Dawn Editorials & Opinions

3rd January
DAWN
2022
EDITORIALS

Urdu meaning by:

Hameed Syed
Reviewed by: Fahad
Munir

Page 1 of 5
Join my WhatsApp Group for daily DAWN Editorials & Opinions
with Urdu meanings of difficult words
WhatsApp at 03428003702
 Dawn Editorials & Opinions

A misplaced remedy families, thereby defeating the very

January 3, 2021 purpose of such a move.

THIS is a shakeup ‫ ترتتر رر ر‬Pakistan’s The PTI government’s endeavours

ailing public health sector can do without
‫کررب یرر رر ررت‬. Prime Minister Imran Khan
announced on Friday that his government
would shut down ‫ یند کت دے گی‬all district
headquarters hospitals and facilitate the
private sector to provide healthcare
through the Naya Pakistan National
Health Card to people in far-flung ‫دور‬
‫ دراز‬areas of the country.
Mr Khan was speaking at Governor
House, Lahore, on the occasion ‫ م قع‬of a
ceremony to launch the health card when
he made the surprising declaration.
Pointing out that DHQ hospitals were
lying deserted ‫ ویتان پڑے تھب‬because of a
lack of doctors, he asked, “why should
the government spend money if doctors
were not going to the DHQ hospitals to
serve the masses?”
The prime minister’s resentment ‫اراضریی‬
over the wastage of precious resources
‫ ق متی وسرررررا ر‬is valid, but the remedy is
misplaced and short-sighted ‫دور ا دیشرررری‬
‫کب ی ت‬. It would amount to an abdication
‫ دسرررتاتدار‬of the government’s duty and
make primary healthcare even less
accessible ‫ قرایر رسرررررا ی‬to lower-income
Join my WhatsApp Group for daily DAWN Editorials & Opinions
with Urdu meanings of difficult words
WhatsApp at 03428003702
‫ کرر یررررشررررر رر‬in the public health sector,
specifically the Sehat Sahulat
Programme, are commendable. ‫قای تعتیف‬
It is clearly an aspect of the party’s
manifesto ‫ مررنشرررر ر ر‬that it has put some
thought and planning into. The card was
first launched in KP in 2016 during the
PTI’s first provincial government and is
being gradually rolled out ‫افذ ک ا جا رہا ہب‬
in the rest of the country.
The latest expansion in the scheme, to
mark which the event on Friday was held,
makes the health card available to
deserving families in the Lahore division
from the beginning of this year, with the
facility to be extended to all of Punjab by
March 2022. Describing it as a major step
towards the creation of a welfare state, the
prime minister said the government
would be spending Rs400bn to offer
health insurance to 30m families in the
province. According to Mr Khan, the
private sector would be incentivised
‫ ترتیر رر د جررا رب گری‬in various ways to
come forward and set up hospitals even in
areas far from urban centres.
However, to do away with ‫ خاتمہ کت ا‬DHQ
hospitals or any other part of the
Page 2 of 5
 Dawn Editorials & Opinions

government’s primary healthcare system,
including Basic Health Units, Rural
Health Centres and Tehsil Headquarters
Hospitals, would likely create more
problems for the underprivileged ‫پسررما د‬.
For one ‫مر ر رررا‬, the health card covers
mainly inpatient ‫ان ڈور یرا ہراسررررں ر م داخر‬
procedures.
Primary healthcare facilities cater ‫دیرھررھ‬
‫ یھا‬to the outpatient requirements which
form the bulk of healthcare needs; where
will patients requiring outpatient care go,
especially in rural areas? Secondly, there
are thus far around 450 empanelled ‫پ ن‬
‫ پہ دیب گئب‬hospitals in the entire country,
making access to them an expensive
proposition for many people until and
unless there is an empanelled hospital in
each and every tehsil. Moreover, if health
professionals are absent from duty in
public-sector facilities, it is the failure of
the government and one it should rectify
instead of throwing out the baby with the
bath water ‫کسرری فضرر ز ک کب سرراتھ ق متی‬
‫ز ک ک ضا ع کت ا‬.
Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022
Electoral process
January 3, 2021
Join my WhatsApp Group for daily DAWN Editorials & Opinions
with Urdu meanings of difficult words
WhatsApp at 03428003702
THE claim made by the federal science
minister that the controversial ‫مررتررنرراز ررہ‬
electronic voting machines have been
modified ‫ تارردی ی کی گئی ہب‬to make them
more user-friendly somehow does not
inspire much confidence. The minister
told Dawn the other day that the battery
life of the EVMs has been extended from
24 hours to 72 hours and that the device
can now automatically drop the ballot
paper for the voter into the ballot box.
“Now this device also allows a voter a
second chance to tick ‫شررران نیا ب کب ن ب‬
the party sign before casting the vote,” he
said. The modifications ‫تتم مات‬, he added,
have been made to satisfy the critics of
EVMs who continue to oppose the use of
technology in elections, which the ruling
party says is the only way to make the
electoral process fair and transparent.
‫ یرررررر رررا‬Whatever these improvements
mean, it is wrong to automatically link
electronic voting with fair, free and
transparent elections in the country.
Electoral fraud here is not restricted to the
actual polling process. Vote manipulation
‫ ہر رتا پرھر رت‬starts long before polling day
and continues till the government is
formed. Surprisingly, there have been
less complaints ‫ یرررررھررایررات‬of vote fraud
during polling. And we have a system to
address them. The government needs to
Page 3 of 5
 Dawn Editorials & Opinions

