Dawn Editorials and Opinions 2nd June 2021

Dawn Editorials & Opinions
Publications Ordinance 1963. “This has

Draconian media law - Newspaper - no place in a democratically elected
DAWN.COM dispensation,” reads their joint
Editorial 2nd June 2021 statement..
Clause after clause in the proposed law

MAKE no mistake: the proposed
is illustrative of the authoritarian
Pakistan Media Development Authority
mindset that underlies it. Repealing
Ordinance — an apparent draft of which
existing media-related laws, it would set
is doing the rounds on social media — is
up PMDA, an all-powerful regulatory
a declaration of war against
body to exercise control over print,
journalists. It will, if enacted, erase all
electronic and digital media, whose
critical voices from print, electronic and
members would be appointed by the
digital platforms through a system of
president on the federal government’s
coercive censorship that will allow only
advice. The PMDA can without notice
a pliant media to survive. In other
order the seizure of equipment at a
words, this naked attempt to control the
television station or the sealing of a
narrative will eviscerate the very
media outlet’s premises. It can for a host
rationale for the fourth estate, which is
of loosely defined reasons, and without
to act as a check on excesses of power
issuing a “show-cause notice and
and function as a watchdog for the
affording opportunity of hearing…”
public interest. Thus, not only is it
prohibit any person, print media,
antithetical to the constitutionally
electronic media or digital media service
protected right to freedom of expression
operator from operating. Sanctions
but it also violates the right to receive
include up to three years in prison and a
information. It should in fact be a matter
fine extending to Rs25m, or
of shame for a government claiming to
both. Anyone aggrieved by its decisions
have come to power through the ballot,
can appeal to a tribunal — again set up
to envisage a media law more draconian
by the federal government. The Supreme
than what a military dictator could have
Court alone will have the jurisdiction to
dreamt up. Media organisations
question the legality of any step taken
yesterday unanimously rejected the
under the ordinance. Much as it applies
proposed legislation, terming it
to TV channels at present, under the
unconstitutional and an extension of
proposed law, the licensing regime
Gen Ayub Khan’s infamous Press and
Page 1 of 15
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would also cover print and digital has written a letter to the AJK prime
platforms. Along with licences, there minister suggesting that a delay in the
will be NOCs to be renewed periodically polls would enable a large number of
— a sword hanging over their heads, people in the area to get vaccinated. The
plus an added financial burden at a time letter also says election campaign
when the industry is already suffering activity could lead to a surge in infection
crippling losses.. and therefore it may be better if the
schedule is pushed ahead. The two
Journalists over the last few years have parties, however, say that the PTI is
endured indirect censorship and outright deliberately trying to delay the elections
violence for simply trying to do their because it is in a weak position and
job. Now an attempt is underway to wants time to break away candidates..
replace these blatantly illegal tactics by
legislation that ultimately has the same While the fears of the PML-N and PPP
objective — to bludgeon the community may have some grounds after the
into acquiescence. However, the experience of the Gilgit-Baltistan
government should know that the media elections — in which the PTI
in this country still has the spine and the successfully weaned away many
integrity to stand its ground.. electables from the other parties — the
Covid-19 situation presents an
Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2021. altogether different argument. The
NCOC as the apex body driving
Delaying AJK polls - Newspaper - Pakistan’s fight against the pandemic
DAWN.COM has worked in a professional manner
Editorial 2nd June 2021 since its formation in March last year. It
has displayed an inclusive approach and
A NEEDLESS controversy is being has risen beyond partisan interests. To
dredged up over the upcoming elections its credit, it has taken correct and timely
in Azad Jammu & Kashmir. The PML- decisions that have led to Pakistan
N and the PPP have both objected to a successfully containing the infection to a
proposal by the National Command and level where it has not overwhelmed the
Operations Centre to delay the polls due country’s health
to the Covid-19 situation. The NCOC infrastructure. Therefore when the
Page 2 of 15
NCOC wades into political waters — including targeted killings, political,

