DAWN Editorials - 8th february2025

[faheemustad]

Dhanmondi attack

HISTORY has shown that unless states deliver development and equal rights to all, disenfranchised people can target even supposedly cherished symbols of the state to vent their frustration. A recent example of this was seen in Bangladesh, when enraged mobs set fire on Wednesday to the Dhanmondi residence in Dhaka of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founder and maker of that country. Though Mujibur Rahman’s residence was also torched last year during protests against Sheikh Hasina’s government, this time the edifice was demolished after Ms Hasina made a controversial speech online. The ex-PM, who is also the Sheikh’s daughter, is currently in India, and tensions were inflamed in Bangladesh when she called on people to resist the interim administration. Dhaka has lodged a strong protest with New Delhi over Sheikh Hasina’s speech.

It is sobering that to many Bangladeshis, the Sheikh’s residence now represents a “fascist stronghold”. Unfortunately, Ms Hasina and the Awami League have mostly themselves to blame, as her authoritarian rule excluded many Bangladeshis from equitably partaking in the fruits of economic progress, while political freedoms were also curtailed. It is also true that after separating from Pakistan, Sheikh Mujib would, in January 1975, create a one-party state in Bangladesh, stunting the country’s democratic development. In a dark turn of events, in August 1975 the Sheikh and most of his family members would be brutally massacred in the same Dhanmondi house by mutineers. Bangladesh needs to move on from the Awami League’s heavy-handed rule and return to full democratic rule. Dr Muhammad Yunus’s administration should stick to the timeline announced for elections — late 2025 or early 2026 — to ensure a proper democratic transition. Both the interim set-up and the future elected government must prioritise justice and inclusivity over vengeance. Moreover, the recent events at Dhanmondi offer a lesson for all regional states: when the population is pushed to the edge through exclusionary policies, one can expect an explosion of public anger.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2025


Wheat decision

THE federal decision to stop setting the minimum support price for wheat and cease the staple’s procurement operations from this year was much delayed. Politically tough as this policy shift is, multilateral lenders had been putting pressure on Islamabad to fully deregulate agricultural commodity markets since the late 1990s to address distortions impeding the sector’s productivity potential. Both military and civilian governments had resisted the shift to avoid the public fallout, until the ongoing IMF funding programme thrust it on the current administration as a key structural policy reform to be implemented by June 2026. That the government has finally agreed to gradually exit the agricultural commodity markets became clear when Punjab decided against purchasing wheat last year, despite farmers’ protests amid crashing prices.

Wheat price setting and procurement operations had been carried out since the 1960s to protect farmers from sudden price fluctuations and guarantee them a minimum return during periods of surplus and deficit. Besides, they were used to stabilise the staple’s supply to ensure food security and safeguard urban consumers by fixing retail flour prices. But these goals put a huge financial cost on the exchequer, with the centre and provinces spending a lot on procurement operations, with exceptionally high incidental expenditures on storage, freight, and interest payments on bank loans. Wastage and pilferage were other issues adding to the costs. Nonetheless, the massive subsidy the government paid as a price for its interventions in the wheat market is not the only basis for the argument for policy reforms. Its intervention in agricultural commodities, especially the wheat trade, made the sector unresponsive to changing technology and farming practices, increased price volatility, encouraged hoarding, misallocated resources, and burdened the budget. Ironically, farmers have not benefited from this policy. The bulk of subsidies was pocketed by middlemen, flour millers, and corrupt officials. The impending shift will indeed create chaos in the market in the short term before it adapts itself to the new realities. The savings will give policymakers the fiscal space to invest in high-yield seed varieties, and help farmers adopt new technologies to improve productivity, slash production costs and, consequently, consumer prices. If the government must intervene, it should only be for addressing market inefficiencies and ensuring food security.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2025


A year later

IT was what one may safely describe as a ‘memorable’ occasion. Exactly a year ago today, adult-aged Pakistanis from all faiths, cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes had headed to their assigned polling stations to cast their ballots in a much-delayed general election.

It was remarkable how many expectations they ended up defying that day. One recalls the unannounced blackout of all mobile communication services, enforced by the authorities shortly before polls opened, which had left people without access to vital election-related information and unable to contact their friends and families.


It was not enough to deter the over 59 million citizens intent on having their voices heard that day. One also recalls the smug predictions of television pundits and the surveys fed to the media in the run-up to election day. None of them prepared the nation for the coup ordinary Pakistanis pulled off merely with the help of a stamp and a ballot paper.

No observer can honestly deny that the last election’s results were highly unexpected.

Considerable effort was made to keep one party out of the race. The party’s leadership was jailed, its workers picked up, its electoral symbol withdrawn, and its candidates, even after being forced to declare themselves independents, not allowed to campaign.

If the previous elections were manipulated — perhaps by the same elements — to bring the PTI to power, they went out of their way to ensure that it did not have any chance this time around.

Despite all their machinations, however, the PTI ended up winning an unexpectedly large chunk of the popular vote.

The results announced two things: one, that Pakistan’s youth had finally arrived on the political scene, and two, that ordinary voters had overwhelmingly rejected the narratives set by the powers of the day. In this sense, the 2024 election was indeed a historic one.


Much went wrong after Feb 8, 2024, mainly because responsible individuals within the Pakistani state refused to come to terms with the country’s changed realities.

However, though the injustices that followed the last general election cannot be forgotten, it is equally important to start thinking about what must now be done to mitigate their effects.

The country has continued to march on a path of implosion, unable to contain the dissonance created by a conflict between what those controlling the state want and what the people want for themselves. Unless this fundamental conflict is resolved, the country will not be at peace with itself.

A war of egos has been fought between a handful of individuals at the cost of the well-being of millions of ordinary Pakistanis. This unnecessary war must be called to an end. The people of Pakistan have been wronged for too long. They need a change.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2025