Dear Aspirants!

Follow up the Colour

Guidelines for Best Reading Experience

COLOUR Psychology

RED COLOR INDICATES……MOST IMPORTANT

( For Indicating Difficult Vocabulary, Phrases and Idioms )

GREEN COLOUR SHOWS……JUST IMPORTANT

(Names, Abbreviations, rhetorical expression and Grammar)

PURPLE COLOUR IS USED FOR……. TITLES

( Headings, sub heading )

DAWN EDITORIALS PLUS OPINIONS

Dated: Sunday 14 June, 2020

ICEP Analysts M.Usman and Rabia K.

Note:
We pick out those Opinions which is relevant to:
#Competitive Exams
#Essay Writing
#Current Affairs
#Historical episodes

Hence Dawn is not a CSS Magazine, but a Political

Newspaper. So, those Opinions which is based on
Politics are left to the reader's own choice. Thanks
Budget without a plan
In the midst of Global Economic Challenges; Pakistan has crafted financial
budget under massive uncertainty .

THE budget unveiled by the government on Friday has been crafted amid
uncertainties that are unprecedented. The economy was already reeling under the
sharp slowdown brought on by the macroeconomic adjustment that began last July
with accession to an IMF programme when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March
2020.Today, the country faces the prospect of a second round of adjustment given
the impact on the fiscal balance sheet, as well as the fallout from the Covid-19
spread and the consequent mitigation measures that might well need to intensify in
the months ahead if the rate of virus transmission does not decrease. On top of that,
there is the massive slump that has hit the global economy, the source of
Pakistan’s remittance and export earnings.Given the scale of the uncertainties that
lie ahead, perhaps it is understandable when the government’s finance team tells us
that it is impossible to plan ahead and the best strategy must be to take it as it
comes.

Real targets and revenue plans are still under discussion with IMF; The
financial budget has been framed hurriedly:

But there are good grounds for scepticism too. For one, there is an equally
plausible alternative explanation for why the government announced a budget that
contains no credible revenue plan yet has a sharp hike of 27pc as the target for
FBR taxes. The explanation is that the budget is only intended as a pro forma
submission in the ongoing talks for the second review with the IMF, during which
both sides are trying to chart a course to resurrect Pakistan’s programme that was
temporarily suspended in March once the lockdowns began. If it is true that the
government’s finance team has hurriedly put out a document just to keep the talks
going, and the real targets and revenue plan are still under discussion, then the
public invocations of massive uncertainty will sound very disingenuous.

Govt needs to take bold decisions to balance the targets and achievements
with the help of proper tax imposition:

nother reason to be doubtful of the ‘massive uncertainty’ explanation (also

reflected in the lack of any credible specifics in the budget) is that this is another
term for massive ad hoc management. There are tools with which to measure
uncertainty and risk in highly volatile situations, and map out the various scenarios
facing the government.Surely the government cannot be planning to fly blind into
the coming dark clouds? It is true that revenue at a time of extreme stress is a
difficult proposition, and this is why repeatedly voices of reason have advocated
broadening of the tax base, to make the state’s revenue position more secure, and
for the country to be better able to weather the unpredictable conditions.At around
the same time last year, the government began an aggressive drive towards this
end, which ended with a whimper with the departure of its architect Mr Shabbar
Zaidi. It is time to return to bold and decisive thinking, rather than seek cover
behind a diminishing status quo.
Unveiled: show or announce publicly for the first time: the Home Secretary has
unveiled plans to crack down on crime.
Craft: skill in carrying out one's work: a player with plenty of craft.
Unprecedented: never done or known before: the government took the
unprecedented step of releasing confidential correspondence.
Reeling: feel very giddy, disorientated, or bewildered,
Fiscal balance sheet: Amount of money government has from tax revenue and
the proceeds of assets sold, minus any government spending. When the balance is
negative, the government has a fiscal deficit. When the balance is positive, the
government has a fiscal surplus.
Fallout: the adverse side effects or results of a situation: almost as dramatic as the
financial scale of the mess is the growing political fallout.
Massive slump: undergo a sudden severe or prolonged fall in price, value, or
amount: land prices slumped.
Remittance: remittance is a transfer of money, often by a foreign worker to an
individual in their home country. Money sent home by migrants competes with
international aid as one of the largest financial inflows to developing countries.
Skepticisms: An undecided, inquiring state of mind; doubt; uncertainty.
Plausible: (adjective) of an argument or statement) seeming reasonable or
probable: a plausible explanation | it seems plausible that one of two things may
happen.
Resurrect: revive the practice, use, or memory of (something); bring new vigour to:
the deal collapsed and has yet to be resurrected.
Disingenuous: distorted, misrepresented, insincere, not truthful, false, hypocritical.
Fly blind (idiom): fly blind to be in a situation where you have nothing to help or
guide you . We will be flying blind into a world we don't know anything about.
dark cloud (idiom): An indication that something bad or problematic will happen in
the near future.Financial analysts believe that the sudden drop in oil prices points
to a dark cloud on the horizon for the national economy.
Whimper: to complain or protest with or as if with a whimper. the bill passed
without a whimper.
Diminishing:make (someone or something) seem less impressive or valuable: the
trial has aged and diminished him.
Status quo: the existing state of affairs, especially regarding social or political
issues: they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
Privacy matters