which is what this letter to the AJK ethnic and sectarian violence as well as
prime minister amounts to — it does so acts of terrorism. While thankfully
with a lot of credibility at its back. The levels of violence in the aforesaid
elections are supposed to be held within categories have come down, street crime
60 days after July 29 when the present remains a major headache for the city’s
set-up completes its term. The NCOC is people. Criminals appear to strike at
in the middle of pursuing an aggressive will, accosting people drawing cash
vaccination strategy and its head Asad from banks or ATMs; threatening
Umar has correctly said that at this stage people trapped in traffic jams; and
the virus must be controlled through shooting citizens over resistance to
vaccinations and not through mugging attempts. On Monday alone,
lockdowns. The PPP and PML-N should four people were killed while resisting
therefore display some flexibility in muggers in the metropolis. So rampant
their stance. This would require the has armed mugging become in the city
government to take these parties into that people are advised not to risk their
confidence about the situation of the lives and hand over their cash and
infection and vaccination in AJK and mobiles/valuables to
convince them to agree to a delay in criminals. Moreover, concerns have
polls. This would be the right approach been raised in the Sindh Assembly about
to ensure that the people of Azad the resurgence of armed gangs and the
Kashmir remain safe from any further sale of narcotics in the Lyari area. MMA
surge in the infection. Let us not convert lawmaker Abdul Rasheed, who
a public health issue into a political one.. represents the area, told the house that
police were doing little to curb crime in
Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2021. Lyari..
Karachi street crime - Newspaper - A solid strategy is needed to check the

DAWN.COM increase in street crime in Karachi. The
Editorial 2nd June 2021 city’s new police chief Imran Yaqoob
Minhas, who took office last month, told
OVER the past few decades, Karachi the media that battling street crime was
has witnessed grotesque violence, his top priority. These intentions need to
Page 3 of 15
be translated into action on the unparalleled scale that were echoed far
ground. Patrolling should be increased from American shores in other countries
while cameras should monitor points with a legacy of racist violence..
where muggers are known to strike. The
police need to counter street crime This week’s commemoration revolves
aggressively as too many precious lives around the centenary of the Tulsa
have been lost to trigger-happy massacre, which has been described by a
criminals. As for Lyari, the state needs local historian as an “American
to ensure one of the city’s oldest Kristallnacht”. On May 31-June 1, 1921,
neighbourhoods does not become a Greenwood, a thriving African-
hotbed for criminal gangs once American section of the segregated
again. There must be zero tolerance for Oklahoman town, was razed to the
gang activity and the sale of drugs in the ground..
area. Moreover, the state needs to offer
Greenwood’s relative prosperity led it to
alternatives to the impoverished area’s
being dubbed the ‘Black Wall Street’ —
youths so that they do not fall into the
a red rag to the white supremacist bull
clutches of gangs. Along with better law
that dominated Tulsa. The racists needed
enforcement, educational, sports and
an excuse to live out their
economic activities must be promoted in
fantasies. They found it in a non-event..
Lyari to ensure the area’s people have
avenues for upward mobility.. Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old African
American shoeshine boy in downtown
Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2021.
Tulsa, needed to empty his bladder. He
headed for the only nearby facility for
Living history - Newspaper -
blacks, in what was known as the Drexel
DAWN.COM
Building. He apparently tripped as he
By Mahir Ali entered the elevator, and inadvertently
touched the arm or shoulder of the 17-
LAST week the United States marked year-old elevator operator, Sarah Page..
the first anniversary of the very public
murder of George Floyd. The The Tulsa massacre has
inescapable brutality of the police been called the ‘American
killing sparked protests on an Kristallnacht’..
Page 4 of 15
She screamed, and Rowland sprinted out bodies floating down the Arkansas
of the building. Someone called the River, and mass graves are still being
police, and Rowland was subsequently unearthed 100 years later. .
arrested. The local afternoon rag, the
Tulsa Tribune, published a lurid report The atrocity included the first instance
the following day, alleging a sexual of an American city being bombed from
assault, and an incendiary editorial the air, as biplanes dropped incendiary
headlined ‘To Lynch Negro Tonight’.. turpentine shells on to buildings and
streets in Greenwood. (The napalm
A burgeoning mob thirsting for indiscriminately showered on Vietnam
vengeance thronged to the city had not yet been invented.).
courthouse. A much smaller contingent
of black World War I veterans turned up To their credit, the Tulsa sheriff and his
to protect Rowland. They were turned black deputy spirited Rowland safely
away, but as they were leaving a shot out of the state, and the charges against
was fired — in anger, or perhaps him were dropped a few months
accidentally. That’s when all hell broke later. Page, the supposed victim, wrote a
loose, and 16 hours later Greenwood letter exonerating him. It has even been
was a smouldering ruin.. claimed that the two of them were not
only well acquainted, but intended to
Scott Ellsworth, the aforementioned defy the law against interracial
historian, says the first time he saw a marriage..
photograph of the aftermath, “it looked
just like Nagasaki or Hiroshima or Be that as it may, what cannot be denied
Frankfurt”. The hotels, cinemas, clinics, is the continuum between the Tulsa
pharmacies and groceries were all massacre and the deaths of so many
gone. So were most of the churches. At others before and since the cold-blooded
least 300 people were killed, but the murder of Floyd. The main culprit has
death toll is disputed. . been found guilty — which in itself is an
unusual judicial outcome, given that
A substantial proportion of the most police officers continue to go scot-
community simply disappeared. Some free after killing black citizens. But the
fled to neighbouring states, but the fate systemic racism that Joe Biden
of others remains unknown. There were
Page 5 of 15
acknowledges remains pretty much the “solemn centennial”, President

