TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 14, 2020

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Editorial | Jul 14 2020

AFTER a considerable lull, polio eradication efforts will once again resume in Pakistan.
Before the novel coronavirus pandemic gripped the world and diverted much of its
attention and resources, Pakistan had been witnessing a spike in the total number of
new polio cases. While the figure had been reduced to eight in 2017, then going up to 12
in 2018, 147 new cases were tallied at the end of 2019, and the health ministry was
forced to admit a resurgence of a previously eliminated strain of the crippling virus.
Even as all polio eradication activities had been halted in March 2020, barring
surveillance, and efforts were redirected to support the battle against the novel
coronavirus, the number of polio cases kept increasing. Seven months into 2020,
around 60 cases have already been reported across the country, in all the provinces.
The polio eradication programme is now set to resume on July 20, and in certain
districts, door-to-door campaigns will incorporate awareness about the Covid-19
pandemic, so that families can better protect themselves from the infection and
prevent the virus from spreading within their communities. As with polio eradication
efforts, misinformation, disinformation and outright lies have surrounded the
response to the novel coronavirus, and as new information comes to light with each
passing week, it is important for the public to stay updated, follow protocols by health
experts, and be aware of the risks. Of course, it is expected that all SOPs will be
followed by the programme when the vaccinators pick up where they left off.

We may not yet have a vaccine against Covid-19, but a vaccine against poliomyelitis has
existed since the 1950s. Its creator famously refused to patent it, saying ‘the people’ owned
the patent. But beyond vaccination, the spread of many diseases, including Covid-19 and
polio, has in some part been attributed to poor hygiene and sanitary conditions, and the
inaccessibility of clean water. This will also need to be addressed.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020

 TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 14, 2020

The power game

Editorial | Jul 14 2020

AS summer drags on, there seems to be little respite for the people of Karachi where
power cuts — scheduled and otherwise — are concerned. This is despite the fact that
the prime minister himself has taken notice of the shambolic state of affairs,
instructing his aides to take up the matter with K-Electric, the megalopolis’ sole power
provider. However, despite assurances by the utility to officials, little has improved.
Various political parties have also taken up cudgels against the power firm, accusing it
of unscheduled and frequent load-shedding, as well as sending inflated bills to
consumers. The Jamaat-i-Islami, PTI and MQM-P, amongst others, have either held
protests in front of KE headquarters in the city, or taken out processions elsewhere to
highlight the suffering people have to go through without electricity during the
unforgiving Karachi summer. The federal energy ministry has clearly blamed KE for
the mess, saying that the privatised utility is criticising the government for its own
shortcomings. In a statement, the ministry said KE has not made the requisite
investment in its distribution system, which is why it is not able to take extra power
available on the national grid. For its part, KE has at times complained of a shortage of
furnace oil, at others of short supply from the national grid.

For the common citizen, these technicalities matter little when many pay their power bill on
time every month, yet do not get uninterrupted electricity supply, especially during the
gruelling summer months. Moreover, with thousands of people self-isolating at home due to
Covid-19, the issue assumes a more acute dimension. During protests, some parties have
called for the re-nationalisation of KE; indeed, the federal planning minister said as much
while meeting KE officials over the weekend, telling them the government could take control
of the firm if it failed to get its act together. This is a debatable proposition, as the
performance of government power companies in other parts of Sindh — Hesco, Sepco — is
also far from exemplary. What is needed is clear communication between the state and KE
focusing on the point that citizens must get what they pay for: uninterrupted power supply.
If emergencies necessitate load-shedding, it must be kept to a bare minimum and publicised
in advance. Otherwise, there is merit in the argument of opening up Karachi’s power
distribution sector to more than one provider.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020

 TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 14, 2020

Housing scheme
Editorial | Jul 14 2020

THE policy and fiscal incentives announced by the PTI government to push
construction activity has two objectives. First, the ruling party is desperate to deliver
on its promise of building 5m affordable housing units for low- to middle-income
families. Soon to complete its second year, the government is still struggling to launch
its ambitious Naya Pakistan Housing Programme. Some urban public housing schemes
announced in Punjab under its banner, for example, have either been abandoned or
have yet to see the light of day. Secondly, the PTI is anxious on account of the economic
slowdown that set in shortly after it came to power. The stringent stabilisation policies
imposed by the IMF deal had further decelerated growth before Covid-19 sent the
economy spiralling into recession. The prime minister now hopes to lift the economic
gloom, kick-start growth and create jobs by spurring construction activity in
affordable housing. But can he?

