Mediocrity, inaction ruling the roost

Donald Trump's victory for the White House has stirred considerable debate around the globe, primarily on how the world would deal with a non-conventional President considered as unpredictable and vindictive.

The same is true for Pakistan. A couple of conferences at Islamabad these days also reverberated with significant focus on the future relations of the United States with the rest of the world i.e. how will the world navigate the challenges ahead? Geopolitics invariably took the centre stage in these riveting conversations centring on security, the role of fin-tech and artificial intelligence in political economy and governance.

But how much of that debate is relevant to the present day Pakistan? Do these international gatherings provide wisdom that can translate in improving governance and the rule of law?

A couple of events since early November expose the mediocrity that currently rules Pakistan. It also explains that the country is quite disconnected from the rest of the world as far as people-centric long-term planning and governance is concerned. A letter to the London police and foreign minister's call for more funding to countries affected by the global warming are two examples in point to explain the mindset that currently runs the country.

Although not officially confirmed, a formal or otherwise official letter from Islamabad requested the London police to help extradite about two dozen youth involved in the protests against former chief justice Qazi Faez Isa. They were charged under the Anti-Terrorist Act of Pakistan.

The request was fated to get a blank snub and it did. Protest in the UK is neither punishable nor does it constitute a terror offense, was the reported response out of London.

One wonders which brilliant minds conceived the idea of asking for extradition of British nationals protesting on the British soil and that too under terrorism charges. It only exposed the frivolity and naivety of the officials who even dared to send out such a request. Would the British government extradite its own citizens to a country where ATA laws are abused like nowhere?

Climate change also figured as one of the subjects at multi-lateral seminars.

Elsewhere in Baku (Azerbaijan), Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar urged developed nations to honour their climate finance pledges to provide accessible and grants-based climate financing to the top ten countries worst affected by the climate change.

"We spend 20% of annual public sector program on Climate Responsive Public Investment ranging from integrated flood response to investment in renewal energy and climate smart agriculture. Pakistan's National Climate Finance Strategy aims to utilize climate finance to address both our mitigation and adaptation needs," Dar said at an event on the sidelines of the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29).

All this lofty rhetoric by Pakistani ministers, officials and experts as well as presentations by foreigners sounded so disconnected from the realities on ground, dominated by the crippling issue of smog in Punjab in particular. Crop burning, industrial emissions, vehicular emissions and brick kilns (over 11,000 in Punjab along) are being quoted as the biggest sources of smog.

Without singling out the real issue and finding solutions, Dar's home province Punjab thoughtlessly went for the lockdown i.e. closure of business that depend on daily turnout and involve millions of daily wage workers.

Nobody had the teeth to tell the chief minister – who, along with an army of officials, jetted off to Geneva and London in critical smog-hit times – that vehicular emissions were the biggest contributor to the smog. As much as 80 per cent of the smog draws its lethal toxicity from the vehicular emissions. Big reason is the low-grade compromised fuel being poorly refined in Pakistan and the impure diesel being smuggled from Iran.

Research indicates – as pointed out by a research report led by Engineer Arshad Abbasi – that in Pakistan, diesel and petrol typically have a sulfur content averaging around 3%. This high sulfur content significantly influences particulate matter (PM) emissions during the combustion of fuel oil. Efforts to reduce sulfur levels in fuels have faced repeated delays because of the oil cartels that control the import, refining and distribution with deep tentacles into the industry.

A letter by Arshad Abbasi and others, being sent to world institutions via the Center for Research and Security Studies, says: "The methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO?) are the second most significant pollutants, primarily emitted by the transport and industrial sectors." The data also quantifies emissions of fine particulate matter, including total suspended particulates (TSP), PM2.5 and PM10. These particulates act as condensation nuclei, playing a critical role in the formation of smog during Lahore's winter months.

Instead of ordering a freeze on unnecessary vehicular movement for a few days, banning the diesel vehicles off the roads and closing down the brick kilns, which often burn rubber and plastic scrap too, the government ordered a shutdown of businesses.

The approach essentially reflects absence of vision and poverty of management skills – from top to bottom. And hence the country as a whole has lost credibility with the donors. No amount of cries by Sherry Rehman, Bilalwal, Sharifs or Dar will lure donors back to help Pakistan on the climate front. Meanwhile, they know how their largess has only enriched the elites and financed their elitist governance.

The civil, military elites need to realise that, based on their performance so far, the 4-B mantra – i.e. beg, borrow, bluster, bluff – has come home to roost. Not attractive enough to extract sympathy funding for Pakistan. The Pakistani ruling elites – addicted to extraction – deployed this model in eliciting financial support for too long. It is not working anymore. Under the new economic realities, this approach has outlived its "utility" if there ever was one.