Relic of colonialism

dawn.com/news/1711925/relic-of-colonialism

September 25, 2022

THE law on sedition, one of several holdovers of colonial times, is

among the most handy instruments for controlling the citizenry.
On Saturday, a petition filed by PTI leader Shireen Mazari
seeking the annulment of the PPC’s Section 124-A, which pertains
to sedition, was dismissed by the Islamabad High Court for being
non-maintainable. Like most laws designed not for the ends of
justice but as a tool to suppress dissent, this one is also phrased
in extremely broad language, allowing the authorities
considerable leeway when they do decide to detain someone
under its provisions. Given that life imprisonment is the
maximum punishment stipulated for sedition, that makes it a
formidable weapon with which to beat down today’s recalcitrant
‘natives’. Fortunately, the courts have taken a lenient view and
anyone being prosecuted under the section has been acquitted at
some point.

PTI leader Shahbaz Gill is among the latest who have found
themselves charged with sedition, after a television interview in
which he uttered language that, in the words of Interior Minister
Rana Sanaullah, was intended “to create rifts” within the
military’s ranks. Mr Gill was granted bail after more than a
month in custody. Earlier, during the PTI government, an FIR was
registered against several PML-N leaders, including Nawaz
Sharif, for sedition. And now sedition allegations are flying thick
and fast. The PTI’s provincial government in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa last month announced it was filing FIRs against
several PDM leaders — apparently in retaliation against Mr Gill’s
travails. A sedition law has no place in a democracy, and violates
several fundamental rights including freedom of expression.
Moreover, international law holds that even trenchant criticism
of the government and its institutions is protected. Indeed,
Gandhi wore the charge of sedition brought against him in 1922
like a badge of honour, describing the law as “perhaps the prince
among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to
suppress the liberty of a citizen”. The sooner it is removed from
the statute books, the better.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022

Opinion

Dengue concerns - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

dawn.com/news/1711926/dengue-concerns

September 25, 2022

AS weather conditions change in Pakistan, the threat of dengue

looms large over the land. According to a warning issued by the
Met department last week, the current weather conditions in the
country mean that a dengue outbreak is on the horizon,
specifically in 10 cities. These include Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar
and Rawalpindi-Islamabad. Our creaky health infrastructure is
already being severely tested — just as in years past — by
thousands of dengue cases across the country. According to
figures published in the media, Sindh has logged in over 7,000
cases, while KP comes in second with more than 6,000 cases.
Hospitals in Karachi, for example, are reportedly flooded with
patients, while some public health institutions in the city have
apparently stopped admitting dengue cases. Meanwhile, millions
of flood-affected people are also vulnerable to vector-borne
ailments. This means that unless there is a nationally
coordinated anti-dengue campaign, the illness risks spreading
further, with the health infrastructure incapable of coping with a
deluge of cases and fumigation efforts unable to keep pace with
mosquito breeding.

Punjab has in the past successfully dealt with dengue outbreaks,

and proven methods need to be deployed to keep the virus-
bearing mosquitoes at bay. Experts have stressed the need to
fumigate dengue larvae to prevent the mosquitoes from
proliferating. The administration in Karachi claims it has
undertaken a fumigation campaign, but most citizens have yet to
see the successful effects of this anti-dengue operation. The fact is
that the authorities in all the provinces facing the dengue threat
need to shake off their lethargy, and deal with this public health
emergency before it metastasises into an epidemic. Regular
spraying and ensuring sanitary conditions in cities and towns
can play an effective role in reducing vector-borne ailments such
as dengue, malaria and chikungunya. Health authorities also
need to use the mainstream and social media to communicate
messages about dengue prevention, and where to get treatment
if a case is suspected. The Sindh government has reduced the
prices of dengue tests, but clichéd as it may sound, prevention is
better than the cure, so the emphasis should be on getting rid of
the dengue mosquitoes before they can infect large chunks of the
populace. International best practices on fighting dengue exist
which need to be reviewed by our health experts. Pakistan has
had several years to understand and come to terms with the
dengue threat. The state must now prioritise public healthcare.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022

