhan accounts serves as a model (albeit with
cautionary notes) for other countries in the region. E-
governance programmes in Pakistan, like eVaccs and
Citizen Feedback Model have been replicated and
provide strong models ready to be deployed regionally
and globally.
The new pan-South Asian consortium in response to
Covid-19 evolved out of an experiment conducted in
Bangladesh, that successfully changes social norms
around mask-wearing in rural communities. The four-
part NORM intervention was originally examined in a
cohort of 350,000 individuals across 600 villages. A
combination of free mask distribution, information,
reinforcement in public spaces, and role modelling by
community leaders led to large, sustained increases in
mask usage that persisted beyond the period of active
intervention. BRAC is implementing the model to reach
81 million people across Bangladesh.
Partnerships are necessary to beat the virus.
The team is now partnering with several organisations
across Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh to start
adapting the model to fit each country’s context, and set
up partnerships to pilot, implement, tinker and learn. The
Self Employed Women’s Association quickly
implemented the model to reach over 1m members in
Gujarat. An additional 1.5m masks were shipped from
Bangladesh to support SEWA’s outreach to other states.
Lahore’s commissioner worked with our research team
to adapt the NORM model to an urban setting, and
devised new creative ideas to improve effectiveness. For
example, they have prepared to deliver masks at
doorsteps using Pakistan’s postal service, and are
targeting beneficiaries on the basis of billing information
from utility companies. Philanthropists and private
corporations are sponsoring the masks. We are re-
importing some of these innovations back to Dhaka,
inspiring further scale-ups in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi
and Kathmandu.
Effective mask promotion requires visits to thousands of
remote villages, and those same visits can be used to
prepare for more effective community-based healthcare
responses. To that end, a host of physicians, scientists
and community-based organisations created the Swasth
Community Science Alliance, committing to pragmatic,
science-based protocols to manage mild and moderate
cases of Covid-19 in rural India, where institutional
healthcare access is limited.
NORM implementation teams based in Lahore,
Ahmedabad, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Dhaka, Kathmandu
and Delhi are learning from each other’s successes and
failures. The process usually starts with the the original
research team sharing evidence-based insights with
implementing agencies, as the implementers adapt the
design, co-create localised implementation protocols,
and are threaded together in a collaborative
environment across countries where each implementing
team iterates while learning from others’ prior iterations,
and all our sub-teams are connected in an active learning
system that allows us to course-correct in real time. This
coalition is poised to change mask-wearing norms
amongst hundreds of millions of people across all of
South Asia.
The Covid-19 crisis has increased policymakers’ appetite
for evidence-informed policy measures that can be
quickly implemented to stem transmission. This drive for
quick action has created some unprecedented
opportunities for enhanced cross-country collaborations
that are normally hampered by politics and mistrust. We
hope that the consortium that first formed around mask-
promotion, and now around science-based treatment
approaches, and that developed quickly and organically
without regard to national boundaries, can serve as a
model for a broader and deeper collaborative ecosystem
that endures. We need to come together to solve
problems that affect us all. Let the lasting legacy of this
pandemic be a new era of partnership in social
innovations that can benefit all South Asians.
Mushfiq Mobarak is professor of economics, Yale
University, and director of the Yale Research Initiative on
Innovation and Scale.
………………………………………………………………………..

Existential questions for

Palestinians. (TIMES)
Dr Saulat Nagi.
Devastated, destroyed, disillusioned, and desolated by
Zion-imperialism, the Palestinians are once again
standing at the crossroads of history. Stranded in the
political wilderness, ditched by the Arabs, forgotten by
the ‘civilised’ West — the Palestinians need to reflect on
the effectiveness of the arrows in their own armoury,
which, unfortunately, are few and far between.
The barbaric cycle of Israeli violence, especially the most
recent, has brought several simmering issues to the fore.
The question of what is to be done, which haunted Lenin,
has come back to haunt them. Keeping in view the
reactionary docility of the Palestinian ruling class —
comprising the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation)
and Hamas — this is the time for the younger generation
to introspect.
Like any other bourgeoisie, the PA (Palestinian Authority)
— which is viewed by British historian and activist Tariq
Ali as little more than a joint Israeli-US co-production —
is not only incompetent but also corrupt to the core.
