<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" version="2.0"><channel>
                        <title>News Opinion &amp; Reviews - The Express Tribune</title>
                        <atom:link href="https://tribune.com.pk" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
                        <link>https://tribune.com.pk</link>
                        <description>The Express Tribune keeps you up to date with all the latest happenings from Pakistan and across the world!</description>
                        <lastBuildDate>Sat, 22 Aug 26 02:20:44 +0500</lastBuildDate>
                        <language>en-US</language>
                        <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
                        <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
                        <generator>https://laravel.com/</generator><item>
			<title>Leapfrogging into the future</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2625001/leapfrogging-into-the-future</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2625001/leapfrogging-into-the-future#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 26 05:44:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shahzad Chaudhry]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2625001</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan is burdened with an increasing debt pile and is forced to compromise on its sovereignty]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[On many counts, Pakistan is still a laggard. Human resource indices are among the lowest; water availability per capita now places it among water-scarce nations; yield per acre, compared to India, pales despite similar land and climatic conditions and a common agricultural tradition. Industry continues to exit, and the job market is sluggish. Growth rates are Nehruvian &ndash; three per cent &ndash; while population grows at 2.6 per cent annually. Net growth remains abysmal or negative. Pakistan is burdened with an increasing debt pile and is forced to compromise on its sovereignty; in many cases in its foreign policy and in steering the economy. Straitjacketed, it is impossible to plan Pakistan&#39;s political or socioeconomic future.

With so much wrong and little space to remedy the fault lines, a scary future beckons a state looking at a bloated midriff &ndash; sixty-five per cent of the population is under twenty-five, of whom twenty-five million school-going children do not attend school. With the population envisaged to touch 400 million by 2050, the number of working-age people entering the job market may climb to around 4 million per year. It is expected that with the economy at hand, only 1.5 million of those hopefuls will find jobs. Uneducated, or partly educated, without skills, this bulging midriff will only explode into unknown proportions.

It is not that these facts are new to policy circles, but it is the inaction to break out of the logjam that pulls the nation into further mire. Perhaps the odds are so heavily stacked that a recovery may seem improbable. Hence, business as usual and a one-day-at-a-time approach of those in power. In the meantime, society, state, and the economy continue to unravel around us. Borrowed money remains only borrowed with heavy and limiting conditions on its use, if at all. The avenues of growth dwindle fast with every passing day while barely keeping afloat counts as success. A nuclear Pakistan seems incongruent with the absence of a capable institutional and human workforce compatible with the modern economy.

The economy lies at the heart of this disconnect and the broader socioeconomic decline. Conventional efforts to escape this trap tend to rely on incremental, traditional remedies: preserving the economy&#39;s core sectors &ndash; agriculture, industry, and services &ndash; while directing resources through policy tweaks alone towards targeted sub-sectors. Although this approach is broadly valid, the real challenge is to secure those resources and create policies, institutions, and a workforce capable of substantially improving and sustaining productivity. Only then can the economy generate the growth and revenues needed to invest in socioeconomic development. Again, can Pakistan await incremental catching up when the world around is galloping ahead? We barely subsist at the frontier-to-emerging levels in the economy.

It seems to me, and I have propagated this at length in most interactions that we, as a nation, need to identify a few nodes that, if triggered, can propel us fast enough to reach the next tier in economic progress. As the world knocks at the latest technological breakthroughs of the modern era, like Artificial Intelligence, we remain only poor imitators of the rhetoric, without, of course, the know-how, the means, or the expertise to ever reach the level of research and development in most modern economies. At best, we are consumers of what gets counted as AI in commercial applications. The world at large is also struggling to integrate and quantify how AI would become a tool in and of the modern economy. We only hear of those advances. The gap is too wide to be ever bridged without resources and without a capable workforce at that level of knowledge and expertise.

This cycle needs to be broken through educating, skilling and exercising the emerging cadres in the workforce to become relevant as the new economy takes shape. With our size of population, and the education gap, as indeed its quality, even this shall be monumental. But move along those lines we must, to remain relevant, or the march of time will crush us under.

Digitisation of our entire functioning as an economy and as a society can be that next frontier which, when breached, can open newer horizons for us. It must begin by simultaneously laying down the physical infrastructure for the digitisation of our everyday functions through a countrywide network of optical fibre cabling and nodal placement, which will help transmit, receive and preserve data at high-speed traffic. A workforce not necessarily at the level of breakthrough research but merely informed, educated and skilled enough to use the systems in tasks that together can provide the basis of services and applications will itself generate that ecosystem of innovation and product development which can be relevant to plug into the global architecture.

Our infrastructure orientation must change from mere brick-and-mortar roads and buildings infrastructure to a data-driven infrastructure which will help multiply productivity. As we move businesses and goods at optimal speed across the country and connect to the global digital market, this will have a supplementary beneficial effect. This will manifest in training the bulging &#39;midriff&#39; in a productive activity, and in automating tracking and integration of the economic activity into the nation-wide, data-driven market mechanism. Supply chains can be better monitored, and revenue can be correctly estimated. Policies and rules of doing business must change to enable freedom of investment and return on such ventures.

We need to reconnect with China, which remains the world leader in developing and implementing a digital ecosystem encompassing the full gamut of national and social activities. From safety to security to productivity, all facets will invariably be drawn into this architecture, remedying our most disconcerting social and economic faultlines that human agency alone has been unable to repair. China can help us develop both physical and intellectual architecture to speed up our engagement with what will surely define the new world and the new economy. It will willy-nilly push other components of the economy too to plug in and upgrade their respective processes.

Data is the new frontier. We will need to build it and preserve it. Energy and data will drive the new economy. Our future development should not only be another motorway, industrial estate or a subsidy; it is the architecture of energy, connectivity, data and skills, which will catapult us into the future. Incrementalism has little scope in modern times.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Shahzad-Chaudhry1592677757-0/Shahzad-Chaudhry1592677757-0.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>World Bank's retreat from climate financing commitments</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624996/world-banks-retreat-from-climate-financing-commitments</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624996/world-banks-retreat-from-climate-financing-commitments#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 26 05:44:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Syed Mohammad Ali.]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2624996</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[World Bank now urges focus on projects based on development outcomes, not climate finance labels]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[For over three decades, the World Bank has sought to reposition itself as a champion of sustainable development, repeatedly emphasising that poverty reduction and economic growth cannot be secured without addressing climate change, environmental degradation, and the need to build resilience. This trajectory now appears to be shifting. In June, the Bank announced that it is ending one of its most prominent climate commitments which required 45 per cent of its financing to generate &quot;climate co-benefits&quot;.

The World Bank claims that rather than tracking how much finance is labelled as climate-related, it is more important to focus on whether projects being financed by it achieve their stated development outcomes. On the surface, this appears to be a sensible proposition. Yet, this powerful financial institution&#39;s decision to abandon climate finance targets reflects troubling political realities.

The US, the World Bank&#39;s largest shareholder, has dramatically altered its climate policy under President Trump, who has dismissed climate change concerns and instead prioritised expanding fossil fuel production. Earlier this year, the US treasury secretary directly urged the World Bank to abandon climate finance targets, arguing that these measures breed inefficiency, distort economic decision-making and distract the institution from its core mission, which, ironically, is to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity on a liveable planet.

For decades, the World Bank promoted structural adjustment reforms compelling developing countries to liberalise their economies, privatise state assets and slash public spending. In many post-colonial countries with weak institutions and economies dominated by elites, such reforms generated economic growth at the cost of widening inequality and reducing access to essential public services.

The World Bank also financed many large dams, fossil fuel projects and other infrastructure with relatively limited attention to their environmental or social consequences, especially during the earlier decades of its operations.

The World Bank&#39;s attention to environmental concerns was prompted by growing criticism from civil society, environmental organisations and researchers who highlighted the ecological and social costs of large development projects. In response, the World Bank began gradually putting in place environmental safeguard policies. By 2008, the World Bank&#39;s Strategic Framework on Development and Climate Change formally integrated the need to contend with climate-related risks associated with its development operations. In 2019, it committed to aligning its financing with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and in 2023, the Bank explicitly linked poverty reduction with environmental sustainability within its mission statement. As a result, during this past year, 48 per cent of the World Bank Group&#39;s financing (more than $50 billion) was intended to generate climate co-benefits.

The World Bank is now insisting that it will not only continue reporting the climate impacts of its projects but also give priority to financing renewable energy, climate adaptation and disaster resilience. However, skeptics argue that removing explicit climate finance targets will make it more difficult to hold the World Bank accountable for its climate commitments. Without measurable benchmarks, climate-financing needs could be increasingly sidelined in favour of policies promising more immediate economic gains.

History also offers important lessons. Markets, left to themselves, have repeatedly failed to protect public goods such as climate stability, biodiversity and clean air. The real question, therefore, is not whether the World Bank should focus on outcomes rather than inputs. It is whether greater flexibility, in the absence of clear and measurable commitments, will strengthen climate resilience or gradually erode accountability at precisely the moment the world can least afford it.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/1084649-SyedMohammadAliNew-1460654245/1084649-SyedMohammadAliNew-1460654245.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Governance and bureaucracy</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2625002/governance-and-bureaucracy</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2625002/governance-and-bureaucracy#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 26 05:44:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Dr Syed Akhtar Ali Shah]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2625002</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[We need a governance architecture in which authority is matched by accountability]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Khwaja Asif&#39;s revelation about the bureaucrats swindling billions, Ahsan Iqbal&#39;s thesis that the existing governance model is unworkable, and Mohsin Naqvi&#39;s assertion about the collapse of the system remind me of a poem.

The sky is falling down

Just take a good look around you (Around you)

You can&#39;t hold it up

You can&#39;t hide underground

It&#39;s happening now (Now)

The sky is falling down.

With that mentioned, the obvious question here is: why?