Ideally, such incentives as a blanket amnesty on investments by end December, a price

subsidy of Rs300,000 per unit on the first 100,000 low-cost homes costing up to Rs2.5m,
interest rate subsidy for five-marla and 10-marla houses for five years, allocating Rs330bn
for housing finance by banks, and substantial tax relief given by the centre and the
provinces to developers and builders should revive projects. But that is unlikely to happen in
the short term, at least not in the way the government is hoping for. Such policies have
seldom worked.

For starters, the demand for housing remains depressed because of the uncertainty induced
by Covid-19 as reflected in consumer surveys in recent months. On the supply side, there’s
little evidence to suggest the presence of a sufficient appetite for large investments despite
generous incentives. As far as mortgage financing is concerned, banks are not likely to take
the credit risk unless strict foreclosure laws ensuring minimum judicial intervention are
enacted to enable banks to swiftly recover their money in case of default. Even if everything
goes according to script, the incentives package will add to the existing urban sprawl,
benefiting affluent people and developers/investors rather than create low-cost housing for
low-income segments. A better way of channelising private investment in truly affordable
housing lies in the government leasing out unused state land in urban and semi-urban areas
along railway tracks, highways, motorways, etc for 100 years or more at nominal rentals to
developers for constructing high-rises with two- to three-bed units. Such projects should be
equipped with education, health and entertainment facilities along with commercial areas.
Initially, the government may encourage construction of such housing complexes for its
employees up to Grade-16, lien-marking their post-retirement benefits as security to ease
investors’ concerns. Once the foreclosure laws and mortgage finance industry are
restructured, and an enabling environment created, this model could be replicated for the
rest of the population without any financial burden on the exchequer.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020

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 TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 14, 2020

For children
Shazminay Durrani | Kayhan Qaiser | Jul 14 2020

ROMANTICISED for our transformative potential and criticised for our passivity,
Pakistan’s youth resides in a tumultuous space where many pin hopes but few engage
with the complexities. Our inaction disappoints but does not push people to
understand what makes young citizens so aware and yet so inactive.

A simplistic answer is perceived disinterest. If we dig deeper, however, we realise it is more

of a pragmatic surrender to things that will never change. This widening gap between
leaders and the youth troubles few because the worth of proximity is unknown. Oscillating
between the discomforts of silence and the futility of questioning, young people take a
backseat. But some incidents compel us to go beyond the comforts of collective amnesia,
resist the languages we know too well, and hope a little more.

On May 31, eight-year-old Zohra Shah was allegedly murdered by her employers for
releasing their parrots from a cage. Prior to this incident, her bodily autonomy was violated,
and her abuse documented. Although it generated some outrage, such cases don’t feel
unusual anymore. It was only in December 2016 that we were appalled by Tayabba’s case.
Nor are these isolated incidents. There are too many untold stories of children’s plight in this
country.

Children’s rights are outliers in Pakistan’s human rights discourse. We have only just seen
some skin-deep discussion on the issue; the first ever commission on children’s rights was
notified earlier this year, and met for the first time last month. The Zainab Alert, Response
and Recovery Act was recently passed with great fanfare, but the agency tasked with
implementation is inactive. The Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) seeks to amend the
Employment of Children Act (ECA), 1991, to formally include domestic labour as a form of
hazardous work.

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A commitment to justice must reveal a

mindset for reform.

All this looks promising on paper but remains bleak in practice, limiting youth engagement
to hashtags and rhetoric. While it is important to call for justice for Zohra, we must go
beyond our tendency to limit accountability to perpetrators and pay heed to a system that
enables such endemic degeneracy. A commitment to justice must reveal a mindset for
reform that seeks to prevent such incidents in the future. We cannot keep applying
bandages; we must pivot to prevent the cuts.