undiminished.. Biden has called on “the American
people to reflect on the deep roots of
Of course, the Tulsa massacre itself did racial terror … and recommit to the
not come out of the blue. Embedded in it work of rooting out systemic racism”. .
were the entire legacy of slavery — the
perpetuation of which was a key The stated intent is admirable, even if it
motivation for the war of independence comes from someone who had no
— and the white supremacist backlash qualms about befriending segregationist
that followed its bitterly . fellow senators such as Strom
Thurmond. Whether it is anything more
contested abolition and accompanied the than lip service to a worthy cause
brief triumph of the late 19th-century remains to be seen. But the alternative is
Reconstruction.. writ large in the living history of the
United States of America. .
It comes as no surprise to discover that
the Ku Klux Klan used the Tulsa mahir.dawn@gmail.com.
massacre as a recruiting tool — or that
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis looked upon Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2021.
Jim Crow as a role model..
Muslim-Jewish ties - Newspaper -
The Tulsa massacre was effectively DAWN.COM
wiped out from history, referred to in
By Muhammad Ali Saddiqui
hushed tones by white families as a
‘riot’ or ‘race riot’ rather than a pogrom,
THROUGHOUT history, Muslims and
and edited out of conversations by black
Jews have lived in peace, in sharp
families when children were
contrast to the persecution the followers
around. Most descendants of the victims
of Judaism suffered during the 2,000
and survivors knew next to nothing
years of their life in Europe’s
about it until they were adults..
ghettoes. That Arabs and Jews were
The USSR began filling up the ‘blank Semites only partly explains the reason
pages of history’ in the Gorbachev for Muslim tolerance; Turks and
era. It’s taken longer in the US. Marking
Page 6 of 15
Persians aren’t Semites, but they treated Financial problems often