I agree with the three government representatives to the extent that the system has failed to deliver. However, one of the major causes remains unexplained: the inertia, insulation, and the indifferent and unresponsive attitude of civil servants toward public problems.

With independence, hopes for a better future were shattered when the administrative culture continued to function on the colonial pattern of control (afsar-shahi) rather than service (naukar-shahi). Senior officials generally prefer to maintain distance from ordinary citizens, and access to them is restricted by layers of protocol and staff. Consequently, we have a bureaucracy that often looks upwards rather than outwards.

During my 32 years in public service, and more importantly, during my experience as an ordinary citizen since my retirement in 2018, I have observed more or less the same behaviour among civil servants regardless of whether they are a cousin, a relative, a friend, or otherwise. Exceptions, however, do exist. There are many competent and conscientious officers, but the institutional culture remains deeply problematic.

In this typical hierarchical culture, the boss is always right, and officers are highly attentive to superior authorities. Colleagues at an equivalent level may occasionally get attention, and those possessing influence - or &#39;nuisance value&#39; - are also difficult to ignore. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens usually suffer from their silence, delay or lack of commitment. &quot;Ignoring&quot; appears to be their most convenient administrative technique.

At the same time, our bureaucracy is quite adept at colorful presentations, attractive clich&eacute;s and jargon. Yet, the gap between PowerPoint presentations and the ground realities in the streets is vast. This results in the Sab Achha Hai syndrome, which is counterproductive to good governance. The gravity of problems is watered down, further compounding the situation. Realities are smoke-screened while rosy pictures are painted that do not match the facts on the ground.

This distinction becomes all the more important when analysing why officers belonging to the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) or provincial management cadres are appointed to head development authorities, public-sector bodies and autonomous institutions. It is easy to understand the rationale behind this move. These officers are expected to be efficient, effective and responsive. Transfusing them into institutions such as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) or Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) is presumably done with this objective in mind. But if the system still reels at a slow speed and remains status-quo-oriented, then the very purpose of such appointments is defeated.

The PDA can be cited as an instructive case study. Over a relatively short span of time, the Authority has undergone frequent changes at the level of the Director General. However, a resident is not interested in the change of leadership, but in the outcome. A citizen&#39;s interest lies in whether the parks are maintained, waste is removed, public land is protected, green areas remain green, encroachments are checked, and the approved Master Plan is adhered to. A new officer is therefore of no value if the old institutional behavior and status quo continue.

From my own experience, repeated efforts to draw the attention of those at the helm of affairs regarding Hayatabad town have frequently fallen on deaf ears. Matters involving littering, the accumulation of waste, the deterioration of parks and open spaces, deviations from the Master Plan and proposals for developing designated green areas have all been brought to the attention of the authorities. The intention was not to embarrass them, but to provide a citizen&#39;s feedback. When such feedback is ignored, the problem becomes much larger than just an unattended park or an uncollected heap of waste; it amplifies the deeper malaise from which the system suffers.

If a resident takes it upon himself to photograph a deteriorating public facility, identify the location, explain the problem and communicate it directly to the highest levels of an organisation, yet the machinery still remains indifferent, a logical question arises: where exactly has the chain of governance broken down?

Under the Rules of Business, ministers and cabinets frame policy. Secretaries, as administrative heads of departments and Principal Accounting Officers, are obligated to implement these policies. They are expected to ensure follow-up and outcomes. Because these same administrative cadres occupy influential positions in field formations, districts, development authorities and autonomous bodies, they cannot be treated merely as innocent bystanders when these institutions fail to deliver. There remains a vast domain of routine governance - cleanliness, inspections, maintenance, enforcement of approved plans, responsiveness to complaints, monitoring of subordinate staff and the protection of public assets - that requires no revolutionary policy decision.

This disconnect with the main stakeholder, the citizen, is the root problem. Grievances ultimately leading to agitation and violent extremism stem from this very attitude. In this context, we do not need another vision document. Instead, we need a governance architecture in which authority is matched by accountability, districts and local institutions are genuinely empowered, performance is measured against outcomes, and citizens are treated as participants rather than petitioners.

Unless the permanent administrative machinery is made responsive, accountable and outcome-oriented, even the finest policies will continue to falter during implementation. Had these cadres implemented government policies efficiently, enforced existing laws honestly and remained genuinely responsive to citizens, the situation would not have come to such a pass. Therefore, they must bear a proportionate share of responsibility for the deterioration and potential collapse of the system. Only then can meaningful corrective measures take place.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Dr-Syed-Akhtar-Ali-Shah`1593545944-0/Dr-Syed-Akhtar-Ali-Shah`1593545944-0.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Intersection of technology and education, and a faculty retreat</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2625000/intersection-of-technology-and-education-and-a-faculty-retreat</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2625000/intersection-of-technology-and-education-and-a-faculty-retreat#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 26 05:44:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Sadia Pasha Kamran]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2625000</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The challenge for academia is to ensure that, even as the medium changes, the purpose of learning remains human]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Dear Mr Rector,

Thank you for the retreat. It offered a rare chance to pause, step back from responsibilities and think collectively about &quot;By Love, serve one another.&quot; As always, the timing - after the summer break and before the semester&#39;s &quot;roller-coaster ride&quot; &ndash; was especially meaningful for the FCC community.

What set this retreat apart was its focus on the intersection of technology and education. With the compelling theme &#39;The AI Paradox: Crisis or Catalyst for HEIs&#39; and strong speakers, the retreat became a springboard for deeper reflection on how artificial intelligence is already shaping and will continue to influence our work as educators. Beyond its traditional aims of intellectual rejuvenation, collegial relationships, faculty well-being and job satisfaction, the event invited us to confront the practical and philosophical questions AI presents for higher education.

Joe Sabado from UCSB, in his keynote speech, elaborated the concept of an AI-integrated campus. Alas, some public office-holders equate it only with providing free WiFi with their names as SSID. My comment may appear political, but it is more about a prevailing mindset - one that can unintentionally preserve the status quo and impede the evolution of HEIs. Highlighting the concept of the multiversity as a complex collection of diverse communities and purposes, Sabado pondered the million-dollar question. Overreliance on AI &ndash; whose concern is this? Which generation? Humanists? Parents? Well, it should concern every living being on earth. Period.

Many academics in Pakistan, too, are concerned, arguing that universities should move beyond trying to ban or detect AI-generated work, as proposed in a recent HEC directive and instead focus on what education is meant to achieve: developing students&#39; capacity to think, judge, create and solve problems. While students should be transparent about their use of AI, detection tools are unreliable and should not be used as evidence of misconduct. It is rightly suggested that AI should be used differently at different stages of education: it can improve the expertise of faculty and advanced researchers, but in the early learning years it can replace the effort that guarantees understanding and wisdom. Hence, the revisions in pedagogies, assignments, rubrics and grading criteria. Other ideas include implementing flipped classrooms, conducting in-class evaluations, having students compare and critique AI-generated outputs and assigning tasks in segments - permitting AI use in early stages but requiring critical analysis and reflection in later to highlight human intellectual contributions.

One thing we all agree on is that education should come first; AI should remain a tool in its service. The more difficult question is whether any effective tool can remain merely a tool once it begins to reshape the environment in which learning takes place. Years ago, McLuhan wrestled with a similar question in his exploration of the relationship between media and their effects on society. His famous proposition that &quot;the medium is the message&quot; - along with his amusing variations on message, mass age, mess age and massage - was less a prescription than an invitation to examine how media alters the environments in which we live. His light-bulb analogy is useful here: the electric light carries no particular message, yet its mere presence creates an entirely new environment. Perhaps AI presents academia with a similar, though not identical, dilemma. Is education changing because AI has essentially modified how we learn, or has AI exposed the need for changes in educational practices? Like the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, there may be no simple answer. What matters is that we do not allow the tool to dictate the purpose of education. The challenge for academia is to ensure that, even as the medium changes, the purpose of learning remains human.

I shall conclude by affirming that faculty retreat is as vital as investing in infrastructure. Buildings do not collaborate. Policies do not mentor students. Departments do not generate ideas. People do.

Best regards,

Bano

August 2026]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Sadia-Pasha-Kamran1712267258-0/Sadia-Pasha-Kamran1712267258-0.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Master craftsman's hook</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624794/master-craftsmans-hook</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624794/master-craftsmans-hook#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 26 19:50:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Dr Rana Jawad Asghar]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2624794</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Tarar sahib has crossed eighty years of age and has also written more than eighty books]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[I was an avid reader and literally a bookworm while growing up. I would read every printed thing that came my way, including foreign newspapers that were used to wrap famous Allah Rakha&#39;s kababs in Gujranwala. I was constantly reminded of guest etiquette by my late mother, as I would find a book or a magazine in someone&#39;s house and start reading it in their drawing rooms. Over the years, I was a regular visitor to old book stalls at Sunday Bazaar of Anarkali and Mall Road in Lahore. When my father decided to build a house in Lahore, I requested my room to be converted into a library - and a library it is. I read and collected thousands of books and magazines over the years, and now it&#39;s difficult to sort things out.

I still read books, I still read actual paper newspapers and magazines, but the time I spend on reading has drastically dwindled as other competing interests came our way. The mobile revolution and addiction to reels and short videos have taken precedence over reading. This habit is addictive, and these mega tech companies knew about it. Just today, a US court slapped a fine worth nearly a billion US dollars on a major social media company as it knowingly let kids get addicted to its different apps. But just like an addict, how does one get out of this habit? It&#39;s easier said than done.

I tried multiple times and failed. I bought really good books, but nothing matched the kick of watching short videos. In those same days, Mustansar Hussain Tarar sahib gave me one of his newly published books. Tarar sahib is a legend and has influenced many generations beyond any comparison. I was introduced to him through Nikley Teri Talash Mein &ndash; his first book, actually a travelogue. The book was so interesting that I did not want it to finish. People like him, Ibne Insha and some others were a breath of fresh air in travelogue writing, as they used simple and direct language. These people inspired me and countless others to go out and see the world and try to live their experiences. Pakistan&#39;s younger generation was introduced and encouraged by him to explore our northern areas.