Young people must consider the following approaches to propel any meaningful change:

1. A commitment to revise Article 11(3) of the Constitution to raise the legal working
age and include domestic labour as formal work. Amending the ECA will have little
to no impact on provinces, as the multiple definitions of ‘child’ will continue to
complicate implementation and regulation. While amendments require time and
will, there has to be a pursuit to achieve this. The article should be amended to
ensure consistency and countrywide compliance, with a defined code of working
conditions, hours and wages stipulated by a written contract.
2. The National Commission on the Rights of the Child must develop an actionable
agenda for child protection with provincial committees. But agendas are futile if
not supported by targeted, on-ground programmes. While most provinces have
 legislation, the relevant departments are far from equipped to take necessary
measures for children’s safety. A structured and cohesive child protection
programme that attends to the dire conditions of shelter homes; includes robust
accountability checks for inspection officers; gathers relevant data; and facilitates
continuous development of front-line officers must be at the forefront of the
immediate agenda.
3. Increase public service messaging on TV, print and digital media to spread
awareness about domestic child labour and abuse. For issues as deeply entrenched
as children’s maltreatment, a sustained commitment to awareness is vital. Short-
lived campaigns do not penetrate long-standing ways of thinking. Constant public
TV messaging that reiterates a zero-tolerance policy for maltreatment and
compels citizens to report cases must be adopted. A platform for young citizens to
initiate a countrywide campaign can help tip the conversation towards education
and safety.

There is no cheap ticket to change. But, there must be an impetus to go beyond superfluous
quick fixes; to have the tough conversations and undertake the frustrating albeit necessary
work of changing mores by truly engaging the citizenry. The MoHR will pursue Zohra’s case
but they need to do more. They must push for the kind of justice that transcends one case
and propels systematic change to alter our course as a nation. They must push the paper to
practice.

Shazminay Durrani is an education consultant. Kayhan Qaiser is a STEM educator and

curriculum adviser. The article has been written on behalf of the non-profit Bachpan Na
Cheeno team.

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Twitter: @ShazminayD

Twitter: @kayhan_qaiser

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020

 TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 14, 2020

Neutral caretakers
Dr Niaz Murtaza | Jul 14 2020

The writer is a fellow with UC Berkeley and heads

INSPIRING Pakistan, a progressive policy unit.

ELECTIONS in developing states often produce major disputes. Pakistan institutes a

neutral caretaker regime before polls. Its caretaker experiences from the 2013 and
2018 polls provide useful tips on how to reduce poll disputes in other developing states.
A review can also help improve the system for Pakistan’s own polls when they are held
next.

In mature democracies, existing regimes continue but with a limited decision-making

mandate before polls. Since institutions are strong, polls under a partisan regime create few
issues, unlike in developing states. Before Pakistan, only Bangladesh had used neutral
caretakers from 1996 to 2011 following electoral issues. The president appointed a chief
adviser from among retired supreme court chief justices and a 10-member cabinet chosen
by her/him. Cabinet members had to be: (i) qualified to run for elections but could not run in
the ensuing election; (ii) non-partisan; and (iii) under 72 years. Even though the president
who appointed the cabinet was earlier elected by political regimes, the detailed criteria for
the caretaker cabinet kept them neutral. Three non-disputed polls were held under this
system before it was oddly nixed. Since then, the 2014 and 2018 polls under partisan regimes
have again been disputed.

Pakistan has a history of poll disputes and caretakers. It held its first national elections
under universal franchise only in 1970 under an interim military regime. The 1973
Constitution didn’t mandate neutral caretakers. The 1977 polls were held under a PPP
caretaker regime, the only polls held under an elected regime in our history. They were
disputed, leading to street protests and martial law. Zia mandated in 1985 that if the
president dissolved the Assembly, he/she could appoint a caretaker cabinet. In 2002,
Musharraf mandated caretakers even with the standard dissolution. Elections between 1985
and 2008 were held under military/military-backed regimes or civilian caretakers appointed
by the president after a regime was dismissed prematurely or had reached term.

The president often appointed active politicians who could even participate in polls being
held under them. Caretakers also often undertook major policy decisions. Laws made during
2008-13 gave the right to appoint caretaker prime ministers and chief ministers to the
respective leaders of the house and the opposition by consensus and in case of discord
among them to parliamentary committees with equal treasury and opposition numbers and
finally to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The law barred caretakers from
contesting or canvassing in the next polls and limited their functions to routine ones. All this
made Pakistan’s caretaker system likely the most elaborate one ever made.