only ensure the expeditious ‫ترر ررک رفررتررار‬
judicial redressal ‫ ازانہ‬of such complaints,
which currently takes years. That said, it
must be pointed out that in a country
where electricity supply and internet
connectivity is erratic ‫ یب تتت‬it is naïve
‫ یب سرر د‬،‫ سررراد ن حی‬to expect the ECP to
put EVMs to use everywhere in the next
elections even if it is fully satisfied with
the machine’s performance and accuracy.
‫ درسررتیی‬Many other nations have already
abandoned ‫ زھ ڑ دیا ہب‬or limited the use
of EVMs owing to ‫ کررب یررا رر‬multiple
reasons, including technical glitches
‫ختای اں‬. Hence, it is not surprising to see
the opposition parties and the ECP object
to the hasty ‫ جر ر رررد یررراز‬deployment of
EVMs. In view of such issues — and the
huge upfront ‫ ایتردا ی‬and recurring ‫یرار یرار‬
‫ ہرررر ررررب وانرررری‬costs involved in the
maintenance and storage of EVMs — a
committee on the use of voting machines
had recommended a decade ago that
electronic voting should be adopted ‫اپنایا‬
‫ جا ا زاہئب‬in a phased manner. That was a
sound recommendation ‫ سرر ار‬given the
issues involved. Indeed, the science
ministry’s effort to continuously work on
and improve the performance of EVMs is
praiseworthy ‫ قرررایررر ترررعرررتیرررف‬but the
government should listen carefully to the
ECP’s reservations ‫ ترفر ر ررات‬and address
them to the commission’s satisfaction if it
Join my WhatsApp Group for daily DAWN Editorials & Opinions
with Urdu meanings of difficult words
WhatsApp at 03428003702
wants to make elections less controversial
‫متناز ہ‬. Electoral reforms work only when
the government, the opposition and the
ECP are on the same page.
Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022
KP minorities project
January 3, 2021
THE Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s
decision to build and restore 109 worship
places and residential areas of minority
communities ‫ اق تی یتادری ں‬in the province
is commendable. ‫ قرایر تعتیف‬The details,
scale and estimated cost of the project,
Rs513m, indicate that officials concerned
have done their homework and are not
shooting from the hip ‫سر زب سرمےھب ی ت‬
‫ک ی کرا کت را‬. However, considering how
easy it is in this country to whip up ،‫اکسا ا‬
‫ ح صرررر رہ افکا ی کت را‬extremist sentiments,
‫ جکیات‬especially against members of the
minority communities, and the influence
of religious and far-right groups ‫ا رترئررا ری‬
‫ دا ر ر یررازو کررب گررتو‬on society, the KP
government has set itself an ambitious
‫ یرر ررنررد رر ررت‬target. A number of recent
incidents have demonstrated ‫ظراہت ک را ہب‬
that it takes only a few mischief-makers
‫ یررررت پسررررنررد نرراصررررت‬to vitiate ‫ختاب کت ررا‬
communal ‫ فرتقررہ وارا ررہ‬harmony ‫ہر ہہرنریری‬.
The burning of a temple in Karak, KP,
Page 4 of 5
 Dawn Editorials & Opinions

and the desecration ‫ یب حتمتی‬of another to contend ‫ مقای ہ کت ا ہ گا‬with will not be
in Bhong, Punjab, are recent examples of adequately addressed. Moreover, the
this phenomenon. ‫رجفان‬ authorities must also ensure adequate
‫ منراسررررر‬security arrangements for these
The project earmarks ‫ مررصررترر کررت ررا‬the sites. The religious lobby may frown
highest number of sites — 19 — in ‫ اراض ہ سررررھتب ہ‬upon the project and
Peshawar. A sum of Rs20m each has present specious arguments against it.
been set aside ‫ رکھا گ ا‬for the construction One hopes the KP government remains
of Biba Singh Gurdwara and the Saint steadfast ‫ مستفھ‬، ‫ پت‬in its cause.
Michael Catholic Church in Peshawar
Cantt, while Rs9m has been allocated Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022
‫ مرصرتر کر رب گرئرب ہر ر‬for the rehabilitation
‫ یفانی‬of Durga Mandir. Sizable funds ‫یڑے‬
‫ فررررنرررر ز‬have also been reserved for
conservation projects in Lower Chitral
valley which will benefit the Kalash
community that is often at the receiving
end of the worst of our compatriots’ ‫ہر‬
،‫ وطن‬xenophobic ‫ ی ت م ھ ں سرررب‬، ‫تعصر ر‬
‫ تت‬tendencies ‫رجفررا ررات‬. While all this
sounds promising,‫ہ ررنررد‬ ‫ خ ر‬community
engagement ‫ یرررم ن‬and approval is key
for the successful completion of these
projects. Given that minorities in the
country perpetually ‫ ہم شہ‬live in a state of
fear and uncertainty, this is a task easier
said than done ‫کئنا ہسران کت ا مشرھ‬. Unless
the authorities make a conscious ‫ یاخات‬and
consistent effort to rein ‫نیا نیا ب کب ن ب‬
in extremist elements and punish those
involved in attacks on members of
minority communities and their places of
worship, the sense of insecurity they have
Page 5 of 5
Join my WhatsApp Group for daily DAWN Editorials & Opinions
with Urdu meanings of difficult words
WhatsApp at 03428003702