Tarar sahib has crossed eighty years of age and has also written more than eighty books. He is Pakistan&#39;s best?selling author and rightly claims that as an author he lived a comfortable life solely on the income of his books. This is a rare feat in Pakistan. My friendship with Tarar sahib dates back to my medical college days when I interviewed him for my college magazine. Every time I am in Lahore, we meet for a morning walk and gupshup at his usual abode.

So now I have a problem. I needed to read the book, but my reading capacity had gone down drastically as I was using social media more and more. One day, reluctantly, I opened his book From Lahore to Florida and then I realised it&#39;s not a travelogue but a collection of essays. Travelogues I still like, but essay reading is not my favourite these days. The first one is about Lahore, and I grudgingly started reading it. Just after a few pages, I felt that I had found an antidote, as I could not leave the book for the next many hours. This had not happened to me in recent years. Then I realised that Tarar Sahib was an excellent writer to start with, but over the years he has evolved into a master craftsman. He has come up with a hook that could bring back old readers to the world of reading again.

A good book still has the power to counter social media addiction, and everyone will respond differently to different authors. I will not recommend one book for everyone, but you can find different books for people with different levels of reading. Start with basic, simple and humorous books and slowly move up. Go for top authors; these master craftsmen can pull you out of social media dependency, and Tarar sahib is one of them.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/2113566-drranajawadasgharnew-1575738017/2113566-drranajawadasgharnew-1575738017.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Just stop romanticising doctors - pay them</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624798/just-stop-romanticising-doctors-pay-them</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624798/just-stop-romanticising-doctors-pay-them#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 26 19:50:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Yumna Zahid Ali]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2624798</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Medical education is often presented as a journey of idolisation, sacrifice and eventual stability]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[There is a version of becoming a doctor that Pakistan loves to celebrate.

A student studies relentlessly, enters medical college, survives five years of examinations and clinical rotations, completes house job, and eventually builds a prestigious life. It is a chapter in the book of respect, but it is also incomplete. We have become reckless in romanticising medicine while remaining deaf to discussing what happens after the white coat is earned.

Medical education is often presented as a journey of idolisation, sacrifice and eventual stability. Social media adds another glorification: photographs in white coats, hospital corridors, graduation ceremonies and carefully curated stories of success.

But what happens after graduation? That is where the romance of medicine ends. For many young doctors, reality means long working hours, exhausting night duties, postgraduate training, emotional burnout, financial uncertainty, delayed salaries, inadequate facilities and concerns about personal safety. Recent reporting in The Express Tribune has documented unpaid stipends, excessive workloads and poor working conditions among young doctors.

Lately, I spoke to a doctor and content creator, Osama Idrees Khan, whose personal journey reflects some of these contradictions. Osama grew up with financial difficulties and a mother who was herself a heart patient. He describes his mother as the biggest influence on his life and recalls the sacrifices she made for his education. At one point, when the family could not afford his medical expenses, she sold jewellery to pay for his studies. For him, becoming a doctor was never simply about prestige. It was about changing the circumstances of his family. That dichotomy matters.

For someone from a financially comfortable household, medical school can be an exhausting academic journey. For someone from a struggling family, it can also represent the hope of economic mobility. The problem is that our system asks young people to make enormous sacrifices without guaranteeing stability afterwards.

Osama&#39;s house job coincided with one of the most painful periods of his life: the death of his mother. He describes that loss as a time when he felt he had lost his purpose. Yet medicine also became his purpose when purpose had abandoned him. His patients taught him gratitude when he himself was drowning in grief.

Here is compassion fatigue and a fundamental humanitarian deficit regarding the human behind the white coat. Doctors are not machines. We expect them to absorb death, grief, abuse, exhaustion and responsibility without allowing any of it to affect them. Then we are surprised when young doctors burn out.

Yes, medicine is noble. But nobility should not be weaponised against the very people it claims to serve.

A profession can be noble and still require fair compensation. A doctor can serve humanity and still deserve rest. A young doctor can care deeply about patients and still need financial security.

We also need to stop turning every doctor who criticises the system into an enemy of the profession. A doctor who says, &quot;This system is exhausting,&quot; is not insulting medicine. A doctor who asks for better salaries is not greedy. A doctor who demands protection from violence is not asking for special treatment. And a doctor who considers working abroad is not necessarily unpatriotic. People do not leave systems overnight. They leave after years of accumulated frustration. If Pakistan wants its doctors to stay, it must give them reasons to stay.

Young doctors need timely compensation, safer hospitals, reasonable working conditions, protection from violence, career opportunities and meaningful professional safeguards.

There is also a class dimension we rarely discuss. A student whose parents can provide financial support throughout medical school experiences the profession differently from one who is simultaneously worried about household expenses, siblings and parents. This does not make one doctor harder-working than another. It means privilege determines how much financial vulnerability a person can tolerate.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/yumna-zahid-ali1767731116-0/yumna-zahid-ali1767731116-0.jpeg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>US-Iran conflict and its impacts on US military reach</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624799/us-iran-conflict-and-its-impacts-on-us-military-reach</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624799/us-iran-conflict-and-its-impacts-on-us-military-reach#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 26 19:50:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Inam Ul Haque]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2624799</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[A look into Washington's assets is instructive]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[To dominate continents and countries, and to project force in pursuit of political, geostrategic, economic and military objectives, great powers have always resorted to basing their power potential globally. The US, the only global hegemon &mdash; to use International Relations parlance from the Offensive Realism Theory &mdash; does so by basing its military forces around the world.

It maintains military bases and outposts, alone or in collaboration with host nations, in and around its areas of interest; maintains and modernises its fleet of long-range strategic bombers; operates aircraft (ac) carrier-based ground (Marine) and air forces; and deploys long-range conventional and non-conventional (nuclear) missiles on the ground, in the air, and over and under the sea.

Neutralisation of any base or platform impacts US military potential until necessary repairs, maintenance, rest and recuperation are completed and the base or platform is fully restored.

In the war against Iran, the US initially operated in conjunction with the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), undertaking joint planning/execution, intelligence-sharing and logistics. The US used drones and Patriot munitions in air defence (AD) interception mode, as well as long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles from land bases and sea-borne aircraft carrier groups.

Additionally, it deployed the US Air Force (USAF) from carriers, the continental US and land bases in the Middle East (ME).

A look into Washington&rsquo;s assets is instructive.

First, the ac carriers. The US Navy, as per law, is required to maintain a fleet of a minimum of 11 active carrier groups. And it maintains 11 nuclear-powered operational ac carriers in its global deployment. These carriers operate within the 5th Fleet (Middle East), 6th Fleet (Europe/Mediterranean) and 7th Fleet (Indo-Pacific).

However, as of August 2026, a large number of carriers is deployed to the ME theatre to render support against Iran in Operation &lsquo;Epic Fury&rsquo;. This causes unique strategic trade-offs and rotational challenges for the US power globally. For example, the USS Abraham Lincoln has now continuously operated in the Arabian Sea for over 260 days, in combat against Iran.

Following reported cases of low morale due to a lack of rest, relief, food, electricity and functional plumbing &mdash; as well as some damage sustained from Iranian drones &mdash; the USS Abraham Lincoln is now preparing to return home once relieved by the USS George Washington, which is en route to the Gulf from East Asia. Another carrier group enforcing a naval blockade against Iran is USS George H.W. Bush. With the commitment of three carrier groups in the ME, East Asia becomes vulnerable for having no ac carrier.&nbsp;

The remaining eight carriers are in various stages of the Inter-deployment Training Cycle (IDTC), or undergoing long-term shipyard maintenance, overhauls and upgrades. USS Theodore Roosevelt is training off the US West Coast. USS Nimitz is due to retire after its farewell &lsquo;Southern Seas&rsquo; tour around South America. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is undergoing routine training and sustainment cycles.

USS Carl Vinson is available for post-deployment after finishing its Pacific rotations. USS Gerald Ford is docked for scheduled maintenance and upgrades after operations in the Mediterranean.

USS Ronald Reagan is at Norfolk Naval Station undergoing planned maintenance after returning from Japan. USS Harry Truman is in a pre-deployment window. Whereas USS John C. Stennis is undergoing multi-year Refuelling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) to change its nuclear fuel. State-of-the-art, next-generation USS John F. Kennedy is completing sea trials and would replace USS Nimitz. In a nutshell, the US Navy has two carriers in the Gulf (USS Washington and Bush), and two more (Vinson and Truman) available for the entire globe with some time delay.&nbsp;

Maximum physical capacity of the two supercarriers (USS Washington and Bush) in the Iran theatre is up to 90 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. However, during routine deployments, both ships carry a standardised contingent of 60 to 75 ac, to keep the flight deck and hangar bay clear, ensuring maximum launch-and-recovery.

Sortie Generation Rate (SGR) is &lsquo;around&rsquo; 250 per carrier for a 24-hour period, once calculated at 75% of the available aircraft numbers (serviceability), to allow maintenance, reload, pilot&rsquo;s rest, etc.

Second, military bases. America operates approximately 750 military bases across roughly 80 countries and territories to protect trade routes, project power and support security alliances like NATO. Its geographic concentration is across Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Department of Defense controls these bases in three commands. The Asia-Pacific (Indo-Pacific) Command in Japan has over 120 active sites, including Yokosuka Naval Base (home of the 7th Fleet) and Kadena Air Base. Camp Humphreys in South Korea is the largest overseas US installation, and a massive hub for the US Army. Guam (US Territory) is a strategic launchpad having Guam Naval Base and Andersen Air Force Base.