Having no independent authority in the West Bank, it has
become nothing more than the gatekeeper of Zionism.
The clairvoyance of Palestinian-American intellectual
Edward Said and Palestinian poet and author Mahmoud
Darwish had foreseen everything. They condemned the
Oslo Accords as the Treaty of Versailles for Palestine;
that is, a meek capitulation to western imperialism that
had deferred, if not denied, the possibility of Palestinian
liberation.
Ironically, Hamas — a Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim-
Brotherhood — was originally wooed by Israel when it
went by the name of Mujama al-Islamiya. Then, under
the leadership of Sheikh Yassin, it was enabled in order
to counter the secular PLO, dominated by Yasser Arafat’s
Fatah party. Indeed, Hamas today claims to speak for the
majority of the Palestinians. But being a political
spokesperson and being the political representative of
the people and safeguarding their socio-economic
interests are two distinct things. Despite donning a
different hat to the PLO — Hamas’ economic outlook is
identical to that of its adversary.
Ironically, Hamas was originally wooed by Israel when it
went by the name of Mujama al-Islamiya. Then, under
the leadership of Sheikh Yassin, it was enabled in order
to counter the secular PLO, dominated by Yasser Arafat’s
Fatah party
In the aftermath of the First World War, the Wafd
organised itself into a nationalist political party in Egypt
and contested and won general elections in 1924; while
calling for internal autonomy, constitutional government
liming the powers of the monarchy, civilian rights and
Egyptian control of both Sudan an the Suez Canal.
Naturally, this bold anti-imperialist stance did not go
down well with the British, the monarchy and the
feudals. They responded by dismissing the Wafdist
government and installed Ismail Sidky; an authoritarian
but a loyal premier. Writing in Socialist magazine The
Monthly Review back in 2011, the Egyptian-French
political scientist Samir Amin explains: “It was not by
chance that, to counter this [anti-imperialist] threat, the
British Embassy and the Royal Palace actively supported
the formation in 1927 of the Muslim Brotherhood,
inspired by ‘Islamist’ thought in its most backward
‘Salafist’ version of Wahhabism as formulated by Rachid
Reda—the most reactionary version, antidemocratic and
against social progress, of the newborn ‘political Islam’.”
In 1936, the Wafd staged a comeback and with the entry
of the Communist Party and student movements in the
political arena, the simmering anti-imperialist struggle
blossomed in 1946. Once again, the Brotherhood came
to the rescue of the British. Wafd was shown the door
again and the Sidky experiment was tried once more but
the revolutionary tide was too strong to be stemmed.
The 1950 elections brought the Wafd to power for the
third time and it immediately revoked the Anglo-Egypt
treaty and started a guerrilla movement to liberate the
Suez Canal from British control. The effort was stymied
by burning the city of Cairo with the Brotherhood cast in
the role of accomplice.
Formed by Hassan-al-Banna in 1928, the Muslim
Brotherhood remains a conservative organisation which
aims to spread political Islam through charity. While
firmly believing in the property structure — it opposes
western cultural influence, gender equality, and
secularism and follows the Gramscian doctrine of
creating hegemony through consent, winning hearts and
minds through a passive revolution by offering material
help to the downtrodden. Historically, the other
movements of a similar kind are India’s RSS (1925),
Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami , JI (1941), and Turkey’s Justice
and Development Party (1983). JI founder Abul A’la
Maududi idealised Hitler and Mussolini and one of his
followers, Sayyid Qutb of the Brotherhood – who
conspired against Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser
and was hanged – is still known as ‘father of Salafi
Jihadism’’.
Political Islam manifests the depoliticisation of the
Muslims by their states. Dominated by dictators,
religious parties insinuated among the masses through
charity. In the absence of Communist parties — banned
by totalitarian regimes as antagonists to socialism — the
religious parties backed by the ruling classes and the
West find an open field to garner support among the
people. The structure of the Brotherhood is hierarchal
and undemocratic. Subservience to God and the leader
are considered divine law.
