Looking back at 2013
The completion of local bodies polls will help our democracy gain stronger roots.
The end of the year finds us in a state of considerable chaos and facing enormous challenges — a predicament that we have become rather accustomed to.
It has been an eventful year — with a general election in May, and changes at the presidency, at the top of the army high command and the judiciary. With the country having witnessed its first-ever peaceful democratic transition, there have been exciting moments of optimism and hope dotted through the past 12 months. But as we await the first dawn of the new year, much of this seems to have slowly evaporated away, like water vanishing as it stands under a hot sun.
The end of the year finds us in a state of considerable chaos and facing enormous challenges — a predicament that we have become rather accustomed to. With the arrival of winter, a darkness has descended over too many lives, with prolonged gas load-shedding combined with power cuts in most urban centres creating a sea of human misery. Plans promised by the central government to ease the strain on domestic consumers have not worked, and of course, the industrial sector has been virtually paralysed. To make matters even worse, there seems to be no immediate hope of relief — with the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline still in the doldrums due to financing and related issues.
This brings us to the matter of Pakistan’s economy. There had been hope that the PML-N government, with its roots amongst the business community, would be able to bring about economic revival. This has not happened. The tightening grasp of the International Monetary Fund has brought an increase in utility bills with subsidies slashed, the high rates of inflation continue unchecked and the investment so badly needed has not come in. The rupee continues to lose value against the dollar and this means inflation — via the rising price of imported oil — will rise further.
A key reason behind the reluctance to put money into Pakistan is, of course, the militancy which has shattered the country. An agreement reached at an All Parties Conference held a few months ago to talk to the militants has not progressed, despite vague talk of government contacts with militants. After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security held in December, and attended for the first time by the new Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, we were told that the civil and military leadership was in agreement over a dialogue for peace. It is unclear how the military action begun in North Waziristan about a week ago, after an attack on soldiers praying at a check post, may have altered this consensus. Drone strikes continue; with them, the acrimony between the PTI and the government mounts and there is no end in sight to the blockade of Nato supply routes.
The blockade places a further strain on Pakistan-US relations, with the tone from Washington growing more hostile over the issue. This is not an especially good omen given the need for cooperation between all countries in the region and ahead of the scheduled US troop pullout next year. Pakistan’s ties with both Afghanistan and India remain patchy, though there has, over the past six months, been progress with New Delhi. The talks between the prime ministers of both countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September helped move things along somewhat, despite the tensions which erupted both before and after that meeting. The need for this process to continue is paramount.
While we see around us turmoil as protests of various dimensions erupt, there are things to look ahead to. The completion of local bodies polls in the provinces other than Balochistan, where the process has been completed already, will help our democracy gain stronger roots. We will also, undoubtedly be watching Bilawal Bhutto Zardari enter the political arena — offering perhaps, a new voice and a new vision. A much-needed population census, the first since 1998, has also been decided upon according to reports — and we must hope all these developments will help bring light as we walk into 2014 and take steps we hope will lead to a brighter future for all our people.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2013.
The end of the year finds us in a state of considerable chaos and facing enormous challenges — a predicament that we have become rather accustomed to. With the arrival of winter, a darkness has descended over too many lives, with prolonged gas load-shedding combined with power cuts in most urban centres creating a sea of human misery. Plans promised by the central government to ease the strain on domestic consumers have not worked, and of course, the industrial sector has been virtually paralysed. To make matters even worse, there seems to be no immediate hope of relief — with the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline still in the doldrums due to financing and related issues.
This brings us to the matter of Pakistan’s economy. There had been hope that the PML-N government, with its roots amongst the business community, would be able to bring about economic revival. This has not happened. The tightening grasp of the International Monetary Fund has brought an increase in utility bills with subsidies slashed, the high rates of inflation continue unchecked and the investment so badly needed has not come in. The rupee continues to lose value against the dollar and this means inflation — via the rising price of imported oil — will rise further.
A key reason behind the reluctance to put money into Pakistan is, of course, the militancy which has shattered the country. An agreement reached at an All Parties Conference held a few months ago to talk to the militants has not progressed, despite vague talk of government contacts with militants. After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security held in December, and attended for the first time by the new Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, we were told that the civil and military leadership was in agreement over a dialogue for peace. It is unclear how the military action begun in North Waziristan about a week ago, after an attack on soldiers praying at a check post, may have altered this consensus. Drone strikes continue; with them, the acrimony between the PTI and the government mounts and there is no end in sight to the blockade of Nato supply routes.
The blockade places a further strain on Pakistan-US relations, with the tone from Washington growing more hostile over the issue. This is not an especially good omen given the need for cooperation between all countries in the region and ahead of the scheduled US troop pullout next year. Pakistan’s ties with both Afghanistan and India remain patchy, though there has, over the past six months, been progress with New Delhi. The talks between the prime ministers of both countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September helped move things along somewhat, despite the tensions which erupted both before and after that meeting. The need for this process to continue is paramount.
While we see around us turmoil as protests of various dimensions erupt, there are things to look ahead to. The completion of local bodies polls in the provinces other than Balochistan, where the process has been completed already, will help our democracy gain stronger roots. We will also, undoubtedly be watching Bilawal Bhutto Zardari enter the political arena — offering perhaps, a new voice and a new vision. A much-needed population census, the first since 1998, has also been decided upon according to reports — and we must hope all these developments will help bring light as we walk into 2014 and take steps we hope will lead to a brighter future for all our people.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2013.