Thousand of Pakistanis' Privacy is at stake; Pakistan mobile app tracker for

COVID-19 is much vulnerable to hacking:

RECENT analysis of the government’s Covid-19 mobile application by an

independent researcher has confirmed local digital rights experts’ concerns
regarding Pakistan’s use of technology to monitor and tackle the spread of the
virus. Calling it “the worst Covid-19 app [he] analysed,” French cybersecurity
analyst Robert Baptiste pointed out significant flaws in the app — which was
developed by the National IT Board — that potentially expose the personal
information of several hundred thousand Pakistanis who have downloaded it.
NITB CEO Shabahat Ali Shah subsequently issued a somewhat defensive
statement claiming that Covid-positive users whose coordinates appear on the
app’s map have consented to this feature, having accepted its privacy policy and
terms and conditions. Though eventually conceding to order a security audit of the
app, this statement betrays the government’s casual attitude towards the safety and
privacy of citizens’ personal data. Not only is the app’s privacy policy far too brief
and vague, it calls into question how users can be expected to provide informed
consent to forfeit an inviolable fundamental right such as that of privacy.

Digital Surveillance should be subject to Public scrutiny and operationalized

only within the context of explicit parameters:

Besides, this is not the first such alarming development since the global pandemic
afforded the government a licence to expand the scope of surveillance
technologies to the general population and enhance data collection. In April, Prime
Minister Imran Khan revealed that the ISI’s track and trace technology, developed
for anti-terrorism operations, was now being used to track Covid-19 patients. In
addition to reports of widespread phone monitoring and geo-fencing, there is also
the issue of how personal data is being collected, stored and transmitted. Since the
very first cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the country, patients’ names and
details have been repeated leaked to the public. And since the formation of the
Tiger Force, spreadsheets containing volunteers’ personal information have been
circulating unfettered online. Granted, technology has a significant role to play in
Pakistan’s battle against Covid-19. However, it can only be a supplement, not a
substitute for good governance — a significant part of which is ensuring the
personal security and rights of constituents. The government must ensure that the
use of technologies to monitor citizens is subjected to rigorous public scrutiny,
and operationalised only within the context of explicit parameters, including
sunset provisions. The lack of transparency around Pakistan’s use of surveillance
technology and data collection is unsettling, to say the least, and risks exposing the
country and its citizens to immense harm.
Robert Baptiste: French Ethical hacker Robert Baptiste, who is popular by
name of Elliot Alderson on Twitter, has claimed that there are security issues with
the government’s contact tracing app. Elliot has worked as an engineer at Allsafe
Cybersecurity, he previously worked as a white-hat hacker for a cyber company,
looking for holes in the system until it was "hacker-proof".

Conceding: admit or agree that something is true or valid after first denying or
resisting it: [ with CLAUSE ] I had to concede that I'd overreacted.

Surveillance: Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, activities, or information

for the purpose of influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation
from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as closed-circuit television
(CCTV), or interception of electronically transmitted information, such as Internet
traffic. It can also include simple technical methods, such as human intelligence
gathering and postal interception.

Geo-fencing:Geo-fencing (geofencing) is a feature in a software program that

uses the global positioning system (GPS) or radio frequency identification (RFID) to
define geographical boundaries.