the Jews with respect.. led the Arabs to seek
Jewish cooperation..
One major reason why the Arabs valued
and sought Jewish cooperation was the The change in power structure from the
financial problem faced by the Umayyad Arabs to the various Turkic tribes didn’t
caliphate stretching from Iberia to affect the Jewish people. When the first
Sindh. Lacking experience in Crusade took Palestine (1099) it had a
governance, the Arabs had to rely on the Christian majority, but the European
Jews and Persians because of their vast knights slaughtered the Jews as well,
experience in the collection and and it was Saladin who brought them
management of revenues. The caliphate back. Also at Saladin’s court was the
didn’t have a coinage of its own, and all greatest Jewish thinker, Maimonides
official transactions were done in (Moses ben Maimon), who was born in
Roman and Persian (and partly Spain. The finest account of Moorish
Ethiopian) coins. It was on Jewish Spain as a joint Arab-Jewish enterprise
commendation that the Arabs moved in is given by Eban, whose book dwells at
that direction, and the first Arab coin length on Spanish society and the
was minted during the reign of Abdul cultural activity of the elite of which the
Malik bin Marwan (ruled 685-705). That Jews were an integral part..
the coin, called ‘dinar’ (derived from
Roman denarius) had Jewish symbols, As in Palestine, so in Spain, as
including the menorah, shows their theReconquista began, Jews, too, had
influence with Arab rulers.. their throats slit. When he heard of this
genocide, Ottoman sultan Bayazit II
As Abba Eban in his fascinating book, wondered how Ferdinand and Isabella
My People, remarks, under Muslim rule could kill the goose that laid the golden
“world Jewry entered into a new period egg. Bayazit then offered asylum to the
of physical and intellectual persecuted Jews in his empire. Today’s
expansion. […T]he Jews not only Bulgarian Jews are the descendants of
retained their ancestors’ creed but the Spanish Jews who the Ottoman
gained new strength in the land of sultan had offered asylum..
Muslim conquest”..
Page 7 of 15
Throughout the Middle Ages and right covering the trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a
up to the modern times, the periodic French Jew accused of spying for
massacre of Jews was a regular feature Prussia, heard the crowd shouting: “à
of European life. In his book, The First mort les, Juifs!” (“Death to the Jews!).
Crusade, Thomas Asbridge quotes an
eyewitness as saying that Jews were In Russia in 1881, writes Tuchman, “a
“killed like oxen and dragged through mass savagery on a scale and to a degree
the marketplaces and streets like sheep of brutality unknowns since the Middle
to the slaughter”. As Crusaders planned Ages exploded upon the Jews”. Hitler,
to go to the holy land, a Jewish she says, “added the concentration
chronicler summed up their feelings in camps and the gas chambers but
these words: “here are the Jews dwelling otherwise he invented nothing. It had all
among us, whose ancestors killed [Jesus been done before in Czarist Russia.”.
Christ] and crucified him
How have a section of descendants of
groundlessly. Let’s take vengeance upon
the European Jews responded to the
them. Let us wipe them out as a
Muslim goodwill mentioned above?
nation. Israel’s name will be mentioned
Here are two quotes: Menachem Begin,
no more. Or else let them be like us and
one of Zionism’s ruthless murderers,
acknowledge [Christ]”..
told the New York Times Palestinians
Such was the ‘sadistic persecution’ of would be crushed “like grasshoppers
the Jews and the geographical expanse ... heads smashed against the boulders
of the flames of death and destruction and walls”, while Rafael Eitan, chief of
that Asbridge quoting other authorities staff of the Israeli Defence Forces
calls it “the first holocaust”. As Barbara (1978-83), expressed himself thus:
Tuchman points out in her book Bible “When we have settled the land, all the
and Sword, by the Third Crusade (1190) Arabs will be able to do about will be to
“the association of Crusade and pogrom scurry around like drugged cockroaches
was automatic”.. in a bottle.” And here is Robert Fisk at
Sabra-Chatila: “Women lying … with
The coming of modern times made no their skirts torn up their waists […],
difference to the plight of European children with their throats cut, rows of
Jews. In the 1890s, Theodor Herzl, young men shot in the back […]. There
Page 8 of 15
were babies — blackened babies that the fatality rate was 0.3 per cent)
because they had been slaughtered more was that there were 539m cases in India
than 24 hours earlier… .” . and that 1.6m people had died. Finally,
the worst-case scenario (based on the
The writer is Dawn’s External premise that every reported case meant
Ombudsman.. 26 unreported cases and a fatality rate of
0.6pc) suggested that a whopping
700.7m cases of Covid-19 infection and
4.2m deaths..
Defeated by data - Newspaper -
DAWN.COM The Indian political class, dominated as
By Rafia Zakria it is by supporters of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and his BJP government,
RECENTLY, as India’s battle against were furious at NYT’s audacity in
Covid-19 raged on, the New York second-guessing the government’s
Times published a damning report numbers. Sadly, with most opposition
regarding the death and disease statistics voices decimated in India’s emerging
that India was offering up as ‘official’ Hindu theocracy, it appears that only
figures. According to the NYT article, foreign media are able to raise such
various statistical models revealed that questions. The fact that the government
the Indian government was vastly numbers are very likely to be inaccurate
undercounting the numbers of the dead is widely known given the discrepancy
and diseased. Official Indian figures had between cremated and buried bodies and
listed 26.9 million cases and 307, 231 the official death counts. But who can
deaths. Using their models, NYT dare question a government that has
statisticians said that even based on arrested people for things like using
conservative estimations the actual Twitter to get blood donations for their
number of cases was likely to be 404.2m family members or putting up posters
cases and 600,000 deaths. . critical of the Modi government?.
A more likely scenario (based on the Analysts have found that

premise that for every reported case data in various official
there were 20 that were unreported and
Page 9 of 15
publications is often not the and Living Standard Measurement and