Once Nasser departed from the political scene, the
deviation to the neo-liberal economic order under Anwar
Sadat and later Hosni Mubarak excelled. Before yielding
to Israeli-US hegemony, Sadat, needing the support of
the religious right, integrated Brotherhood into the
power structure. The latter was given control of
education, the courts, and the media. As Samir Amin puts
it, the “sole permitted public speech was that of the
Salafist mosques, allowing the Islamists to boot, to
pretend to make up the opposition’’. The phenomenon
was repeated in Pakistan where the Zia regime doled out
power to the Jamaat and the US, siding with the
arrangement, helped destroy the capability of the people
of Egypt and Pakistan to confront the challenges of the
modern scientific world. All of which underscores that
religious organisations can only grab power with state-
backed manipulation. History repeated itself in post-
Mubarak elections when Mohamed Morsi, during the
second round, became the joint candidate of Egypt’s
military, bourgeoisie, and Islamists.
The Brotherhood in Egypt under Morsi fully cooperated
with Israel. It destroyed tunnels leading to Gaza that
provided the economic lifeline to the people there.
Hamas, on the other hand, refuses to recognise Israel.
This is a contradiction that cannot be bridged unless one
understands the logic of Hamas’ existence. The
Palestinians living in occupied Jerusalem, mostly without
citizenry rights, are ruled by the Zionist state of Israel.
And, as such, suffer direct oppression compared to those
living in the West Bank and Gaza. When the eviction of
those living in Sheikh Jarrah began, local residents
protested peacefully and when this gained momentum,
Hamas launched rocket attacks knowing full well that a
disproportionate Israeli response would ensue; where
Netanyahu was floundering in hot water both electorally
and legally.
The barbaric response caused carnage. The
indiscriminate slaughter of the people of Gaza continued
for eleven days and once the destructive instinct of
western imperialism — that wanted to teach innocent
Palestinians a lesson — was gratified, only then did the
ceasefire come into effect. What was the point of
launching an attack on Israel? Zvi Ber’el, writing in the
Israeli daily, Haaretz, back in May of this year, explains
that Hamas remains an Israeli asset, in much the same
way that Hezbollah is for Iran. Hamas’ existence,
therefore, “guarantees that Israel won’t be dragged into
a renewed occupation of Gaza. This saves the costs of
day-to-day management, the direct responsibility for
providing public services, and especially, it halts any plan
for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories as part of a
peace agreement, if Hamas adheres to its principles of
nonrecognition of Israel and an armed struggle against
it”.
If Zvi Ber’el is right, the only alternative for the younger
generation of Palestinians is to reject the ruling class and
lead itself, marching alongside the people of the world,
towards fullest emancipation.
………………………………………………………………………..

The pro-Pakistan budget.

(THE NEWS)
Kamila Hyat.
The budget announced for FY 2021-22 by the PTI
government has been widely welcomed in some circles
as a budget designed for Pakistan, and geared at helping
its people.
The decision to avoid any major increase in indirect
taxation, in taxation on salaried persons, the increase in
the minimum wage putting it now at Rs20,000 and the
relief offered under the Ehsaas programme as well as a
focus on developing agriculture and infrastructure have
been cited as some of the reasons for this.
This is all of course relevant and encouraging. But we
need to ask a few questions. If Pakistan is to progress,
the only way to achieve this is by educating its people.
The lack of education is a factor in the large-scale
unemployment we continue to see. It is also a factor in
the belief in the fake news stories that go around from
time to time, even in the unwillingness of other countries
to invest in Pakistan given the untrained, illiterate labour
force compared to countries like Malaysia or even
Bangladesh which can offer an educated but still cheap
set of workers and a situation which handicaps people
from seeking out opportunity and making progress in life.
The poor quality of primary and secondary education,
both at government schools and many private schools, is
a factor in this. It also impacts people deciding to keep
children away from school, with our dropout rate after
primary level still ranked at almost 50 percent, amongst
the highest in the world. Corporal punishment, teacher
absenteeism, poor teaching standards and other factors
have led NGOs to note a situation where children in
grade five are unable to read even a single sentence in
either English or Urdu unless they have learnt it by rote,
or to carry out simple addition problems and other
mathematical tasks.