European Command supports NATO&rsquo;s collective defence and provides logistics. It maintains Ramstein Air Base, Stuttgart, Germany, as a primary logistical and airlift hub for Europe, which is also home to Africa and European Command HQs.

Aviano and Vicenza bases in Italy host USAF fighter squadrons and Army airborne infantry units. Rota Naval Station, Spain, facilitates maritime security operations in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The Middle East (Central) Command is critical for counterterrorism, maritime security and regional stability. It hosts Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, as the forward headquarters of CENTCOM, and the largest US military facility in the ME.

Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Horn of Africa, is the only permanent American military base on the African Continent, tasked to protect shipping through the vital Bab-el-Mandeb Strait from Houthis. And Bahrain is home to the US 5th Fleet, overseeing the Gulf&rsquo;s oil and shipping lanes.

Iran, as part of its debatable strategy, has successfully targeted US military assets across the ME, firing intense barrages of over 2,000 ballistic and cruise missiles, precise drones, etc. Hitting at least 20 US military sites in eight countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Iran has destroyed over 228 military structures and pieces of equipment, costing around 13 billion dollars in damages.

It has caused base evacuations, personnel removals and shifting manpower to hotels, exposing unprecedented vulnerabilities in the US regional infrastructure and its ME security umbrella. Consequently, the Pentagon is considering a permanent reduction in the American military footprint in the Gulf.

We will continue the debate next week.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Inam-Ul-Haque1602757452-01663842216-0/Inam-Ul-Haque1602757452-01663842216-0.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>PPP's locus standi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624997/ppps-locus-standi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624997/ppps-locus-standi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 26 05:44:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2624997</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PPP is desperate to play on both sides of the wicket]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The PPP is thinking out loud, apparently seeking a pound of flesh from its ally at the Centre, the PML-N. Its position on the floor of the house that no legislation will be passed without consensus does not raise eyebrows. But interestingly, it has come at a time when the demand for new provinces is on the table. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the PPP chairman, has tried to take the high moral ground by saying that no decision on new administrative units will be made in contravention of the people&#39;s desire. That squarely means the PPP will resist new delimitations in Sindh, where it commands a majority. That is tantamount to having your cake and eating it too. The Bhutto party, which has ruled the province for nearly two decades at a stretch, seems unbothered by its dilapidated status. Now it is set to obstruct moves by other political forces in the province for its devolution into smaller administrative units.

The federal coalition partner flexed its legislative muscles too, objecting to the tabling of the bills in the parliament, stating it wasn&#39;t taken into confidence. Yet, it voted for the bills, invoking the law of necessity. In other words, the PPP is desperate to play on both sides of the wicket. Its hobnobbing with the PTI after more than three years of estrangement is also a case in point. That, however, is a good omen for political stability, meant to bring the opposition along on proposed new legislation. How that impacts the PML-N is anybody&#39;s guess, as Bilawal&#39;s body language suggests that he is keeping his options open, including potentially going solo or aligning with the PTI.

Bilawal&#39;s new stance does little to alleviate the political instability prevailing in the country; rather, it sets up fresh stumbling blocks against systemic reforms and necessary power-sharing through new administrative units.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Editorial-New11312243333323323333331332233233323231223331322333332333333233/Editorial-New11312243333323323333331332233233323231223331322333332333333233.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Horrible hockey show</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624998/horrible-hockey-show</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624998/horrible-hockey-show#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 26 05:44:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2624998</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Many blame the Pakistan Hockey Federation for failing to build a system that nurtures talent]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan&#39;s disastrous run at the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup was capped off with a 5-3 defeat to arch-rivals India, in which the boys in green were thoroughly outplayed. The Pakistan team was knocked out with just a solitary point to show - from a draw against Wales. While nobody seriously expected Pakistan to seriously challenge for the trophy, as the most successful team in World Cup history, there was still hope that the team would hold its own. Instead, the latest disappointment extends an inglorious period in the national hockey team&#39;s history, failing to make the podium in 32 years since winning the 1994 World Cup. The national hockey team&#39;s early successes are why it earned the status of our national sport, while the last 30 years of failure are why many young people are dumbfounded when they learn cricket is not the official national sport.

For anyone under 30, the national hockey team is not made up of world beaters. It is a team that failed to even qualify for two of the last four World Cups, and the limited success it has had at lesser events has been tainted by extreme inconsistency. Amazingly, the World Cup performance is still an improvement over what happened during the FIH Pro League earlier this year, when Pakistan lost all 16 matches and had an astounding net goal difference of -57.

Many former players and commentators have blamed the Pakistan Hockey Federation for failing to build a system that nurtures talent and helps develop competitive teams. Making matters worse is the dictatorial manner in which the board treats players - players were forced to cook their own meals and wash dishes at a guest house after the federation failed to fund a proper hotel. When Captain Ammad Butt complained in public, he was suspended, even though the suspension was quickly withdrawn.

However, even with a broken system, we would expect a team of notable talents to still be able to band together and put up some memorable flourishes. Instead, the bottom-of-the-barrel performances suggest the team also lacks raw talent and skills. The nation that once gave the world some of the finest hockey ever played now struggles to field a world-class first eleven.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Editorial-New11312243333323323333331332233233323231223331322333332333333233/Editorial-New11312243333323323333331332233233323231223331322333332333333233.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Rise in oral cancer</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624999/rise-in-oral-cancer</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624999/rise-in-oral-cancer#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 26 05:44:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2624999</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Karachi Cancer Registry recorded nearly 66,000 mouth cancer cases in Sindh between 2017 and 2021 alone]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Oral cancer cases in Sindh have risen by roughly 25% over the past five years, and doctors treating the disease describe a pattern of younger patients that did not exist a decade ago. Clinicians have consistent explained the core reason. Gutka, mawa, paan, chhalia, mainpuri and naswar remain in daily use across large parts of the province.

WHO has recorded Pakistan&#39;s oral cancer rate among men as the highest in South Asia. In Karachi specifically, doctors have put the local rate as high as 30% of all cancers diagnosed in the city, against a national figure closer to 4%. The Karachi Cancer Registry recorded nearly 66,000 mouth cancer cases in the province between 2017 and 2021 alone. What makes this rise difficult to accept is that Sindh already legislated against the substance most consistently linked to it. The Sindh Assembly passed the Gutka and Mainpuri Act in 2019, banning the manufacture, storage, sale and use of both products, with prison terms of one to three years for violators. The Sindh High Court has since ordered repeated crackdowns and demanded reports on police officers allegedly protecting the trade. None of this has translated into a functioning ban. Part of the problem is also that Sindh lacks the treatment infrastructure that would make early detection meaningful. There is no dedicated cancer hospital, and that radiation therapy cannot meet current demand.

Public information campaigns have a role to play, and health workers deserve credit for continuing to run them despite years of limited results. But the record makes clear that awareness alone has not moved the underlying numbers, because the products driving the disease remain freely available and the law meant to remove them has not been enforced. Sindh has spent five years demonstrating what happens when a law exists on paper without being enforced on the ground.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Editorial-New11312243333323323333331332233233323231223331322333332333333233/Editorial-New11312243333323323333331332233233323231223331322333332333333233.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>The cost of escalation</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624795/the-cost-of-escalation</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2624795/the-cost-of-escalation#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 26 19:50:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2624795</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[With the 60-day ceasefire framework having lapsed without any breakthrough]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The quasi-peace, quasi-conflict scenario in the Middle East is getting nasty. In the absence of some shrewd handling of eventualities from the warring sides, escalation is on the rise. It possesses all the potential to break out into a major conflagration. Noticeable developments over the last few days suggest that there is a serious trust deficit, and unverified reports are driving the theatre of warfare. A case in point is the renewed tensions between the UAE and Iran, as well as an emerging standoff between Iran and NATO.

Allegations that Tehran had fired missiles over Abu Dhabi&#39;s territorial waters swiftly met with a rejoinder from the Emirates in the form of the complete suspension of trade and financial contacts. Though the Islamic Republic has denied any such misadventure on its part, the clarification was too little and too late. Likewise, NATO&#39;s warning that it is prepared to take on Iran and invoke Article 5 of the treaty, if the US or any of the alliance member states is attacked, is a prelude to disaster.

That squarely means there is no medium at work to undertake any damage-control measures. This is where the mediators must come back to work, and the onus is on both Iran and the United States to explicitly make it public that parleys are the way to go, and hold fire forthwith. The minimum that President Trump and Iranian spokespersons, especially the IRGC, could do in the service of peace is to avoid the media platform for airing their reservations and grievances. This is proving to be a trouble-multiplier.

With the 60-day ceasefire framework having lapsed without any breakthrough, there is an urgent need for stock-taking. The good point is that Iran has reiterated its faith in the Islamabad MoU as it called upon the US to abide by it in letter and spirit, if it wants to further any kind of rapprochement. That has, in a way, laid down a blueprint for interaction. Tehran and Washington must rest assured that Islamabad is sincere in getting them off the hook. Let&#39;s give diplomacy a fresh start.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Editorial-New1131222/Editorial-New1131222.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Modern Tech Leadership: Building Systems That Scale</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2545646/modern-tech-leadership-building-systems-that-scale</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2545646/modern-tech-leadership-building-systems-that-scale#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 May 25 18:54:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shaukat Ali Khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2545646</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The author is Advisor to the President, Aga Khan University.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In the crucible of modern technology leadership, where AI advancements outpace human adaptation and market shifts occur in real time, a new paradigm has emerged. The most effective tech leaders no longer rely on individual brilliance alone; they architect organizational systems that transform pressure into performance.

Recent data reveals a troubling reality: 61% of tech executives report unsustainable stress levels (Harvard Business Review), while leadership fatigue costs the industry $300 billion annually in lost productivity (Deloitte). These numbers underscore a fundamental truth &mdash; the challenges of tech leadership have evolved beyond what any individual can manage through sheer willpower.