Opinion

Debt deferment - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

dawn.com/news/1711927/debt-deferment

September 25, 2022

PAKISTAN is seeking deferment of its bilateral debt of nearly

$10bn for a few years, which, if approved by the wealthy Paris
Club creditors, will save it $1.1bn in loan repayments this fiscal
year. That will ease pressure on the nation’s dwindling foreign
exchange reserves, that have already dropped to $8.3bn, and
generate some space for the government to rehabilitate and
reconstruct after the floods. An announcement to this effect was
made by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail a day after the prime
minister said in an interview that all hell would break loose if the
rich countries did not immediately provide Pakistan debt relief
to help it get back on its feet. However, in order to calm jittery
investors, the minister also sought to assure Pakistan’s creditors
that “we are neither seeking, nor do we need, any relief from
commercial banks”. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has already
requested the IMF to release the remaining amount of around
$3bn from its bailout programme in November. Separately, a
draft UN policy paper advises creditors to “consider debt relief so
that policymakers can prioritise financing its disaster response
over loan repayment”; it suggests debt restructuring or swaps,
where creditors would let go of repayments in exchange for the
country agreeing to invest in infrastructure resilient to climate
change.

For long, Pakistan has faced severe external financing challenges.

Even before the current floods, it was struggling to tackle its
growing balance-of-payments troubles, as official and private
capital inflows slumped, the import bill soared to unsustainable
levels amid high global energy and food prices, and exports
declined because of recessionary pressures in the advanced
economies. Reserves continue to erode. Pakistan’s dollar funding
needs for the next five years, projected by the IMF at $181bn for
the next five years, have never been so large and the world’s
appetite to hold its hands never so poor. The calamitous floods
could not have come at a worse time. With its public sector
foreign debt standing at $97bn at the end of the last fiscal,
Islamabad is scheduled to pay $75.4bn, including $9.4bn in
interest payments, in the next five years. True, much of this debt
will get rolled over, but the country will still need a significant
amount of dollars to meet its debt obligations.

The experience of recent months shows that bilateral and

multilateral creditors are reluctant to advance fresh loans due
mainly to our constant craving for their money and failure to put
our house in order. But the world must help Pakistan in its tough
times. It is true that had Pakistan taken steps to strengthen its
economy over the years, matters might not have been as
precarious as they are today. And yet, at this time, Pakistan’s debt
should be deferred, swapped and forgiven. Helping Pakistan get
back on its feet won’t be possible without outside help.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022

Opinion


Russian roulette - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

dawn.com/news/1711928/russian-roulette

September 25, 2022

CHURCHILL said it best: “Dictators ride to and fro on Tigers, from

which they dare not dismount.” That clearly seems to be the case
with Vladimir Putin, de facto czar of whatever remains of the
Russias. Faced with humiliating reversals in a war he seemed to
think would be over in a week (it’s been almost 220 days) and on
which he has staked his increasingly tattered reputation, Putin
saw no option but to double down. So, the Kremlin announced a
‘partial mobilisation’ of up to 300,000 reservists which will
presumably tip the scales in his favour. Before going into what
actual difference this deployment will make, let’s examine why it
was needed to begin with.
The war started with almost everyone expecting the Russian
army to walk all over Ukraine, and capture Kyiv fairly early,
causing a wider collapse of the Ukrainian resistance. However,
the paratrooper operation intended to quickly seize the Hostomel
airport failed, and while this was initially written off as a
temporary setback, the approach of a 60-kilometre-long Russian
military convoy was touted as the force before which the
Ukrainians would be helpless.

That convoy, slowed by mechanical breakdowns, lack of

discipline and zero strategic guidance, never reached its target
and ultimately dispersed. The inability to establish air
superiority meant that Russia could not use the brutal tactics it
employed in Chechnya, and more recently in the Syrian cities of
Aleppo and Idlib, which were effectively bombed into rubble to
crush resistance.

Putin then implied that his actual goal was never the conquest of
Ukraine, and redeployed his forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk
areas where he undoubtedly hoped for better luck, given that in
2014 his forces had seized this area and set up puppet regimes.
Will the new soldiers tip the balance?