same.. the Pakistan Demographic and Health
Survey did not provide the same data
The whole issue presents a problem that measurements for each indicator. Take
is common in South Asia. In a culture for instance the category ‘deliveries with
where the value of empiricism is not skilled birth attendants’ (in Sindh) in
quite believed, the truth is what the 2012-2013. The value was listed as 53pc
powerful say it is. In Pakistan, this has in the PSLM and 61pc in the
traditionally been the Pakistani defence PDHS. Deliveries which have skilled
establishment and its various sponsored birth attendants have much better
civilian leaders; in India it is the outcomes for mothers and their babies,
theocratic BJP. The desi powerful know but service provision in this sector is
that controlling the narrative of a crisis impossible if no one knows how many
is more important to their goal of are actually carried out. .
maintaining power than actually solving
a crisis; they have misused this equation Similarly, the indicator for fully
to such an extent that the fact of their immunised children (12 to 23 months,
manipulations of data is well known. In and again in Sindh) for 2006-2007 was
fact, few in the countries they control also debatable; it was listed as 65pc in
have any trust in the data that is the PSLM database and only 37pc in the
provided on crucial matters. . PDHS. The discrepancies are huge and
it is impossible to tell which (if any) of
It follows then that in the past several the numbers are to be believed and made
months when Pakistanis make note of the basis of future calculations..
the number of Covid-19 cases they
include caveats like ‘according This lack of respect for statistical
to’. These are apt qualifiers. . accuracy, can like most of our flaws, be
pinned on colonialism. The British
Data analysts that have taken a closer pioneered the premise of data as the
look at health issues have found for means of controlling the
instance that data in various official population. Soon after they arrived, they
publications is often not the set off a huge data-gathering operation
same. Writing in this paper, Waqas that would become the basis of their
Younas found that the Pakistan Social
Page 10 of 15
administrative state. The numbers of this Recognising the value of data and its
or that caste in each state, the numbers integral role in our present and future
of Hindus and the numbers of Muslims, also means we would be better able to
the exact size of the acreage belonging evaluate tricky deals presented by
to this or that dissolute prince all were foreign powers. Should we allow a
known to the white people who certain country to lay fibreglass cables
ultimately ruled the subcontinent for two that transmit the data from millions of
centuries. The subcontinent’s consumers? Would it be a better national
introduction to data science (of the sort security decision to ensure that a state
that enabled the British to shape the maintains rights to the data of its
nature of ‘reality’) was not a friendly citizens? Sadly, the way things are we
handshake. . will never know. .
That was a long time ago. We are at a Government functionaries will keep
point where we inhabit a world ruled by postulating numbers that will please
data where data is power and power we their immediate bosses in a perpetual
know is money. This means that instead chain of deception. The consequence is
of not presenting accurate data, in many a subcontinent that is suspended in the
cases fudging it, countries in the region past, in suspicions and recriminations
must make peace with numbers and the from the colonial era, looking for easy
necessity of having the correct wins and taking shortcuts to the sort of
figures. Super computers and advanced short-lived stints in power that win
modelling software that exist today has battles but lose wars. .
made it possible to use acquired data to
predict future needs and hazards a The writer is an attorney teaching
population could face. For instance, if constitutional law and political
there were more accurate statistics for philosophy..
health, governments would be better
rafia.zakaria@gmail.com.
able to predict future surges in disease
patterns and prevent some of them with Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2021.
targeted vaccination programmes..
Page 11 of 15
Redefining Pak-US relations - two-decade-long war in the region. Fast-

Newspaper - DAWN.COM changing regional geopolitics including
By Zahid Hussain Pakistan’s growing strategic nexus with
China may also cast a shadow over the
WITH the last of the American soldiers Biden administration’s policy towards
packing to leave Afghanistan, post-9/11 Islamabad..
US-Pakistan relations have come full
There is no likelihood of
circle. Originally touted as a strategic
any major shift in
alliance, it morphed into a transactional
American policy towards
one over the years. With American
Pakistan..
forces leaving Afghanistan, there is now
a move to reset the alignment. There is, It has been six months since the Biden
however, no indication yet of the administration took over, but there has
relationship moving away from the not been any contact between the two
Afghan pivot. . erstwhile allies at the highest
level. Except for a few telephonic
While the foreign policy priorities of the
conversations between senior American
Biden administration are more or less
officials and the Pakistani civil and
defined, there is no likelihood of any
military leadership that largely revolved
major shift in its policy towards
around Afghan conflict, there have not
Pakistan. For the past several years,
been any serious negotiations that could
Washington has seen Pakistan purely
define the framework of the future
from the Afghan prism and there is no
course of bilateral ties..
indication that the Biden administration
will be deviating from that policy Lot of importance has been attached to
approach.. the recent meeting between US National
Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his
Relations are likely to remain largely
Pakistani counterpart Moeed Yusuf in
transactional with some convergence of
Geneva. It was the first face-to-face
interest between the two in the Afghan
high-level official contact between the
peace process. Pakistan’s support
two governments. The meeting was
remains critical for America’s exit from
reportedly held at very short notice. Jack
Afghanistan and to bring to an end the
Page 12 of 15
Sullivan was attending a conference in planes in the invasion of