The unique pressures facing tech leaders manifest in three critical dimensions. Decision-making occurs against a backdrop of exponential data growth, with IDC reporting that global data volumes double every two years &mdash; a reality that leaves 49% of tech leaders experiencing decision paralysis (MIT Sloan). Alignment becomes increasingly fragile in distributed engineering teams, where Gallup finds only 28% of technologists feel deeply connected to their company&#39;s mission. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization documents a 35% surge in leadership burnout since 2020, particularly acute in the tech sector&rsquo;s always-on culture.

What separates thriving tech leaders from those who merely survive? The answer lies in systematic approaches to five fundamental pillars of leadership. Vision in technology organizations must be both aspirational and adaptable. McKinsey research confirms that tech companies with dynamic, clearly articulated visions grow 1.5 times faster than competitors. Microsoft&rsquo;s transformation under Satya Nadella exemplifies this principle, where reframing the company&rsquo;s mission around empowerment rather than devices catalyzed a trillion-dollar market cap surge while increasing engineering team alignment by 32% (Harvard Business Review).

Transparency serves as the operating system for modern tech organizations. In an industry where Gartner reports 70% of technical initiatives fail to meet objectives, Gallup data shows that teams with transparent leaders demonstrate 3.5 times higher engagement. This principle manifests in radical openness &mdash; from GitLab&rsquo;s 6,000-page public handbook to Datadog&rsquo;s transparent incident postmortems &mdash; practices that Aberdeen Group links to 47% higher shareholder returns in tech companies.

The velocity of technological change demands unprecedented decisiveness. Stanford research indicates that hesitation costs tech firms 30% in lost innovation speed, while Bain &amp; Company data reveals that leaders who make critical decisions within 48 hours of receiving data drive 40% faster growth. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang&rsquo;s 2006 bet on CUDA architecture, made against prevailing wisdom, demonstrates how such decisive leadership builds enduring competitive advantage in the AI era.

Resilience in tech leadership requires more than personal fortitude &mdash; it demands institutionalized systems for recovery. The Journal of Applied Psychology documents that resilient tech leaders drive 25% more innovation output, with MIT research showing 82% attribute their success to structured problem-solving frameworks rather than individual heroics. Apple&rsquo;s resurgence under Steve Jobs emerged not from charismatic leadership alone, but from implementing ruthless product prioritization systems that transformed a billion-dollar loss into a $350 billion valuation.

Stakeholder trust functions as technical debt for tech leaders &mdash; it compounds quietly but determines long-term viability. PwC&rsquo;s CEO Survey finds 85% of tech leaders directly link trust to valuation, a connection exemplified by AMD&rsquo;s Lisa Su, who rebuilt investor confidence through transparent technology roadmaps after near collapse. Edelman data confirms that tech companies maintaining high stakeholder trust achieve 2.5 times greater revenue growth during market fluctuations.

The most forward-thinking tech leaders recognize that sustainable success emerges from systems rather than individual brilliance. Harvard research demonstrates that structured decision frameworks reduce deliberation time by 50% &mdash; critical when AI models can obsolete strategies overnight. McKinsey findings show that teams with clear systems adapt 60% faster to disruptions like API deprecations or supply chain shocks. Even failures become accelerants when properly analysed. Stanford studies reveal that tech organizations conducting rigorous postmortems improve 30% faster after setbacks.

This new leadership calculus represents a fundamental shift in how tech organizations scale. The most effective leaders don&rsquo;t simply make better decisions &mdash; they build better decision-making systems. They don&rsquo;t just communicate; they engineer transparency into their organizational DNA. They recognize that in an era of continuous deployment and real-time market shifts, sustainable leadership comes not from being the smartest engineer in the room, but from creating environments where every engineer can perform at their best. As artificial intelligence reshapes the technological landscape, this systematic approach to leadership may prove to be the ultimate competitive advantage.

The data leaves little room for debate &mdash; the future belongs to tech leaders who architect organizations as thoughtfully as they design systems. In doing so, they transform the overwhelming complexity of modern technology leadership from a crisis to be managed into a competitive edge to be leveraged. The organizations that embrace this paradigm won&rsquo;t just survive the coming waves of disruption &mdash; they&rsquo;ll define them.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/whatsapp-image-2025-05-14-at-12-03-53-am1747163126-0/whatsapp-image-2025-05-14-at-12-03-53-am1747163126-0.jpeg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Hurdles in materialization of GCC’s economic ventures in Pakistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2517229/hurdles-in-materialization-of-gccs-economic-ventures-in-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2517229/hurdles-in-materialization-of-gccs-economic-ventures-in-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 20 Dec 24 05:55:06 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Syed Ahmed Ali]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2517229</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan must boost economic productivity to enhance trade ties with GCC countries and ensure sustainable growth.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The organization of the Gulf Cooperation Council was formed in 1981 which consists of six states: Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. The Gulf region is one of the most resource-rich areas namely crude oil and gas. In recent years the GCC countries have reduced their dependency on energy trade and promoted economic diversification. To pursue their economic diversification initiative, GCC countries have engaged in cooperation with other regions such as South Asia, which offers key resources and technical expertise. Pakistan being a member state of the South Asian region, stands at the crossroads to either connect itself with external regions such as the Middle East or risk economic isolation.

Huma Yusuf in an article titled &ldquo;Wide Gulf&rdquo; analyzed the GCC approach to the South Asian region, which seems to develop economic relations with India while maintaining military cooperation with Pakistan on specific security issues alongside occasional economic packages to aid Pakistan&rsquo;s ailing economy. Pakistan&rsquo;s GCC policy prioritizes political and security issues over developing economic relations. As noted by Shashank Joshi, Pakistan&rsquo;s relations with Arab states seem to be military-centric. As a consequence, Pakistan&#39;s economy suffers from a lack of a conducive environment for economic productivity and regional integration.

Pakistan&#39;s economic cooperation with GCC states while still in its infancy does touch some important sectors which need to be explored. The most important sector between Pakistan and the GCC economic relations is the energy trade. In July 2023, Saudi Arabia announced that it would invest 10 billion dollars in Gwadar, Balochistan to construct an oil refinery, which would help with GCC energy exports in the South Asian region. In the same year, the UAE signed a memorandum (MoU) for the possibility of developing renewable energy in Pakistan. In 2016 Qatar became a major supplier of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Pakistan through its LNG terminal agreement which was worth 15 billion dollars for a 15-year supply.

Apart from helping the energy sector, the GCC has also helped develop the Infrastructure of Pakistan, particularly in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. On the 22nd of October 2022, Saudi Arabia agreed to fund infrastructure projects in Neelum Valley and Muzaffarabad worth 30 billion rupees as a part of its Saudi Fund for Development (SFD). The SFD is a Saudi government assistance program that helps provide financial assistance to developing countries. Apart from providing financial aid to governmental projects, the GCC is a major investor in the real estate business in Pakistan. In 2013 Malik Riaz of the Bahria Group and Sheikh Nahyan of the Abu Dhabi Group invested 45 billion dollars in Pakistan&rsquo;s real estate industry, where they invested 10 billion dollars in Lahore and 35 billion in Karachi.

Apart from the real estate industry, the GCC countries have made a significant impact on various sectors of Pakistan&rsquo;s economy. In 2009 the Saudi government leased 500,000 acres of agricultural land from Pakistan to grow wheat as a means to ensure Saudi food security. Apart from the agricultural industry, the GCC supports Pakistani manufacturing by importing construction materials like cement. In 2004 Pakistan received a demand for cement of about 2000 tons per week from the UAE, which was supplied by Lucky Cement, DG Khan, and Attock In the field of fertilizer production Saudi Companies like SABIC have invested in Pakistan&rsquo;s fertilizer manufacturing through National Chemical Fertilizer Company (NFC).

The investments and economic aid provided by the GCC to Pakistan are channeled through joint cooperation organizations. One such organization is the UAE-Pakistan Assistance Program (UAE-PAP) which provided 200 million dollars of economic aid to Pakistan in May 2018. The objective of this funding was to provide humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable people in Pakistan. More recently, the Saudi-Pakistan Investment Conference announced a 20 billion investment, which covered diverse areas including energy, agriculture, and the environment.

Pakistan GCC trade relations are import intensive, where Gulf investors look to attract Pakistani investment in real estate, export their energy industry, and lease agricultural lands. In 2016 the trade deficit between Pakistan and GCC countries was 1.1 billion dollars, this increased to 1.3 billion dollars in 2020. The trade relationship between GCC and Pakistan is driven by rising imports and the depreciation of the Pakistani rupee which leads to the depletion of Pakistan&rsquo;s foreign exchange reserves. This vicious cycle of rising import costs and increasing foreign debt can only be mitigated through boosting economic productivity which is essential to have a long-lasting sustainable trade relationship with the GCC.

Pakistan faces significant challenges in its governance system to boost its economic productivity. Pakistan historically has inconsistency in its policy-making owing to political instability and frequent change in governments. Pakistan lacks a shared framework of economic policies shared by all stakeholders, which often leads to disruption of the previous policies initiated by the previous government. To make matters worse Pakistan&#39;s administration system suffers from red-tapism, where bureaucratic delays and complicated forms make it difficult for potential investors to invest.

Pakistan faces an acute energy crisis, where the cost of energy makes the cost of doing business too high. This leads to industrial regression where many investors look to set up their production plants where the energy costs are low. The use of renewable energy resources such as hydroelectric power plants can help reduce the cost of energy production. Solar panel technology for localized energy production is ideal in remote areas lacking grid connectivity. Energy costs can be reduced by using localized source fuels, such as Thar coal which is a cheaper alternative than foreign imported coal.

Pakistan needs export diversification, where the government needs to encourage the growth of new industrial sectors such as IT and the pharmaceutical industry. These industries produce greater value-added products which have a greater value meaning a greater inflow of foreign currency. Pakistan can help the growth of these new industrial sectors by providing export incentives such as reducing taxes on export industries. The government can also provide technical training services to help improve labor productivity.