This should compel the government to spend more on
education, and on education at the grassroots level
rather than the higher education level. While the
education budget for this year has been marginally
increased to Rs91 billion, a distinct rise from the number
over the previous few years, there should be some
consideration for the fact that the very few pupils who
pursue education at college and university level can
hardly be expected to produce work of any quality unless
they have a solid foundation on which to move forward.
Without far better teaching in the lowest grades, they
cannot hope to compete with the world. Yet, this year
we have allocated Rs78 billion to higher education.
According to budget documents, only Rs3 billion is
available for primary education and Rs7 billion for
secondary education. The jump is immense, and we
wonder how authorities expect children who receive an
extremely poor education to suddenly raise standards as
they move into tertiary learning stages.
There is a lot wrong with the structure. The pyramid
needs to be reversed so that schoolchildren can be
imparted a far better and meaningful learning, and by
offering them this kept in schools for far longer than is
currently the case. Even those who complete education
till the matric level often struggle to read newspaper
stories or the instructions printed on medicine cartons
and bottles.
Pakistan has paid dearly over the years for its failure to
invest in education. While Bangladesh, which took its
place on the world’s map as a separate country only in
1971 following a long and draining civil war, today has a
literacy rate officially stated at almost 75 percent,
Pakistan’s literacy rate officially stands at 59 percent.
Bangladesh has a far better female-to-male ratio as far as
education goes. Seventy-one percent of Bangladeshi girls
and women are literate, compared to 47 percent in
Pakistan. The gap is strikingly smaller in Bangladesh,
which through giant organisations focused much of its
energy on uplifting its population and notably its female
population which was prioritized by microcredit and
other facilities. The effort appears to have paid off.
At some stage, Pakistan will need to make a similar
effort. Global studies have found that educating girls can
be crucial to improving the lives of families, since
educated mothers are more able to play a part in
household decision-making, and often choose in favour
of ensuring schooling for children and spending more on
better nutrition, better healthcare and other factors
which can improve the quality of life for their families.
There are also other factors to consider. The education
failures of Pakistan are linked to the poverty of people to
at least some degree. High inflation rates, which
currently stand at 10 percent overall and 15 percent in
May this year for food goods, put inflation in the country
at far higher levels than those for either India or
Bangladesh. This is obviously terrible news for the
people, who must struggle desperately simply to put
food on the table. When food is not available, education
falls far lower down the priority list of families.
In the latest budget, anti-inflationary measures have
been promised. But the question is if policies will work,
with people stating that they do not believe prices will
fall anytime soon. Indeed, even expert analysts have
pointed out that some of the price increases, such as that
in the cost of sugar, comes as a result of policy decisions
and that this vital commodity is unlikely to fall as far as
price is concerned anytime in the very near future.
The picture is not an entirely dismal one. There are
obvious efforts in the budget to assist families and lift
them out of complete deprivation. But handouts from
the Ehsaas Fund will not work alone. Loans to set up
small businesses are a somewhat better option, but we
need to see how well these schemes work and how they
are organized. Again, it is education which remains a key
factor in the growth of most countries. Pakistan currently
stands towards the very bottom of the list of the world’s
nations in terms of literacy. This makes it less likely that it
can quickly improve the condition of its people or make it
possible for them to move ahead.
Efforts such as the Single National Curriculum cannot
improve the standard of education unless it is combined
with teacher training and an improvement in the quality
of government schools, which often lack electricity,
boundary walls, water or even toilets. In this condition,
children can hardly be expected to learn and unless
children learn there will be too few who are able to move
up towards higher learning and into positions where they
can help their country develop and grow.
………………………………………………………………………..
 The US-China conflict and where it
would lead to. (TRIBUNE)
Talat Masood.
The intensification of rivalry between United States and
China has far-reaching global repercussions. It has been
described as a new Cold War and is a reflection of how
the new US administration has taken upon itself as the
world’s number one challenge or threat to its global
supremacy. It is mobilising all its resources and bringing
together its European and Asia Pacific allies to put up a
joint front to thwart its rise. There is a sense of unease
and nervousness and a compelling urgency in
Washington to counter China lest its rise may gain
momentum and become unstoppable. Indeed, the US
assumption is partly true that China has the making and
resolve of a future superpower. If in the coming decades
Beijing maintains the steady course it will challenge US
supremacy despite repeated assurances that it has no
intention of doing so.