Geo-fencing allow an administrator to set up triggers so when a device enters (or

exits) the boundaries defined by the administrator, an alert is issued. Many geo-
fencing applications incorporate Google Earth, allowing administrators to define
boundaries on top of a satellite view of a specific geographical area. Other
applications define boundaries by longitude and latitude or through user-created
and Web-based maps.

Unfettered: not in chains; free of restraint

Rigours: adjective extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate: the rigorous

testing of consumer products.

Scrutiny: critical observation or examination: every aspect of local government

was placed under scrutiny.

Sunset Provisions:

A condition or provision in a law that designates a certain point in time when that
specific law will no longer be in effect. The law will no longer have any effect at that
point, unless the governing powers reinstate the law or extend the sunset provision
before the expiration point
Prioritising healthcare
The performance of world leaders during Crisis show their actual
competence; Case study of USA and Newzeland:

THERE are many lessons to be learnt from the pandemic, but perhaps none more
urgent than the importance of investing in public health. While few could have
predicted the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, it has, in its wake,
exposed the fragility of global healthcare structures and the dominant
economic/ideological system. Such issues are rarely about individuals, but one
cannot deny that the pandemic has revealed the quality of political leadership
around the world: the approach world leaders take to public health and how
quickly they communicate, innovate and act in the face of crisis directly impacts
the success or failure of the response. For instance, presently, the US and Brazil
are both led by strong proponents of the free market, which largely extends to
healthcare too. Since the outbreak, both leaders have also repeatedly dismissed the
concerns of experts, ignored early warnings, and peddled false information. The
inability or refusal to act has resulted in both countries now having the highest
virus-related deaths in the world. Remember: just two years ago, President Donald
Trump’s administration dissolved the government’s entire pandemic response
team, set up by the previous administration in the wake of the Ebola outbreak. On
the other hand, places such as New Zealand and Taiwan were able to contain the
virus by either already having a strong disaster response system in place, or
listening to the advice of experts and innovating new strategies as the threat grew
more apparent.

Govt needs to prioritize Health above all challenges; Despite of doubling the
recent budget of health sector, still much room is left for improvement:

Even before recording its first official case, there had been concerns about how
Pakistan’s healthcare system would cope with the virus. Yet the leadership gave
unclear or mixed messages, and a lack of unity had been apparent. Doctors’
concerns were ignored — worse, medics were arrested or attacked or harassed in
the line of duty. In the midst of the health emergency, the health allocation has
more than doubled in the recently announced national budget, yet it remains less
than what it should be. It is time to prioritise healthcare.

Fragility: breakableness; brittleness; weakness, flimsiness; delicacy.

Proponent: a person who advocates a theory, proposal, or project: a collection of essays by

both critics and proponents of graphology.

Eboula outbreak: The Western African Ebola virus epidemic (2013–2016) was the most
widespread outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in history—causing major loss of life and
socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Cope: deal effectively with something difficult: his ability to cope with stress | it all got too much
for me and I couldn't

In the face of (idiom): If you take a particular action or attitude in the face of a problem or
difficulty, you respond to that problem or difficulty in that way.Examples: The Prime Minister
has called for national unity in the face of the violent anti-government protests. Roosevelt was
defiant in the face of the bad news.

Prioritise: assign a priority to; "we have too many things to do and must prioritize"
Online censorship
Farieha Aziz

Topic: Government taking online censorship steps

but no efforts in implementing digit rights

The writer is a journalist and a co-founder of Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for
digital rights.

OUTLINE
i. Introduction
ii. Priorities of Citizens Protection Rule
iii. Provisions of Article 19 of constitution :right to information
strained
iv. Government lacks enforcement of digit rights violations
v. PTA’s rules and remarks of Asia Internet Coalition
vi. Recommendations
vii. Conclusion
Introduction

ON June 4, 2020, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) held a

consultation on the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020. While
civil society groups boycotted it, standing by their position to first withdraw and
de-notify the Rules, a separate session was held with journalists. Dawn’s June 7
report detailing the discussion illustrates how there isn’t even a base understanding
of the scope of Section 37 and Rules under it.