Through these measures, Pakistan can improve its economic productivity and increase its foreign exchange currency reserves, which is important to build a more sustainable and long-lasting trade partnership with GCC countries. Such trade relations will help Pakistan&rsquo;s economy to grow and build stronger cooperation with the Gulf region.

The writer is an analyst on Middle East and South Asia]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Express-Tribune-(10)1734686655-0/Express-Tribune-(10)1734686655-0.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Schrödinger’s Cat and Pakistan’s Economy: Alive, dead, or both?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2517054/schrodingers-cat-and-pakistans-economy-alive-dead-or-both</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2517054/schrodingers-cat-and-pakistans-economy-alive-dead-or-both#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 19 Dec 24 10:18:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Dr Aneel Salman]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2517054</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan’s economy is in flux, showing signs of life but facing challenges that keep it uncertain.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Imagine a cat in a sealed box, both alive and dead at the same time&mdash;Schr&ouml;dinger&rsquo;s famous thought experiment in quantum mechanics. Now replace the cat with Pakistan&rsquo;s economy, and you have a paradox that would make even Erwin Schr&ouml;dinger scratch his head.

Is Pakistan&rsquo;s economy thriving, or is it a mirage of temporary improvements? Like the metaphorical box, the truth only reveals itself once we look deeper. On the surface, Pakistan&rsquo;s economy seems to be showing signs of life. Inflation, which was roaring just months ago, has started to ease, particularly in food prices.

In November 2024, inflation dropped sharply to 4.9%, down from over 30% in 2023, providing relief to households that have struggled with sky-high grocery bills.
From a broader perspective, fiscal and external accounts appear to be turning a corner. The government&rsquo;s disciplined spending has led to a primary surplus, a feat that many developing economies struggle to achieve.

The current account has posted a surplus for three consecutive months, indicating improved external balances. Foreign exchange reserves have crossed $12 billion for the first time in over two years, reaching $12.04 billion in November 2024, reducing immediate fears of default.
There&rsquo;s even talk of Pakistan re-entering the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which could bring much-needed foreign portfolio investments.

The stock market has responded with renewed enthusiasm, with the benchmark share index hitting a lifetime high following the IMF&rsquo;s approval of a $7 billion bailout deal.
Corporate Pakistan, despite the recent turmoil, is cautiously optimistic. Banks have reported soaring profits, with some of the highest returns in Asia, due to high-interest rates and increased government borrowing.

The technology sector has attracted international venture capital, signalling confidence in the country&rsquo;s young talent pool. Agricultural reforms, including better irrigation and the introduction of high-yield seeds, are starting to pay off. In the FMCG sector, multinationals are reporting growth as consumer demand begins to recover. Meanwhile, automotive assemblers and manufacturers are ramping up production after a prolonged slump.

But here&rsquo;s the twist: Schr&ouml;dinger&rsquo;s cat is still in the box. Is this economic revival genuinely sustainable, or is it a temporary high? Much of the current stability hinges on policy measures that are inherently short-term. Import restrictions and remittance inflows have propped up reserves, but what happens when those restrictions are lifted? Is the economy fundamentally stronger, or are we just seeing a Band-Aid over a deep wound?

Debt remains the elephant&mdash;or perhaps the tiger&mdash;in the room. Pakistan&rsquo;s external debt obligations are massive, requiring substantial foreign exchange outflows. Without consistent export growth or foreign direct investment (FDI), the current account surplus could quickly vanish. The energy sector, despite progress in renewable projects, still struggles with circular debt and over-reliance on imported fuels, making it vulnerable to global shocks.

And let&rsquo;s not forget the perpetual wild card: politics. Policy consistency and investor confidence often take a backseat to political turmoil. In a country where ministers change faster than seasons, long-term economic planning is easier said than done.

So, what&rsquo;s the way forward for Pakistan&rsquo;s Schr&ouml;dinger economy? To truly open the box and find a thriving economy inside, Pakistan must shift from firefighting to systemic reform. Exports need to diversify beyond textiles&mdash;IT services, for instance, hold enormous untapped potential. Investment in renewable energy and domestic resources can reduce the dependency on volatile global fuel markets.
The tax system needs a complete overhaul.

Broadening the tax base by formalizing the informal economy is crucial. Digitization of tax processes has started, but enforcement and trust-building with businesses remain key. Regional trade offers another lifeline. Strengthening trade with Afghanistan, Central Asia, and even India could open up new economic corridors and stabilize supply chains.

Pakistan must also tackle inefficiencies in state-owned enterprises, which continue to bleed the exchequer. Privatization or restructuring, though politically sensitive, could reduce fiscal drag. Finally, political and institutional stability cannot be overstated. A consistent policy framework and good governance are critical to unlocking the country&rsquo;s potential.

As of now, Pakistan&rsquo;s economy remains in a superposition&mdash;alive, dead, or somewhere in between. The current signs are hopeful, but as any physicist&mdash;or economist&mdash;would tell you, the true state only reveals itself with time, data, and bold action. Until then, Schr&ouml;dinger&rsquo;s cat, or rather Pakistan&rsquo;s economy, keeps us guessing.

&nbsp;]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Dr-Aneel-Salman1697312666-1/Dr-Aneel-Salman1697312666-1.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Breaking free from inertia</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2573191/breaking-free-from-inertia</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2573191/breaking-free-from-inertia#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 19 Oct 25 19:19:25 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Nadeem Javaid]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2573191</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan finds itself unable to prosper]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan once stood at the edge of promise - a young nation alive with ambition, industry, and the dream of joining Asia&#39;s rising tigers. But somewhere along the way, that energy dimmed. Growth lost its rhythm, and progress began to circle instead of climb. The country now finds itself caught in what economists call the Middle-Income Trap &mdash; a place where nations rise above abject poverty but fail to reach prosperity. In this zone, costs rise faster than productivity, innovation stalls, and ambition outpaces capacity. Pakistan, once a symbol of potential, risks becoming an example of inertia &mdash; not poor enough for aid, yet not strong enough to compete.

The trap captures countries that grow through low-wage manufacturing and basic exports but stumble when wages rise, and productivity fails to keep pace. Argentina, Brazil and Thailand have struggled in this space for decades. Pakistan&#39;s case is similar: an economy that moves, but no longer moves forward.

Take exports. Pakistan&#39;s total exports stood around $32 billion, barely changed in years. By contrast, Vietnam&#39;s exports crossed $354 billion, despite both economies starting at similar levels two decades ago. While Bangladesh and Vietnam diversified into electronics, garments and machinery, Pakistan remains locked into low-value textiles and primary commodities. Its inability to upgrade the export base has kept the external sector stagnant and vulnerable.

Human capital tells a similar story. Pakistan spends barely 1.5 per cent of GDP on education - among the lowest in Asia. Millions of children remain out of school, and even university graduates often lack market-relevant skills. Without investment in people, productivity cannot grow - and without productivity, prosperity cannot follow.

Institutional fragility compounds the problem. Every few years, the cycle repeats - IMF bailouts, currency shocks and short-term fiscal fixes. Political volatility and administrative discontinuity have turned policymaking into crisis management. Investors, both domestic and foreign, hesitate in such an environment. High interest rates, arbitrary taxation and poor contract enforcement have produced what might be called a &quot;fear economy&quot; - one where capital hides instead of builds, and risk-taking gives way to risk-avoidance.

Meanwhile, the informal sector dominates. More than 70 per cent of Pakistan&#39;s workforce operates outside formal structures - underpaid, unprotected and untaxed. This keeps productivity low and deprives the state of much-needed revenue. Weak public investment in infrastructure and services then reinforces the cycle of low growth and inequality.

But the most subtle trap is psychological. A comfortable middle class has learned to live with stagnation. Malls expand, cars multiply and consumption thrives, but innovation languishes. Too many seek safety in government jobs or overseas remittances, while too few take the risks that fuel enterprise. It is this quiet acceptance of &quot;just enough&quot; that makes inertia so powerful - and so dangerous.

History, however, offers a way out. South Korea in the 1960s was poorer than Pakistan but climbed out of poverty through export discipline, industrial upgrading and massive investment in education. China transformed from low-end assembly to global technology leadership through long-term planning and institutional focus. Malaysia avoided the trap by building a diversified, knowledge-based economy anchored in policy continuity and political stability. None of these transitions happened overnight; each demanded decades of consistent reform and national purpose.

For Pakistan, breaking free from inertia requires a similar commitment - not cosmetic fixes, but foundational change.

First, invest in people. Raise education and skills spending to at least 45 per cent of GDP. Focus on digital literacy, STEM education and vocational training through public-private partnerships that connect learning with livelihoods.

Second, reform the tax system. Agriculture, real estate and retail must enter the tax net. Simplify compliance through technology and transparency, broaden the base, and reduce distortions that punish the formal sector.

Third, empower cities. Urban centres generate nearly 80 per cent of GDP yet remain fiscally suffocated. Devolving authority to local governments, simplifying business licensing, and expanding microfinance - especially for women - can unleash immense productive potential.

Fourth, separate economic governance from political turbulence. The National Economic Council should guide long-term policy insulated from election cycles, ensuring continuity and coherence.

Fifth, engage the diaspora as partners, not just remitters. Pakistan&#39;s nine million overseas citizens can drive entrepreneurship, investment and technology transfer - injecting new ideas and capital into the economy.

Finally, open markets and ensure fair competition. Decades of protectionism and rent-seeking have entrenched inefficiency. Phasing out distortive subsidies, arbitrary tariffs and discretionary powers would reward productivity and innovation rather than privilege and influence.

Breaking free from inertia is more than an economic task - it is a national awakening. It means replacing short-term fixes with long-term vision, dependency with creativity, and fear with confidence. Pakistan cannot grow by surviving; it must thrive by transforming.