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Our caretaker system is among the most

elaborate ever made.
A look at the processes and outcomes of the 2013 and 2018 polls helps in analysing this
system. Out of the 10 prime ministers/chief ministers appointed across two polls, five were
done consensually by house and opposition leaders. The rest went to the ECP as
parliamentary committees proved ineffective. Appointees included former judges, former
bureaucrats, media figures and one businessman. The two media figures, both Punjab
caretaker chief ministers, proved controversial choices. Creating Bangladesh-type criteria
for prime ministers and chief ministers that limits these positions to senior civilian ex-state
officials may lead to a quicker and less-disputed process, without the parliamentary
committee step. The 2018 caretakers didn’t take major decisions, unlike in 2013.

Major disputes arose about the outcomes of the 2013 and 2018 polls. The 2013 ones were
frivolous PTI charges against the PML-N dismissed by the court. The 2018 ones were
credible, with the European Union reported pre-poll rigging. But such is our politics that the
frivolous 2013 charges led to major street protests and a court inquiry while the 2018 ones
remain uninvestigated given the sway of the accused actors. But there were no credible
rigging charges against the 2013 and 2018 caretakers. Their presence also eliminated rigging
by political caretakers, as in 1977.

Thus, neutral caretakers can be used until civil and state institutions become strong enough
to ensure no rigging by partisan caretakers, as in India. Still, they won’t end the main source
of electoral rigging in Pakistani history, which stems from not politicians but a well-
resourced state institution that is suspected of rigging several national polls. No
constitutional novelty can end rigging by that elephant in the room. But ironically, while this
creative Pakistani improvisation may not end its own main source of rigging, it may reduce
electoral disputes in developing states that luckily don’t have an overbearing state
institutions wanting to control their politics.

The writer is a fellow with UC Berkeley and heads INSPIRING Pakistan, a progressive policy
unit.

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murtazaniaz@yahoo.com

Twitter: @NiazMurtaza2

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020

 TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 14, 2020

A Hindu rashtra without ice

Jawed Naqvi | Jul 14 2020

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

ROHIT Kumar has razed the small house he recently built a short stretch from the
banks of the Kosi River in Bihar. He is saving the bricks for another home once the
swirling waters from the river recede.

The Kosi is known as Bihar’s sorrow for bringing its annual fury from the glaciers and
gorges of the upper Himalayas to the plains of a land where Buddha walked his conscious
steps and cautioned against excessive materialism.

The gradient then tapers and slows Kosi’s flow, as happens with other rivers that originate in
the Himalayas and sustain lives across the Indo-Gangetic plains.

A fear stalking the world, though one hopes the day doesn’t ever come, is that with the
blessings of Narendra Modi, Donald Trump, and similar neoliberal right-wingers such as
their friend Jair Bolsanaro, most riverbeds on our planet could go dry and Rohit Kumar’s
grandchildren might need to search for another water body if there is one to drop anchor.
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Drought and floods are peas in the pod of the planet’s ecology. During a severe drought in
1917-18, the Jhelum River in Kashmir dried up completely. The western Himalayas hold over
48,000 square kilometres of glacier ice, second only to the poles. The Hindukush and
Karakoram ranges sustain millions in their peaks and valleys while spawning the
headwaters of rivers like the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra.

Modi cannot see a world without a daily

plot to win a state assembly or parliament,
come pandemic or high water.

Bolsanaro unsurprisingly was Modi’s chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations, and
Trump was a special visitor the other day. The Brazilian leader has supervised the clearing
of the Amazon forests at the speed of over 100 football fields a day.

Trump never believed in climate change. Had the coronavirus outbreak not foiled his plans,
there would be toxic pipelines running through the most ecologically fragile zones in the US.

Modi is stymied by his innate faith in obscurantism. He cannot see a world without a daily
plot to win a state assembly or parliament, come pandemic or high water. As his advice to
clap hands and bang utensils to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic began to lose its appeal, he
shifted the focus smartly to the elections in Bihar. To win elections, he needs to placate the
business lobbies.