Citizens Protection Rules’ priorities viz-a-viz Section 37(Article 19) of

Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (‘PECA’)

According to the report, the discussion centred “on regulation of content related to
blasphemy, child pornography, extremism, hate speech, character assassination
and fake news — areas defined as ‘priority’ by the consultation committee”.
Section 37 lists the following content categories:

• interest of the glory of Islam,

• the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan
• any part thereof, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt
of court.

These are derived from Article 19 of the Constitution since Section 37 is a direct
copy-paste of it with the exception that “friendly relations with foreign states”
was omitted from the final version of Section 37.

Right to freedom of speech and right to information censored implicitly under

section 37

Unlike Article 19-A, under which right to information laws have been enacted by
the federal and provincial legislatures, which in varying degrees specify
information which may or may not be obtained, outline a process through which
applications for information may be made and subject organisations to penalties
for delaying or denying information, Article 19 remains unlegislated. What should
be parliamentary and judicial functions have been outsourced to a telecom
regulator under Section 37, to act as the custodian of speech and information in an
overbroad, arbitrary and arguably unconstitutional manner. It is from here that the
repeal position is derived. The ad-hoc manner in which powers have been
exercised under Section 37, to stifle dissent and deny due process to those against
whom action has been taken — evidence of which there is plenty — substantiate
that it serves no purpose other than being a censorship-enabling provision for the
state.

The government must learn rather than dictate.

PECA, camouflaged as a citizens’ protection act

Discourse erroneously rests on the presumption that such powers are necessary to
shield citizens against harm. Common sense and evidence suggest otherwise.
There are four offences under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Peca) Act,
2016, for which aggrieved parties can apply to the PTA:

• Sections 20 (offences against dignity of a natural person),

• Section 21 (offences against modesty of a natural person or minor),
• Section 22 (child pornography) and;
• Section 24 (cyberstalking).
Subsections allow aggrieved parties to apply to the PTA for the “removal,
destruction” or “blocking” of such information.”

• While problematic, what is also criminalised under Peca is

• the glorification of an offence (Section 9),
• cyberterrorism (Section 10) and ;
• hate speech (Section 11),

which criminalises advancing “interfaith, sectarian or racial hatred”. These remain

even if Section 37 is repealed.

Implications of digital rights by govt remains in writing with no connection to

enforcement

Digital rights groups frequently escalate requests by aggrieved parties with

platforms pertaining to harassment and breach of privacy that fall within the
purview of their guidelines and rules. It is this process through which they are
resolved, not government efforts. Yes, the mechanisms are far from perfect,
requiring deliberation. How citizens are to be protected against breach of privacy,
harassment and incitement under the laws and what more needs to be done is
unconnected to the Rules and Section 37. Dealing with disinformation and ‘fake
news’ by applying a non-Trumpian approach also requires discussion. But this
must be done separately from the Rules. The government must stop obfuscating
and conflating unconnected issues to seriously address citizen concerns by learning
rather than dictating what they know little of.

Legitimizing consultations or censorship isn’t the way forward

Section 37 only exists as a tool to maintain the state’s hegemony over speech and
information. Since this is impossible without governing content that is available on
foreign platforms also used by Pakistani citizens and journalists to express and
challenge the state’s view, the attempt is to establish the state’s writ over foreign
intermediaries. The problem arises because only some content requests are met
whereas the desire is for every content restriction and user data request to be
complied with and not just by some, but all platforms. Hence the direction to
companies to establish local offices so laws such as Peca become binding and
direct control can be exercised over them with the ability to coerce and apply legal
and extralegal pressure. To this effect, the government and all those invested in
this debate should read the Asia Internet Coalition’s comments on the Rules,
submitted to the PTA on June 5.

Conclusion: a way forward

The way forward is an informed discussion, not insistence to legitimise such

consultations or accede to demands for a blueprint on censorship.
 Strategic shift?
Muhammad Amir Rana

Topic : Forecasted Strategic shift in Afghanistan is

lacking key elements thus exposing wrecked
economy of Pakistan

The writer is a security analyst.