Meanwhile, Western arms and equipment flowed into Ukraine,

and while the impact of these arms — especially the long-range
High Mobility Artillery Rocket System provided by the US — was
significant (the Turkish Bayraktars deserve a special mention)
was immense, there is a significant lag between receiving
weapons and being trained in their effective use. That time was
won by the undoubtedly dogged resistance put up by the
Ukrainians, aided by the utter incompetence of the Russian
military.
On the one hand, the Ukrainians — who had developed a strong
sense of nationhood in the decades following the collapse of the
Soviet Union — were fighting to defend their homes and lands,
while on the other, the bulk of the Russian army was not even
aware it was about to go to war. In the initial weeks and months,
it was easy to discard reports of Russian indiscipline, equipment
malfunctions and general inefficiency as ‘Western propaganda’,
but now it is clear that most of those reports were accurate. More
damningly, reports about murder, torture and rape committed by
Russian troops are increasingly being verified and served to
stiffen Ukrainian resistance.

Stalemated Russian troops then fell prey to a counteroffensive

that will undoubtedly be studied by military strategists for
decades to come: through strategic deception, Ukraine made
Russia believe that its counteroffensive would focus on retaking
Kherson, a logical target of any such operation, which made
Russia redeploy its stretched troops in that region. But the actual
counteroffensive was aimed at the logistic hub of Kupyansk and
was so successful that Ukraine recaptured almost as much
territory in a few days as Russia had conquered since the onset of
war.

And so, despite Putin himself promising there would be no wider

mobilisation, hundreds of thousands of Russians are being
drafted into service, a move that has sparked scattered protests
across Russia. This is significant as the protesters are fully aware
of the consequences of defying the Kremlin but are making their
anger heard nonetheless. Will the new soldiers tip the balance?
Given that most of these are highly reluctant warriors who will
receive only basic training for a few weeks, it is doubtful that
they will have the morale and unit cohesion to rise against the
motivated and well-armed Ukrainians. Already, we are seeing
videos of drunk and despairing recruits abusing the military
commissars, along with images of men in their 50s being pressed
into service.

Indeed, if reports are to be believed, the new soldiers are being

equipped with obsolete steel helmets and armed with rifles that
were antiquated in World War II. The Russian mercenary outfit,
Wagner, has even been seen recruiting in high-security prisons,
promising murderers and rapists a pardon if they serve in
Ukraine for six months.

Having staked so much on this war, Putin cannot back off. It is

ironic that a man who so successfully built an image of being a
master strategist, and was successful in amplifying divisions in
the West through asymmetrical information warfare, has, in fact,
ended up revitalising Nato and united the West … against
himself.

The writer is a journalist.

Twitter: @zarrarkhuhro

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022

Hold on tight - Newspaper

dawn.com/news/1711929/hold-on-tight

September 25, 2022

AS one with vivid memories of Pakistan of the 1960s, one is

nervous about today’s Pakistan. While ‘development and
progress’ have been our leaders’ buzzwords, their definition and
implementation have been driven by optics devoid of substance.

The various stages and strategies of our development have led to

international-quality motorways, a prolific auto industry, a
booming real estate (which is gobbling up farmland) and an
improved telecom system driven by user-friendly technology and
nothing else. But we’ve neglected education, destroying our
government schools and shifting quality education to the pricier
private sector. The regulators have duped the common people
into believing that their children were getting MBA and MCom
degrees when such graduates were not aware of even the basics
of their ‘specialisation’. Educational neglect is unending because
the gestation period for results is long and no political leader has
the time.

The health sector may have seen marginal improvement, but

again, initiatives are for immediate gain and not to fix the basic
health bureaucracy. An example is the latest health card scheme.
It does give relief to the poor but eases the pressure on the
government to fix the basic health machinery. Moreover, the
funds come from the development, instead of the operational,
budget.

Local government, the building block of good governance,

continues to be ignored because it does not suit the clout of
politicians higher in the pecking order.
In our case, the past is another country.

Gone are the days when one could see beldars watering and
repairing canals and distributaries on a daily basis while you
drove over unpaved canal banks. The railways, once the
backbone of communication and a pleasure to use, has been
wrecked by prioritising motorway communication. The civil
bureaucracy, the engine of all governance, has been demolished
by internal bickering brought on by undue reforms and insecure
politicians infringing on the rights of civil servants.