The choice is simple yet profound: remain comfortable in stagnation or embrace the hard climb toward renewal. The Middle-Income Trap is not an inevitability; it&#39;s a choice: to reform or to resign to mediocrity. The real trap isn&#39;t income; it&#39;s inertia. And only courage, consistency and commitment can break it.

The next generation of Pakistanis deserves more than survival. They deserve momentum - born of bold, consistent action, and the courage to leap forward rather than limp in circles.

The writer is the Vice Chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and Member at Planning Commission of Pakistan]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/nadeem-javaid1760904982-0/nadeem-javaid1760904982-0.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Disaster, destiny and our responsibility</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2564513/disaster-destiny-and-our-responsibility</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2564513/disaster-destiny-and-our-responsibility#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 01 Sep 25 20:46:59 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[M Zeb Khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2564513</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The problem in Pakistan is not belief in destiny itself, but its misinterpretation]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[When a tragedy strikes in Pakistan, the most common reaction is: &quot;It was God&#39;s will.&quot; This simple phrase has profound power and implications. It helps people cope with unbearable grief, cushions them from prolonged trauma, and provides a collective psychological framework in which loss is given meaning. In a society where faith is deeply woven into daily life, belief in destiny is not just theology - it is therapy.

But beneath this comfort lies a danger. By placing disasters solely in the realm of fate, we risk absolving ourselves of responsibility. Fatalism, when misapplied, can slide from a spiritual solace into a culture of complacency. Instead of asking hard questions about preventable causes, we retreat into resignation. Disasters become not moments of accountability but acts of destiny.

Consider floods. It is true that global climate change has placed Pakistan among the most vulnerable nations on the planet. These global forces are outside our immediate control. Yet, the devastation that follows each season of heavy rains is not a simple natural occurrence. It is compounded, amplified, and often manufactured by local realities.

Overpopulation has pushed communities into flood-prone areas, often along riverbanks where survival is precarious. Unplanned urban sprawl has overwhelmed fragile drainage systems. Deforestation in the north has stripped away natural barriers against floods and landslides. Poorly constructed homes collapse at the first touch of water, while weak infrastructure - roads, bridges and embankments - crumbles under pressure. Corruption and short-term politics mean that dams and canals remain mismanaged, and flood-prevention plans gather dust.

The same logic applies to other calamities. Road accidents are too easily accepted as &quot;God&#39;s will&quot;. But many stem from reckless driving, poorly enforced traffic rules, or vehicles unfit for the road. Factory fires, often deadly, are not acts of destiny but the result of absent safety standards and greed-driven shortcuts. Even terrorism, while politically complex, thrives when security lapses and governance failures create fertile ground. In each case, responsibility disappears behind the shield of fate.

Ironically, this is not what Islam teaches. The Qur&#39;an consistently calls for both reliance on God (tawakkul) and accountability for human action. &quot;Indeed, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves&quot; (13:11). Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) famously advised a man to tie his camel before trusting in God&#39;s protection. The message is clear: trust in divine decree must go hand in hand with human responsibility. To rely on fate without effort is not faith - it is negligence.

The problem in Pakistan is not belief in destiny itself, but its misinterpretation. Instead of a balanced philosophy that combines spiritual acceptance with worldly responsibility, destiny has been reduced to an excuse. It allows individuals, communities and governments to evade accountability. It transforms what should be moments of collective learning into cycles of repeated tragedy.

The way forward requires a shift in mindset. Disasters must be understood not only as divine tests but as opportunities for reform. When floods strike, the question should not only be, &quot;Why us?&quot; but also, &quot;What must we change?&quot; When accidents occur, the response should not end at grief but extend to improving safety and enforcing laws. When violence erupts, society must hold accountable not only the perpetrators but also the structures that allowed it.

Pakistan cannot afford to treat destiny as a shield against responsibility. The Qur&#39;anic vision of humans as khalifa - stewards of the earth - places upon us a duty of care. This stewardship means planting trees instead of cutting them, enforcing safety standards instead of ignoring them, building resilient infrastructure instead of cheap structures, and investing in disaster preparedness rather than leaving everything to chance.

Disasters will always come. Climate change will make them more frequent, urbanisation will make them more complex, and global politics will make them more unpredictable. But whether they destroy us or strengthen us will depend less on destiny and more on the choices we make.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/M-Zeb-Khan1606244671-0/M-Zeb-Khan1606244671-0.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Gaza war - winning and losing</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2572800/gaza-war-winning-and-losing</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2572800/gaza-war-winning-and-losing#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 16 Oct 25 19:25:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Aneela Shahzad]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2572800</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The truth behind global politics is often obscured by power plays and egos, leaving the innocent to suffer]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The upright never defeat evil, but they pretty much expose it. But evil, when exposed, even when drenched in ignominy, raises itself from its lewd bottomness, with the power of its dishonesty and deviousness, to heights of vainglory and fanfare - so that the distance between brazen tyranny and honourable virtue is so great that it is virtually unbridgeable.

This is not new; it is a repeated history. Over 3,000 years back, when Moses brought God&#39;s message, asking the Pharaoh to stop tyranny upon his people and give them their freedom; and proved his truth with the miracle of the staff - what did Pharaoh and his chieftains do with all the miracles? Even when their consciences were telling them that Moses had brought the truth, their self-interests, their gluttony and their rapacity forced them to turn over their inners voices and unite upon the evil that ensures them their worldly luxuries.

&#39;So, they disputed, one with another, over their affair, but they kept secret their whispers. They said: These two are magicians: their object is to drive you out from your land with their magic, and to do away with your most exemplary ways. So, put together your plan, and then assemble in ranks: He wins today who gains the upper hand,&#39; (TaHa;62-64).

Three lines from the Quran give a complete anatomy of the psychology in play. If you are for the overkill, the lavish overabundance, the excess powers, you suppress your morality. You malign the righteous as criminals, terrorist and &#39;magicians&#39;. And you unite with all the powerful, resourceful elites, ensure one another of the exemplary &#39;way of life&#39; and regimes you have, and put your plans together. And then you tell each other that you just need to win the moment - meaning that if you are able to show the people that your sorcerers are abler than the two brothers, the people will willfully accept your power.

Now, 3,000 years later, imagine Pharaoh&#39;s court and his chieftains, and imagine Sharm as Sheikh! And just imagine for yourself, who is the Pharaoh, who are the chieftains, who are the ones who aggrandise their tyranny as true power, and who are the sorcerers that make the people of the world believe that peace has been brought to war-torn Gaza!

Humanity looks with bewildered eyes - on Monday there was a ceasefire. On Tuesday, Israel shot down five more Gazans. On Monday, UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher was excited about the humanitarian scale-up; on Tuesday, he said the organisation faced &quot;further setbacks to the implementation&quot;. On Monday, President Trump was hailed for the Gaza Plan; on Tuesday, he was threatening to disarm Hamas &quot;violently&quot;. And on Wednesday, Centcom chief Brad Cooper was calling upon Hamas to &quot;immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza&quot;, both in Hamas-controlled areas and behind the so-called yellow line where Israeli troops are stationed. What was the peace deal then, if there was any?

The truth is that humanity was not told anything about the deal or what had been agreed to. On the face of it, it seems that Hamas was forced to hand over its only leverage, the hostages, in return for empty promises that most of us don&#39;t believe in. Was it a deal for letting Netanyahu go scot-free from all his court cases then, and let the Israelis pretend they have won? Was it just a prop-up to satisfy Trump&#39;s ego after he lost the Nobel peace prize? Was it a move to put a quiet on the Gaza front so that a full attack on Iran could be prepared for? Or was it just a commonplace sorcery, to stupefy humanity, while the genocide goes on in full? Or, was it a game of the survival for leaders, who want legitimacy in the eyes of their people, and who don&#39;t actually want an end to wars because they thrive on conflict and enmity.

Offensive realist Mearsheimer describes an anarchic world where every state is for its own and where states transfer the responsibility to act to other states while remaining on the sidelines - it&#39;s called buck-passing. So do we see the Muslim states passing the buck over to the Arabs? And the Arabs conveniently passing the buck onto Trump, who has no concern with the lives or welfare of the Palestinians, and who is best buddies with Netanyahu? So how does all this work? Are the states of the Ummah just thinking to keep passing the buck so that they can have peace in their states and have their multi-billion projects and their luxuries, while Gaza and the West Bank burn and bleed? How long will this work?

By the way, are the &#39;innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza&#39; that Brad Cooper mentioned Hamas was killing, not the IDF collaborators that they have prepared to wreak havoc in Gaza when they are gone? Are they not the same gangsters who have been looting the humanitarian aid at IDF&#39;s behest? If the Centcom chief wants to protect them, imagine what the calculus of peace drawn in his mind would be!

All this when the IDF forces still remain in two-thirds of Gaza; when humanitarian convoys are still not passing the check-posts; when Israeli leadership is repeating to this day that it won&#39;t have a Palestinian state; and that it is determined to destroy Hamas; and, in the words of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza. The truth is that Israel sees every war as an opportunity for expulsion of Palestinians, just like in 1948 and 1967.

And the truth is that the US will never cut Israel&#39;s aid; Israel will blame Hamas for something, backfoot on the ceasefire, and the genocide will go on. Because, Israeli perspective is not peace and political stability in the region, its perspective is Zionistic, it is maximising Jewish control, minimising Palestinian presence.

So, the question every member of human society must ask is: is this the way global politics is being run - of satisfying egos of biggity men; of putting trade over human lives; of letting the killing of 70,000 people just for the imperialist dream of an ally? Is this the exemplary &#39;way of life&#39; the leaders of our times propound? And are our votes in the ballot box stamping upon their powers?