OUTLINE
i. Introduction
ii. Intertwined and essential: geo-strategic and geo-economic
approaches
iii. Pakistan as a peace moderator in Afghanistan
iv. Strategic aims behind US-Afghan peace deal
v. Enactable strategic doctrine amid border insecurity
vi. An art of diplomacy: imperative in South Asia
vii. CPEC : protecting the golden opportunity
viii. Tangled between hegemons : US and China
ix. Impeding challenges need strong leadership
x. Conclusion
Introduction

WITH the geopolitical landscape of our region changing fast, many optimists say
they are able to see a shift in Pakistan’s geostrategic approach. Some believe this
shift is largely oriented towards geo-economics, and if established, it would be a
major doctrinal shift. But so far, state institutions have not hinted at that in their
statements. Or perhaps, this is merely an issue of a different reading of their
actions.

Pakistan’s geo-economic stability lies in its effective geo-strategic approach

Pakistan’s faltering economic indicators do not lend weight to such notions that the
state is making some expedient efforts to strengthen its geostrategic or geo-
economic approach. For one, even the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),
which was until recently projected as a game-changer for the country’s weak
economy, has become a victim of the short-sightedness of state institutions.
However, those seeing a shift in Pakistan’s geostrategic approach do not use
economy-related arguments only; they also highlight the changing geopolitical
behaviour of the state, specifically towards Afghanistan.

Role as a big brother in Afghan peace process applauded world wide

Pakistan’s role in the Afghan peace process is vital. It was widely appreciated as
being instrumental in sealing the US-Afghan Taliban deal of Feb 29. But this does
not reflect any change in Pakistan’s strategic approach. Instead, it supports its
long-standing position; it has long been advocating that a negotiated settlement
between the Taliban and other Afghan stakeholders is a viable solution for
Afghanistan.

Strategic aims of Pakistan as a peace moderator

Pakistan has facilitated talks between the US and the Taliban because of
several reasons.

• First, the US has acknowledged Pakistan’s stance of negotiated settlement.

• Secondly, the Belt and Road Initiative and CPEC were also factors because
China does not want a major, protracted conflict near a key belt of its
ambitious connectivity initiative.
• Similarly, Pakistan’s internal security concerns as well as its urge to correct
its global image have proved to be critical reasons.

Pakistan’s cooperation on Afghanistan has not generated support for its stance on
India-held Kashmir.

Enactable strategic doctrine is imperative amid prevailing border insecurity

It requires an in-depth inquiry to examine how effectively Pakistan used these

factors and to what extent they have influenced the country. However, Pakistan’s
strategic doctrine appears to have remained unchanged in the process mainly
because the geopolitical and strategic challenges facing the country have still not
been resolved. Nevertheless, these challenges have become more complicated after
India revoked the special status of India-held Kashmir last year on Aug 5, which
was granted under Article 370 of the Indian constitution.
Efficacious diplomacy and constructive bilateral relations with South Asian
countries could have pressurized India over Kashmir issue

Pakistan tried hard to raise the issue before the international community and on the
relevant platforms — especially focusing on human rights abuses in held Kashmir.
These efforts yielded results, and international media and rights groups took the
atrocities in Kashmir seriously. However, Pakistan has not cultivated enough
political and diplomatic support to force India to review its brutal practices in
Kashmir. China supported Pakistan’s stance at the UN Security Council but that
was not enough to pressurise India. However, a real setback was experienced when
the Muslim bloc led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE obstructed all Pakistani efforts
to use the Organisation of the Islamic Conference platform for Kashmir. It showed
that the religious bond is relevant in international relations only when coupled with
a strong economy. South Asia is the region Pakistan considers the least essential,
or perhaps it does not fit in well with the state’s ideological framework. Pakistan’s
close bilateral relations with South Asian nations would have generated political
capital to pursue its geo-economic and political interests in the region.

Porous economy needs a fresh air of geo-economic stability

Despite introducing structural and stabilisation reforms, Pakistan is desperately

looking for economic revival. The power elites’ continuing practices reflect that
they are mainly capitalising on the strategic importance of the country, which they
believe can perform miracles time and again by diverting international investment
and aid towards Pakistan. The nuclear arsenal and strong military forces have
contributed to this confidence. Afghanistan is central to this approach, from where
the country can extract global support. Afghanistan is important for Pakistan not
only in the context of the Indian presence in its backyard but also for strategic
reasons, and the US has exploited it very well.

Neutralizing challenges with proactive approach can only serve purpose while
utilizing Afghan peace process in its favour

Pakistan’s cooperation in the Afghan peace process

➢ facilitated the improvement of its global image,

➢ reduced the trust deficit in its relations with the US and,
➢ helped it get loans from international financial institutions.