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When UN Secretary General António Guterres spoke last month of reviving post-Covid-19
economies in an ecologically agreeable way, he may have been responding to Modi’s
polluting plans to open up coal mining to the private sector.

Guterres said: “We cannot go back to the way it was and simply recreate the systems that
have aggravated the crisis … There is no good reason, for example, for any country to
include coal in their Covid-19 recovery plans. This is the time to invest in energy sources that
don’t pollute, don’t cause emissions, generate decent jobs and save money.”

Modi has chosen the opposite course. Just when Indians were experiencing the happier spin-
off from the coronavirus pandemic — cleaner air to breathe — a provision in the new deal
removed the caveat to use washed coal. Furore is brewing over alleged permission to carry
out mining in Assam in areas earmarked as forest sanctuaries for elephants.

Of the twin challenges to the planet’s survival — environmental calamity and nuclear
decimation — India finds itself placed in the proximity of both. Purely from a cultural
position this need not have been so. One can understand, though not trust, someone like
Mike Pompeo, who believes it’s God’s will to destroy a rival nation. His bigoted mindset finds
him hating Iran but striking an accord with the lunatic fringe known as the Hojjatiyeh. Both
await the end of the world so that they could head for paradise. Hojjatiyeh plotted to
precipitate a US-Soviet conflict by chucking missiles into the Soviet Union. Khomeini had
them arrested. Who will stop Pompeo?

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Firing Benjamin Netanyahu’s vision is a similar divine promise. East of Jerusalem, and
within sight of both the Temple Mount and the Al Aqsa mosque, lie over a hundred thousand
Jewish graves, ancient and recent. The feet face the city as the resurrection would begin
there, walking them to the Holy City.

Environmental calamity or nuclear extinction must be far from the community of Hindus
whose love for their world of flora and fauna carries them to the point of worshipping both.
There’s no temptation to let the world they worship go up in smoke. Besides, much of Hindu
mythology revolves around verdant forests and snow-clad mountains. The ice stalagmite
worshipped in Kashmir’s Amarnath cave shrine as Shiva’s symbol has often melted into
water. Reports say air conditioners were installed to reduce the heat from the crowds and
warmer summers.

Likewise, the snow-clad Mount Kailash is sacred to Hindus. Since it is located in Tibet,
special visas are offered by China to Hindus to fulfil their pilgrimage. Imagine the
mythological mountain losing its fabled snow cover with climate change. Modi’s vision of a
strong nation is anchored in Hindu rashtra with impregnable borders. How will he stop the
rush of climate refugees from Bangladesh when the rising sea gobbles up the entire delta, or
when the Maldives disappears under the Indian Ocean, and its people call out for help?

Only recently, right in the middle of the India-China fracas, a friendly professor from
Vancouver sent me a book review. The book, World Without Ice by Jonathan Mingle, is a
brilliant synthesis of evidence that leads to worrying conclusions about our future. With the
help of six recent documents — books and reports — Mingle argues forcefully that our
current understanding of the climatic issues are probably fraught with flawed conclusions.

The writer pores with particular interest on the report The Hindukush Himalaya
Assessment, which draws out the physical and political outcomes of melting mountain ice.
People in Modi’s team should read it, even if the book’s import would be more readily
intelligible to Rohit Kumar and his marooned neighbours in Bihar.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@dawn.com
Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020
 TODAY'S PAPER | JULY 14, 2020

Price of ambition in Karachi

Arifa Noor | Jul 14 2020

The writer is a journalist.

I HAVE watched The Godfather trilogy only once. And despite being able to appreciate
the fine performances of actors such as Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the prequel,
the unending popularity of the films has always been hard to understand. But popular
they are. Nearly 50 years later, few would not recognise a reference to the ‘horse in the
bed’ scene or catch on to the ‘sleep with the fishes’ dialogue. The list can go on.

Technical expertise aside, what makes the films so great? (Bollywood has made umpteen
remakes over the decades — unfortunately — and from Feroze Khan to Aamir to Abhishek
Bachchan, all have taken the risk of playing the Pacino role.)