the Swiss city. . Afghanistan. But those were closed
down several years ago. .
A short joint statement issued after the
talks said: “Both sides discussed a range Pakistan has also provided ground and
of bilateral, regional, and global issues air lines of communication for supplies
of mutual interest and discussed ways to to Nato forces operating in
advance practical cooperation.” There is, Afghanistan. But they were closed for
however, no indication yet of the Biden the supply of weapons. Pakistani
administration willing to redefine its officials have denied that any
relationship with Pakistan beyond negotiation on military bases is being
America’s regional security prism.. held with Washington. But the
controversy over the issue refuses to
Pakistan is not only still important for die. .
the US for a smooth exit from
Afghanistan but also for its post- It remains unclear whether or not US
withdrawal security plans in the Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin
region. In a recent statement, a Pentagon raised the issue of bases in his last
spokesman said that the Biden telephonic conversation with army chief
administration is in negotiations with Gen Qamar Bajwa. The US officials
Pakistan and other regional countries on would not comment on whether any
the option of having US bases there.. serious negotiations on a ‘possible
basing agreement’ is underway..
Apparently, the US wants a presence in
the region as part of its efforts to counter But it is very clear that the US wants to
the global terrorist groups making ‘stay in the game’ in Afghanistan and
Afghanistan the centre of their activities sees a role for Pakistan in this game. US
after the withdrawal of foreign Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a
forces. Washington also wants Pakistan recent interview to BBC declared that it
to continue providing the US overflight was in Pakistan’s own interest to do
access to Afghanistan after the troops’ so. He made it very clear that the US
withdrawal. Surely after entering into an was only withdrawing its troops from
alliance with the US after 9/11 Pakistan the country and was not leaving
did allow the use of its airbases for US Afghanistan. .
Page 13 of 15
This makes Pakistan’s predicament of spiralling instability and conflict in

more serious. The Afghan endgame Afghanistan could be disastrous..
remains tricky with the postponement of
the peace conference in Istanbul after Meanwhile, changing regional
the Afghan Taliban’s refusal to attend geopolitics have created a new
it. This has jeopardised the possibility of alignment of forces. The growing
the Afghan government and the strategic alliance between the US and
insurgent group reaching an agreement India and the China-Pakistan axis reflect
on the future political set-up in these emerging geopolitics. Pakistan
Afghanistan before the American needs to tread a cautious path as it seeks
withdrawal. The situation has become to reset its relations with the United
more complicated with the insurgents States..
continuing their military offensive as the
Surely we must cooperate with the US
US is expected to complete the
in achieving peace in Afghanistan but
withdrawal of forces by July 4, weeks
it’s not in our interest to become part of
before the Sept 11 deadline..
any new US ‘game’ in the region. The
Inevitably, the withdrawal of American use of Pakistani soil for America’s post-
forces from Afghanistan will have a withdrawal counter-insurgency strategy
huge impact on regional geopolitics. The could suck the country into yet another
country’s strategic location has conflict. .
historically made it vulnerable to the
We certainly need to have a broad-based
involvement of outside powers and
relationship with the US but should not
proxy battles..
get pulled into any new ‘game’ on
A major concern has been that the America’s behalf. The resetting of our
American military withdrawal could relationship with America will certainly
lead Afghanistan to further descend into not be easy. We need to be extremely
chaos fuelling a full-scale civil war with clear about our interests and priorities
India, Russia and Iran backing different when negotiating the terms of the
factions and dragging Pakistan into a relationship. .
protracted conflict. The spillover effects
Page 14 of 15
The writer is the author of No-Win War

— The Paradox of US-Pakistan
Relations in Afghanistan’s Shadow..
zhussain100@yahoo.com.
Twitter: @hidhussain.
Page 15 of 15

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Dawn Editorials & Opinions

Publications Ordinance 1963. “This has

Clause after clause in the proposed law

NCOC wades into political waters — including targeted killings, political,

Karachi street crime - Newspaper - A solid strategy is needed to check the

acknowledges remains pretty much the “solemn centennial”, President

Persians aren’t Semites, but they treated Financial problems often

A more likely scenario (based on the Analysts have found that

publications is often not the and Living Standard Measurement and

Redefining Pak-US relations - two-decade-long war in the region. Fast-

Sullivan was attending a conference in planes in the invasion of

This makes Pakistan’s predicament of spiralling instability and conflict in

The writer is the author of No-Win War

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2021.

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