But the way Washington’s reaction borders on paranoia.
Perhaps the reason being that the US has remained
unchallenged militarily or economically ever since the
collapse of the Soviet Union in December 26, 1991.
The US, in order to undermine China’s economy and
rising military capabilities, has imposed multiple
sanctions and blacklisted its very successful companies
that were trading with the US on the basis that these
were indulging in malpractices and stealing technology.
By denying them any access it expects to retard China’s
technology and manufacturing capabilities. The US
administration under former president Donald Trump
had blacklisted 31 Chinese companies and declared
several Chinese firms off-limits to American investors.
These include telecom, construction and technology
firms including China Mobile. The list has been further
expanded to nearly 60 by the present US administration.
China has been compelled to take reciprocal steps and
banned several US companies. Thus the world economic
order that we witnessed over the last few decades is
undergoing a major change and turbulence. How the
global markets and giant multinationals and IT
companies will adjust to these changes and how it will
affect smaller economies and countries like Pakistan is of
serious concern.
Clearly, it will require delicate balancing of strategic
relations with China while cooperating with the US in
matters of mutual interest. This will not be easy but
Pakistan’s Foreign Office and military have the
experience and ability to manage in complex
environments.
This is an age where major nations realise that military
dominance has to be accompanied by economic power.
President Joe Biden’s primary focus and strategy is to
weaken China economically by raising trade barriers,
accusing it of malpractices and taking multiple measures
to put brakes in China’s economic rise.
The US allegation, generally shared by other European
partners and Japan, is that Chinese companies do not
adhere to agreed international norms and practices in
doing business. This may be true in a few cases but this is
not peculiar to China and many Western and other
nations have been accused of similar charges when they
tried to dominate the world market.
As China’s economic capability increases and tensions
between the US and China rise, it is likely that Beijing
that has been satisfied with a modest nuclear capability
of anywhere between 250 to 350 weapons may decide to
upgrade and increase two or three times its nuclear
arsenal by the next decade. Obviously, this is miniscule in
comparison with the US and Russian nuclear arsenals,
but would reflect a more aggressive trend, giving a
message that it will not be intimidated.
Moreover, according to experts China has made rapid
progress in build-up of its medium-range missiles, with
multiple warheads that are now more accurate and
lethal. China is also building and modernising its sea
based and bomber nuclear forces, but these would take
time. Obviously, all these developments would present
organisational as well as technological challenges and
take time to fully mature.
It was expected that as China’s military power increased
it would have been drawn in these discussions at a
certain stage to ensure strategic stability. Apparently,
China has been reluctant to be a part of any global
strategic consensus considering that its nuclear arsenal is
very small (about 5%) in comparison with the two
nuclear major powers. It does not want to get
constrained by associating with them at this stage. And
the US considers its missile defence shield will take care
of China’s threat as well.
Unfortunately, former president Trump was very
dismissive about arms control and international treaties.
Arms control received a setback when the US withdrew
from the arms-reduction negotiations with Russia during
Trump’s administration.
At present, in America the assumption that it will always
remain number one is being challenged. It is an
interesting debate and serves as a wake-up call to take
China’s rise seriously at multiple levels. In any case,
history is full of examples when nations at the pinnacle
have been replaced by others. The other pertinent
question is that just as the US does not want China to
engage in unfair practices to gain economic ascendancy
so should Washington not pursue policies to thwart
China’s rise through unfair political, economic and
strategic means. Mobilising and putting a common front
to protect the world economic order and practices is
perfectly in order but building a wall to prevent the rise
of China’s economic power is another.
When Trump threw aside all treaties and conventions
and pursued an increasingly unilateralist path, that gave
the US some immediate advantages. But was that
ethically right and not a breach of sorts? This may not be
analogous to the present China’s actions but illustrates
that there are different standards of viewing issues.
The fallout of the current economic, trade and strategic
confrontation between Washington and China will have
serious consequences for the world. It will hurt the global
economy adversely and political tensions will increase.
The US, by spreading the narrative that China is being
deceptive when it claims its rise will be peaceful, changes
the entire paradigm which the world was taking for
granted.