Surely then, with our votes, genocide has won and humanity has lost.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/1870549-aneelashahzadnew-1545244338/1870549-aneelashahzadnew-1545244338.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>American strategic deception</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2518072/american-strategic-deception</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2518072/american-strategic-deception#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 24 20:24:21 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Zamir Akram]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2518072</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The US also maintains massive nuclear deterrence capability in comparison with which Pakistan's assets are miniscule.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Speaking at an American think-tank on 19 December, Jon Finer, the Deputy National Security Advisor in the Biden Administration, claimed that Pakistan&#39;s development of long-range missiles &quot;will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including the United States&quot;. He added that it was &quot;hard for us to see Pakistan&#39;s actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States&quot;.

This sweeping and speculative assertion coming only two days after the US imposed sanction on Pakistani entities allegedly involved in missile development could hardly be a coincidence.

This is obviously part of a well-orchestrated charade intended to deny Pakistan the capability to ensure credible deterrence against India&#39;s rapid development of its strategic arsenal including long range air, land and sea based missiles to be deployed on offshore Indian assets and nuclear powered submarines.

This blatantly discriminatory American policy behind the smoke-screen that Pakistan seeks to threaten the US itself is patently ludicrous and disingenuous. Even objective Americans would find this hard to digest. Indeed, this is strategic deception at its worst.

The US is well aware that ever since Pakistan&#39;s nuclear tests in response to India&#39;s in 1998, its strategic doctrine is focused on ensuring credible deterrence exclusively against India.

Accordingly, Pakistan&#39;s strategic capabilities are not directed against any other country except India, least of all the US. Besides, there is no rationale for Pakistan to threaten the US with which it has no dispute and where millions of Pakistanis reside.

The US also maintains a massive nuclear deterrence capability in comparison with which Pakistan&#39;s assets are miniscule. For Pakistan to attack the US would, therefore, be suicidal.

In open forum discussions on this issue over the recent past with American officials and experts, Pakistani interlocutor, myself involved, have sought clarity and rational arguments that would explain American concern. But none have been offered.

There have been vague and weak arguments that since Pakistan is China&#39;s ally, its strategic capabilities are a part of the threat from China. This begs the question as to why Pakistan, even as a Chinese ally, would jeopardise its own existence by attacking the US?

The truth is that these American allegations are a ploy and an obvious deception. The objective is to protect India&#39;s strategic interests against China. To achieve this, the US wants India to focus on China and not be distracted by competition from Pakistan.

But from Pakistan&#39;s perspective, Indian capabilities ostensibly against China can also be used against Pakistan. In fact, after the thrashing India received from China in 1962, it has no inclination whatsoever to engage in a conflict with the Chinese. But New Delhi will continue to exploit the threat from China to benefit from American hand-outs as Washington&#39;s &#39;Net Security Provider&#39;.

However, for Pakistan, the Indian military build-up presents an existential threat. India has used the American supported nuclear waiver to increase its nuclear arsenal. It has developed short, medium and long range air, land and sea based missiles. It has acquired nuclear powered and nuclear armed submarines. In 2019, India tested an anti-satellite missile (ASAT) and has developed a multi-layered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) System, involving American Patriot, Israeli Arrow and Russian S-400 missiles.

India is also developing hypersonic missiles while inducting new and emerging technologies into its weapon systems with American assistance. At the same time, Indian strategic bases are being set up in the Indian Ocean, most notably in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and possibly in the Indian Ocean. Additionally, as a part of the US-backed Quadrilateral alliance in the Asia-Pacific, India may obtain basing facilities in the territories of its alliance parties - the US, Japan and Australia.

For Pakistan these developments present existing and potential challenges in the future for which it must be prepared to ensure credible deterrence. Pakistan has already ensured, through its full spectrum deterrence policy, deterrence at the operational, tactical and strategic levels.

It maintains credible second strike capability adequate for its needs. Its land, air and sea based Babur cruise missiles and the MIRVed Ababheel missiles provide capability to penetrate Indian BMD systems. The Shaheen 2 and 3 long range missiles cover the Indian mainland and offshore assets.

However, since deterrence is dynamic depending on changes in technologies and policies, Pakistan cannot afford to foreclose its future options. For instance, development of Indian bases with nuclear armed missiles deep in the Indian Ocean would require Pakistan to develop longer range missiles.

Similarly, Pakistan&#39;s space assets including satellites which are becoming increasingly vital for civilian and military purposes, may come to be threatened by ASATs which India has already tested.

Therefore, for effective deterrence to protect its satellites in future, Pakistan would need an ASAT capability for which long range missiles are essential. Also, to benefit from future space operations, Pakistan would need the capability to launch satellites which require developing a Space Launch Vehicle (SLV) capability. For all these reasons, Pakistan has a legitimate right to develop its long range missile/rocket programme.

If the US has legitimate concerns about Pakistan&#39;s missile development programme, even as the assertion that Pakistan would threaten the US is nonsensical, a reasonable arrangement based mutual non-attack assurances can provide a logical solution. But, since the US does not seek this option, the conclusion is inescapable that America&#39;s true motives are different and the allegations made by the likes of Jon Finer are nothing but an elaborate deception.

America&#39;s true intentions are betrayed by its discriminatory sanctions imposed on Pakistani entities as was done again a few days ago. There are more than 160 such entities that have been sanctioned since 1998 while none in India.

If Washington was truly interested in South Asian security and protecting its own national interests, it should pursue a non-discriminatory and balanced policy towards Pakistan and India. Instead, India has been given a free pass to build up its strategic capabilities while restraint is only being sought from Pakistan. History has demonstrated that discrimination has never succeeded with Pakistan.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/1279755-ZamirAkram-1483117410/1279755-ZamirAkram-1483117410.JPG" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item><item>
			<title>Time to heal the wounds with Dhaka, and beyond</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2518067/time-to-heal-the-wounds-with-dhaka-and-beyond</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2518067/time-to-heal-the-wounds-with-dhaka-and-beyond#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 24 20:24:21 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Ishtiaq Ali Mehkri]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2518067</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Five decades down the line as Bangladesh and Pakistan look back at the trauma, it pains.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The month of December reminds me of Fall of Dhaka in 1971, and the iconic poetry of Naseer Turabi, who in an instant heart-wrenching aura penned a poem reflecting the remorse of dismemberment of East Pakistan in all humility. To this day, the ghazal (ode) he wrote reverberates as a grim reminder of our fallacies in the national milieu, and the trust that the poet had in the truncated section of our erstwhile nationhood.

The legendary poet was felicitous as he wrote: &quot;Woh humsafar thaa magar us sey humnawai na thiKay dhoop chaaon ka aalam raha, judaai na thi&quot; (He was my companion, but with him I didn&#39;t have like-mindedness; Like the clouds and sunlight, together but as apart as can be).

Turabi went on to state the obvious with a big heart: &quot;Adaavatein theen, taghaaful thaa, ranjishein theen magar; Bicharne walay mein sab kuch thaa, be-wafaai na thi&quot; (There were feelings of animosity, indifference and anguish (between us) but; my departed lover had everything (but) hadn&#39;t had unfaithfulness).

Five decades down the line as Bangladesh and Pakistan look back at the trauma, it pains and has nothing to account for but regrets. It is, however, some great consolation that Dhaka is willing to bury the hatchet, and wants to normalise relations with Islamabad. The desire on the part of Dr Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader, to &quot;move on from 1971&quot; is statesmanship.

The new thinking, perhaps, hints at the Bengali nation having come a long way from the Bangabandhu psyche to a progressive, all-inclusive emerging society. The end of Shaikh Hasina&#39;s regime has also impacted in helping Dhaka realise that in an era of geo-economics, carrying the baggage of animosity is an undesired liability.

The plausible interactions are many. The first that needs to be done is to reorient the academia and intelligentsia, and let them brief and debrief over the checkered history in all openness. Trade, commerce and communication avenues are aplenty for a joint populace of around half a billion, with a collective GDP of more than $750 billion.

Apart from buoying trade, both the countries must work together for reviving the moribund eight-nation SAARC, which was conceptualised by Dhaka as a viable organic regional organisation in 1985. Bangladesh can prevail over India to give in its resistance to the regional bloc and help rewrite a new chapter of homogeneity on the pattern of ASEAN. As India sits fingers-crossed with the fall of its ally-dispensation in Dhaka, there can be a quid pro quo for regional amalgamation making it a win-win situation in bilateralism.

The opening up of our quondam eastern flank can unfurl lessons in pluralism, institutional building and respect for political mandate that Bengalis had cherished. Pakistan, unfortunately groped in parochialism these days, can learn a lot and work inwardly for strengthening national unity. With origins of our freedom movement and its founding fathers from Bengal, there is a lot of intellectualism that needs to be revisited, and made part of our national life.

To pick a thread from Faiz Ahmed Faiz, &quot;Kab nazar mein aaye gi be-daagh sabzay ki bahaar; Khoon ke dhabbay dhuleinge kitni barsaaton ke baad...&quot; (When will we see the unsullied green of spring? After how many monsoons will the stains of blood be washed?), it&#39;s time to take a leap forward and connect the dots with Dhaka. An apology from Pakistan - which has expressed regrets over the debacle though - is direly needed for a fresh start.

This also comes as an opportunity to touch-base on the Bihari legion and make an earnest effort to embrace them and heal the wounds of history. Indeed, this reconnecting desires some soul-searching as more than 300,000 Biharis are stranded in Bangladesh - poor souls who stood for Pakistan and paid a price in blood and misery.

If Dhaka can embrace Rohingya Muslims, what prevents Islamabad from bringing back Biharis and undoing their statelessness? Looking beyond the bitterness of 1971 demands an open head and heart, and a comprehensive leap forward is indispensable.]]>
			</content:encoded>
			<image>
				    <img src="https://i.tribune.com.pk/media/images/Ishtiaq-Ali-Mehkri1690309071-0/Ishtiaq-Ali-Mehkri1690309071-0.jpg" class="featured_image"/>
            </image>
			</item>	</channel>
                </rss>