All institutions have weakened and some made redundant. One

recalls the lost glory of PIA, Wapda, SNGPL, EPB (the present
TDAP), TCP, NSC (shipping), and of the chief secretary, IG,
establishment secretary, etc. Now, only officers and executives
not bothered about sullying their reputation seek to head these
organisations.
On the financial side, in the cautious 1960s, you needed an Open
General Licence to import anything. The principle was that the
government issued a receipt for proof of the export amount (say,
$100) and you could sell this paper in the market to an importer
who could then import something worth $100.This was an
exercise in living within your means and that is why the dollar
was Rs4.76 then.

Up to the 1990s, government development funds were very

difficult to get. Building a rural road or repairing a main highway
would take years of lobbying. Even then, the allocation was only
sufficient for a frugal project. A crore-a-kilometre road was
considered a super road. Current motorways cost Rs30 to Rs40
crore a kilometre. It was around that time that we started
pretending to be a successful country and stopped living within
our means, ending up with fiscal deficits of unheard and
unsustainable proportions.

Pretending to be a modern developing country, we threw out the

import substitution strategy and adopted export-led growth. The
perceived benefits of a liberal import policy considered essential
for increasing exports and being compliant with World Trade
Organisation (WTO) principles has taken us to a stage where our
exports amount to $32 billion and imports $80bn. The
unintended benefit of remittances by labour and professionals
who went abroad without the state’s help saved us from
complete collapse. But our extravagance and penchant for
goodies even First World residents can’t afford has neutralised
the benefit of these remittances.

We seem so overawed by multilateral bodies like the WTO that

the government recently reversed its ban on imports of luxury
items to save us from default, because of the reported pressure of
the WTO. It’s difficult to digest.

In the 1960s, there were no glitzy DHAs, no SUVS, no Porsches

and Audis, no restaurants with imported steaks for Rs19,000 a
piece, no destination weddings; but then, one did not get
butterflies in the stomach for fear of national bankruptcy. There
was no feeling of inferiority vis-à-vis Indians and now
Bangladeshis. There was no remorse at having advised your
children to make a life in their own country rather than pursue
their dreams abroad.

Whom should one blame? Our politicians, bureaucracy,

businessmen, the army whose think tanks and individuals’
ambitions have not been able to steady the ship through political
engineering? Their engineering skills have worsened matters.

With no easy answers, this may be the time to hold on to your

seats like one does while flying in turbulent weather and hope
you emerge in one piece to enjoy a smoother flight later.

The writer is a former civil servant.

tasneem.m.noorani@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022

Time for a new beginning

dawn.com/news/1711930/time-for-a-new-beginning

September 25, 2022

FORMER prime minister Imran Khan may have his own reasons
to lash out at the ‘establishment’, but the fact is that the subject of
civil-military relations has been around for a long time.
However, it has never been discussed so openly in Pakistan as
the PTI chairman has done recently.

The candour and bitterness of his narrative has continued to

intensify with each rally and media appearance. While he has
indirectly complained about a number of issues over the past five
months, he has specifically criticised the establishment for
making him accept the name of the present chief election
commissioner for appointment to that post by giving personal
assurances. He also acknowledged the use of agencies in nudging
his parliamentary allies to vote for certain bills and the annual
budget in the National Assembly — although it is difficult to
decide whether this phenomenon reflected more poorly on Mr
Khan, his former allies or the agencies.

A similar stir was created when another former prime minister,

Nawaz Sharif, spoke publicly on the subject about two years ago
and shocked everyone, including his allies in the Pakistan
Democratic Movement, by not only strongly criticising but also
naming names within the establishment.

Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif are not the only prime ministers
who have publicly expressed dissatisfaction about relations with
the establishment. Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s
“There can be no state within the state” speech in the National
Assembly in 2011 was an expression of extreme exasperation in
his dealings with the establishment. Even prime minister
Muhammad Khan Junejo who was handpicked by Gen Ziaul Haq
developed differences with him to a point that he was sacked by
the general. In addition to what might have transpired behind
closed doors or in confidential communications, the military has
also publicly criticised the government of the day on several
occasions. During the ‘Dawn Leaks’ saga in 2017, the DG ISPR’s
infamous tweet saying “rejected” to a notification of the Prime
Minister’s Office may be cited as a low-water mark although,
thankfully, the tweet was ‘withdrawn’ about 10 days later.

There is a need to discuss in a strategic manner all the issues affecting civil-
military ties.

