DAWN Editorials - 26th January 2025

[faheemustad]

A free lunch

THE federal government appears to have gone back on its word to rescind the facility of free electricity for both in-service and retired power sector employees, judges, bureaucrats, public office holders, and others. This is obvious from a written response submitted before the National Assembly by the Power Division in reply to a lawmaker’s query. Justifying free electricity for employees of the government-owned power sector, it said that the provision, like medical and accommodation facilities, was part of the terms and conditions of employment and in accordance with practices in public and corporate sectors.

Each year, around 441.5m units of free electricity is given to 200,000 employees in the public sector, including state-owned corporations. Of these, 308.2m units of free electricity are given to existing employees, while 133.2m units are provided to retired employees. Who bears the cost of this largesse? Other consumers. The cost of free electricity to employees across the country’s energy infrastructure is incorporated into the operations and maintenance charge on top of massive system losses as part of the consumer tariff; a similar facility allowed to the others is paid by the government from taxpayers’ money. The resistance within the government to any proposal to withdraw the freebies — free electricity, transport, housing, and other perks — which are being enjoyed by bureaucrats is understandable. Various past proposals to monetise the perks of bureaucrats have met with severe opposition and have been abandoned in spite of the heavy cost to taxpayers. Effecting change and upending the status quo has always been a difficult task. But it is the job of the political leadership to scrutinise the costs and benefits of these perks, overcome the resistance and get the beneficiaries to pay upfront for these facilities. Sadly, no government has been able to reform the bureaucracy and strip it of costly freebies due to lack of political will.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025



Murder on the seas

IT is time Pakistan asserted itself more forcefully and played a bigger role in busting international human trafficking networks. As a wide crackdown continues across the country, it has emerged that most of the 44 Pakistanis who perished in the recent Moroccan boat tragedy died at the hands of African smugglers, who reportedly tortured and murdered their ‘cargo’ while ferrying them from Mauritania to Europe. Around half a dozen suspects have reportedly been picked up by the Moroccan navy, who have initiated legal proceedings against them under local laws. However, this should not be enough for Pakistani authorities, who must pursue this case till its logical end and get justice for the murdered souls by making sure these merchants of misery can never ply their evil trade again. Meanwhile, the crackdown on human smugglers within Pakistan must not stop; any individual found involved in the transnational trafficking trade should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The authorities have identified smuggling hotspots. They must now map the networks, identify those involved, disable this trade, and create strict deterrents to ensure such tragedies do not recur.

It is commendable that the prime minister has taken a personal interest in this tragedy. He has also taken it upon himself to head a special task force formed to combat human trafficking syndicates in the country. Given the global outcry against illegal migration, it is extremely important for Pakistan to demonstrate it is taking proactive measures. Its reputation should not be tarnished by this reprehensible practice. For too long, human smugglers have exploited vulnerable and impressionable young folk and extorted millions from their families after promising them tickets to greener pastures. Many of those who have been trapped in their web have paid not only exorbitant sums of money, but also with their lives during the perilous journeys they were forced to take. Meanwhile, upstanding citizens also ended up paying the price, as many foreign countries have implemented much stricter scrutiny for travellers from Pakistan and often deny them visas for no fault of their own. There is, therefore, an urgent need for officials to demonstrate zero tolerance for human trafficking and to take the lead in international investigations wherever possible. The world must be assured that Pakistan is serious about eliminating the problem.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025



Gag orders

THE proverbial might of the pen is, in reality, unable to hold out against the barrel of the gun.

The new HRCP report, Harsh Sentences, charts the extent of capitulation in a dark media landscape where freedom of speech is throttled through covert means, including institutional and legal pressures. A record of the troubling state of freedom of expression during the last two years, it pinpoints “new battlegrounds and unholy alliances” where the noose tightens for selected media outlets.

Over the years, the cyclical template of censorship in Pakistan has become eerily familiar: the cost of speaking truth to power gets heavier, while freedoms peak for voices aligned with state narratives and interests. Although journalists are no strangers to hard seasons, recent times have been particularly dystopian for Pakistan’s mediascape with threats, enforced disappearances, manipulative press advisories, undeclared red lines and mass harassment.

Many maintain that journalist Arshad Sharif’s killing in 2022 combined with suffocating curbs shaped an atmosphere of fear in newsrooms. Widespread loss of trust in mainstream and legacy media was the fallout as powerful stakeholders and extremist groups moved in to exploit the situation by raising a generation of social media consumers with the purpose of amplifying their narratives, irrespective of the truth.

The counterproductive approach adopted by successive governments to force the media to buckle is a sad commentary on Pakistan’s fragile state structure; brutal suppression experienced today exposes how hard it is for the state to make peace with democratic ideals of acceptance and the coevolution of diverse opinions in a modern society.

As noted in the HRCP report, “the space for freedom of expression … can become constricted due to collusion between the state and the political forces… . In Imran Khan’s heyday… the PTI’s social media machine would specialise in targeting journalists … labelling them ‘lifafas’… .”

These tactics are tantamount to a slow slicing of media and democracy; depriving news organisations, which uphold editorial integrity, of vital advertising income — the financial ventilator in the current media minefield — is censorship at its most insidious and destructive. Worse, there have been reports that federal and provincial authorities capitulate to establishment directives to withdraw advertisements. It reeks of a synchronised demolition of independent media outlets through legal and monetary harassment to stagger authentic news broadcasting.

The establishment should know that the federation is weakened by a submissive press. Coercive policies must be abandoned for constitutional freedoms to be inviolable. Amnesty International’s latest warning that the proposed changes to the draconian cybercrime laws will strengthen the government’s control over Pakistan’s heavily monitored digital space, should also serve as a harbinger of terrible global consequences — shrinking rights can be violative of international agreements. Repression portends disaster.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025