Is it just direction or the iconic scenes or the legendary performances that make the film
great? Or is it the story of a young man being forced into a life he had chosen to stay away
from? How an educated young man who does not want to join the family’s underworld
business is compelled to step in, one decision at a time, till he smoothly transforms into a
‘monster’ who kills without remorse?
This story is perhaps as compelling as that of revenge or redemption or the victory of the
underdog.

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What possessed a young man who once

contested a local election in Lyari to become
a gangster?

However, The Godfather is at some levels a glamorous version of this age-old story. The
grittier versions are not so compelling, perhaps, but are more common than we ever realise.
In bits and pieces, the story of all the young men whose crimes are being bandied about as
we shout, scream and exchange allegations over the Karachi JITs are not very different from
the young Michael Corleone of The Godfather.

As is our wont, our political debates focus on the obvious — who was responsible for the
violence (as if it is not already known) — but little attention is paid to the young men turned
monsters. How did Uzair Jan become Sardar Uzair Baloch? What possessed a young man
who once contested and lost a local election against a PPP candidate in Lyari to become a
gangster who played football with the head of an adversary?

Like Michael Corleone, Uzair Jan joined gang warfare after his father was tortured and killed
by gangsters in Lyari. His father was punished for refusing to pay extortion money for the
security of his transport trucks. And he got lucky later as the ‘death’ of Rehman Dakait
catapulted him to a central position in Lyari.

The information available publicly about Uzair, Rehman Dakait, Arshad Pappu makes it
seem as if the young, ambitious men of Lyari had few choices apart from a life of crime.
News reports say Rehman Dakait dropped out of school in class six and a few years later he
was selling drugs. Drugs led him to murder, and it wasn’t long before he was said to have
even killed his own mother, suspecting her of informing on him.

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But despite his bestial side, he was also known as the Robin Hood of Lyari who built schools
and libraries in the area. In addition to a better neighbourhood, he is also said to have
wanted a better, more respectable future for himself, but an ambition which looked beyond
Lyari cost him his life. He was killed by the police in an encounter and replaced by Uzair.
That is when Uzair Jan became Sardar Uzair Baloch.

Such stories are not just found in Lyari but also the rest of Karachi. The MQM’s rise to power
has also led to many such transformations.

Saulat Mirza, at one time, was no less well known than Uzair Baloch. He too was another of
Karachi’s ambitious young men. As the MQM’s killing machine, his mysterious interviews
from the death cell created as much noise as the JIT is today — but the beans he spilled were
taken to no ‘mantaqi anjam’ (logical conclusion), which is probably what will happen to the
JIT report also.

Mirza’s name was also a byword for violence but, unlike the Lyari gang war, the stories of
how the ‘monsters’ within the MQM were created were rarely covered. The fear of the party
kept one from digging deep (Lyari was not such a no-go area). As a result, little is known
about how Saulat Mirza, a boy from Nazimabad, became a ‘symbol of terror’, as he was
called in a news story. Apparently because he was arrested and tortured by the police in the
early 1990s, said the story.

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Or what prompted Hammad Siddiqi to become a man who could cold-bloodedly order a
factory to be burnt down?

There is little detail to be found about either of them, but a story in Laurent Gayer’s book on
Karachi throws some light on how their stories may have progressed. Gayer tells of a young
man named Iqbal — the author doesn’t use his real name — who was not even Urdu-
speaking though he had grown up in Karachi. A college dropout, he was picked up by the
police after a demonstration. In jail, inmates from the MQM protected him and later in 2001
he joined the party when his father encouraged him to contest the local government
elections as a career opportunity. From there, it was but a short time before he became
involved in the party’s militant activities.

Perhaps the others too have similar stories, which led them down this path of violence. But
each story is linked to Karachi in some way or the other, a city which offers violence as the
quickest — and for some the only — route to a better life. (Karachi is not alone in this; any
urban metropolis will have similar stories). Till the cities offer better opportunities to young
men, political parties and militant groups will always find cannon fodder for their nefarious
ends — and the Supreme Court judgments on Karachi write that all the parties were
involved in it. Young men will be used and then dumped and replaced. And while parties can
and will be blamed for an Uzair or a Saulat Mirza, who do we blame for the larger failure?

The writer is a journalist.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020