Although mainstream media has generally been circumspect

about public expressions of these differences, social media
content on the subject has grown manifold, not only in terms of
volume but in its intensity and, in some cases, ugliness too. The
occasional but regularly repeated schism between the elected
national leadership and the establishment is no more a topic of
drawing room discussions. It is out there in the open, with people
taking and expressing strong positions, sometimes even being
critical of the establishment.

If opinions critical of the establishment in reference to civil-

military relations resonate today, it is because so much has
happened, and has been said and written on the subject during
the past 70 years or so. Imran Khan may just be capitalising on
the feeling that was already prevalent in the public. The military
coups/ takeovers of 1958, 1969, 1977, 1999, and the so-called
emergency of 2007, and some disastrous decisions such as the
Kargil war, contributed to the rise of adverse opinions among the
public. Retired Lt Gen Hameed Gul, former DG ISI, publicly
admitted that he and his organisation were instrumental in
creating the IJI alliance to defeat, or at least blunt the possible
victory of, Benazir Bhutto in the 1988 election. Then there was
the affidavit submitted by retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani, another
former DG ISI, about the organisation’s involvement in
disbursing funds among certain favoured politicians in the 1990
election, allegedly on the directions of the then COAS, Gen Aslam
Beg.

The continued baggage of the past and the current state of civil-
military relations is creating serious divisions within almost all
segments of society, including those which are too sensitive to be
exposed to any such divisions. Pakistan also can’t afford to
weaken its armed forces. Although the tension has hurt the
country for a good chunk of its history, sadly there has been
hardly any tangible effort to resolve it in a strategic manner.
Even now, most of the discussion is about how Imran Khan can
be persuaded or pressurised to stop raising the issue in public.
There is a real need to discuss all the issues affecting civil-
military relations in a strategic and dispassionate manner
considering both sides’ views and with the Constitution as the
basis of the dialogue. Fortunately, Pakistan has the institutional
infrastructure in the form of the National Security Committee to
start discussing the subject. As a first step, the civil and military
leadership represented in the NSC should be willing and
prepared to initiate a series of interactions on the subject. The
committee, in due time, may extend a special invitation to some
opposition leaders like Imran Khan also to take part in some of
the sittings to enhance the effectiveness of the engagement. One
should be under no illusion that these problems can be resolved
in one or a few sittings. The objective may require hard work,
especially on the part of the NSC Secretariat and continuous
engagement of members extending possibly over several months.

The perceived or real encroachment of the establishment on

decision-making regarding key national matters, the weaknesses
of the civilian side which prompt such encroachment and the
short- and long-term effects of these encroachments on the state,
may be the key items on the agenda of such a strategic dialogue.
Perceived ‘interference’ in political and electoral matters may
also need to be discussed. The objective of the engagement
should be that both the political leadership and the
establishment end up strictly abiding by the roles demarcated for
them in the Constitution.

With the next general election due within a year and a new
military leadership about to take charge, this may be the right
time to start conceptualising and preparing to address issues
relating to civil-military relations like a mature society.
The writer is president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative
Development And Transparency.

president@pildat.org

Twitter: @ABMPildat

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022

Peril and paralysis

dawn.com/news/1711931/peril-and-paralysis

September 25, 2022

IN his opening address to the UN General Assembly, Secretary

General António Guterres issued a stark warning about the
troubled state of the world. “We are gridlocked in colossal global
dysfunction”, as a result of geopolitical divides, turmoil, deadly
conflicts, climate catastrophes, food crisis, rising inequality and
poverty. This dire situation held great peril, especially with trust
declining in democratic institutions, respect eroding for
international law and faith diminishing in international
solidarity. Despite “the logic of cooperation” there was no
“collective problem solving”. The UN chief called for “a coalition
of the world” to redress this alarming situation. Warning of a
“winter of global discontent” he said a splintering world needed
hope and action. And above all, “common solutions to common
problems”.
It was but obvious that Guterres would mention the Russian
invasion of Ukraine and the devastation caused by the war. But
any expectation that his words would calm the situation was
quickly dashed. A day after his speech, Russian President
Vladimir Putin announced a further escalation of the seven-
month crisis. He said hundreds of thousands of army reservists
would be deployed in Ukraine in a partial mobilisation of
Russian forces. He also threatened to use nuclear weapons to
defend Russia. This followed his plan unveiled earlier to hold
‘referendums’ in Ukraine’s four regions under Russian control in
a bid to ‘formally’ integrate them into Russia. Voting on this has
already begun.

These moves came on the heels of a series of military and

diplomatic reversals for Moscow. Militarily, a counteroffensive
by Western-backed Ukrainian forces resulted in seizing a
significant chunk of territory back from the Russians.
Diplomatically, meetings on the sidelines of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation summit laid bare the limits of support
for Russian actions from even its closest allies. In the first in-
person meeting between Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping
after the invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese leader conveyed his
misgivings over escalation of the crisis. Putin later acknowledged
that “concerns and questions” were raised by the Chinese
president. Similarly, during Putin’s meeting with India’s prime
minister, Narendra Modi is reported to have voiced concern and
convey that this was “not an era of war”.

The Ukraine crisis isn’t the only challenge to international peace

and stability. The world is also being destabilised by the fallout
from the US-China confrontation, which is a defining feature of
the global landscape today. Unprecedented tensions between the
two global powers have ensued in most part from America’s
policy to contain China which is being met by an assertive
response from Beijing. At UNGA, President Joe Biden said he
wanted to be “direct about the competition between the United
States and China”. He said, “We do not seek conflict. We do not
seek a Cold War. We do not ask any nation to choose between the
United States or any other partner.” He also reaffirmed his
country’s commitment to a ‘One China’ policy and promised the
US would “conduct itself as a reasonable leader” in “managing
shifting geopolitical trends”.
Can a fractured global community transcend its divisions to deal purposefully
with shared challenges?

But this measured tone on China has not been reflected in recent
US actions. They include the announcement of a billion-dollar
arms package for Taiwan and fresh curbs on US exports of chip
technology to Chinese companies. Both were roundly denounced
by Beijing. Also, just days before his UNGA address, Biden
reiterated that the US would defend Taiwan “militarily” if it was
attacked. This too provoked a furious Chinese response.

The resurgence of East-West tensions and intensifying US-China

confrontation have further shrunk the space for multilateral
cooperation. But multilateralism has been in retreat for well over
a decade and much before the Ukraine conflict. The undermining
of multilateralism emerged as a dominant trend in the last
decade with the rise of hyper-nationalism and right-wing
populism. Right-wing populist leaders have shown a propensity
to act unilaterally in defiance of international law and norms.
This has been evidenced in our neighbourhood by the Modi
government’s illegal annexation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir
three years ago, and subsequent actions in blatant violation of
UN Security Council resolutions.

It was also reflected in the contempt with which former

president Donald Trump treated multilateral institutions, his
‘America first’ policy and renunciation of international treaties
and agreements. The pandemic saw a telling lack of global
solidarity. The cooperation deficit on such shared challenges and
other key areas further weakened multilateralism. Tensions
between big powers and the conduct of so-called regional
‘strongmen’ have contributed to a fractured global community
and fragmentation of the international system. Indeed, a rules-
based order is under unprecedented stress due to the qualified
support of big powers. Geopolitics, not solidarity, is now the
dominant dynamic.

The UN secretary general’s emphasis on the impact of climate

change on vulnerable countries — with Pakistan as the case in
point — and what to do about it represented a key part of his
speech. Lashing out at the West’s fossil fuels industry for making
windfall profits, he called for these profits to be taxed and funds
from them directed to afflicted countries to address losses caused
to them by the climate crisis. Guterres squarely placed the issue
of justice at the centre of the global debate on the climate crisis.
He pointed out that the G20 emits 80 per cent of all carbon
emissions. On the other hand, Pakistan’s contribution to global
greenhouse gas emissions is under 1pc but it is the world’s
seventh most vulnerable country to climate change and is reeling
today from its ravages. That is why Pakistan is leading a
developing country effort to establish a global fund to help states
afflicted by climate-induced disasters. Whether Western
countries, long sceptical about this, can be persuaded to change
their mind is unclear. But protesters across the world are now
demanding climate justice, urging developed countries to
compensate poorer states for the damage climate change is
inflicting on them.

Faced with a world in peril, the bigger question is whether

developed states and big powers can transcend their divisions
and rivalries to deal with shared challenges. In spite of Guterres’
clarion call to “act as one”, it is hard to be hopeful on that count.

The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK & UN.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022