But Pakistan’s cooperation on Afghanistan has not generated support for its stance
on Kashmir. Second, in its efforts to balance its relationship with the US and
China, Pakistan has significantly lost focus on CPEC, which was a rare
opportunity for the revival and strengthening of its economy.

However, Pakistan has not used the Afghanistan factor effectively. Some say the
fear of being blacklisted by the FATF, the international financial watchdog, has
forced it to extend more support to the US in Afghanistan. The FATF has proved a
lethal factor, neutralising Pakistan’s efforts to take advantage of its cooperation in
Afghanistan.
Balancing the hegemons is another paranoia for Pakistan

Maintaining an equilibrium in its relationship with China and the US is another

challenge for Pakistan. The country has a history of ups and downs in its
relationship with the US, but it cannot afford a standstill with China, as the
relationship has an altogether different nature in the geopolitical, geo-economic,
and geostrategic contexts. The impression, which has developed during the last
two years, that Pakistan is eager to restore its relationship with Washington has
created resentment in Beijing. The slowdown of CPEC has strengthened
suspicions.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, Pakistan is struggling to adjust its geopolitical priorities, and nothing

substantive has changed in its geostrategic doctrine. A geostrategic shift should
have manifested itself in better trade and political relations with neighbours and
aggressive pursuit of implementation of transnational energy and infrastructure
megaprojects, which have already been agreed upon and just need a little push.
CPEC and its connectivity with Afghanistan, as well as structural economic
reforms would have substantiated such a shift. All these efforts need-out-of-the-
box thinking and courageous leadership.

Fixing the economy through a geostrategic lens cannot be called a doctrinal shift.

The writer is a security analyst.

Tragedy beyond the PIA crash
Abbas Nasir

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

AT about 2.35 p.m. on May 22, PK8303 passenger Khalid Sherdil, who was sitting
in the first row of the PIA A320, messaged someone very close to him in Karachi:
“Something is wrong … we bumped on the runway, and it seems like the brakes
didn’t work”.

This, we now know, was when the plane engines scraped the runway before the
pilots decided to execute a ‘go around’. Five minutes later tragedy struck PK8303
as it crashed in a residential area while attempting an emergency landing at
Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport after dual engine failure.

As news of the crash broke, one can’t even imagine what loved ones were going
through such as the person Sherdil was flying out to meet in Karachi and spend the
Eid holidays with. She says he insisted on coming, despite her pleadings not to fly,
due to Covid-19 exposure fears, to ‘pop the question’.

Of the 99 ‘souls on board’, including the two pilots and the six-member cabin
crew, there are just two survivors. But some of our 24X7 news channels started to
claim there were seven or more survivors including my former colleague, a fine
journalist and human being Ansar Naqvi.

A new torture was to start which, in some cases, continued for nearly three
weeks.

They also said Khalid Sherdil was one of the survivors. He was a respected civil
servant who headed the Punjab government’s Urban Unit, had developed an
expertise in disaster management, and is said to have done some seminal work in
data analysis including predictive modelling for the Covid-19 crisis which is now
proving to be spot on.

Whilst this news sent his friends in Karachi scurrying to various hospitals being
mentioned by these channels to find him, his family members in Lahore who
include among them civil servants, say they were receiving totally different news
from their civil service colleagues on the ground.

The channels which reported a number of survivors more than the two who
actually made it out alive from the crashed plane did not bother to source their
reports and more than three weeks on have not said once how they claimed that
number. Of course, an apology is not in their culture.
If this anxious period for some of those whose loved ones perished in the crash
was clearly over by the next morning as the number of survivors was
unambiguously established, a new torture was to start which, in some cases,
continued for nearly three weeks.

The fierce blaze that started and spread through the wreckage of the plane and the
fuselage meant that identifying the human remains of the majority of passengers
and crew was a difficult task. The horror of the victims’ loved ones was
compounded because so many remains were unidentifiable by sight.

DNA-matching remained the only certain way of identifying the victims where
there was no article of apparel or jewellery on their person making their identity
clear to those who were burdened with this onerous exercise of recognising their
loved ones thus.

How this DNA-matching and the whole disaster management system fared was
apparent by the next morning and more so over the following week. It was
heartrending to see Arif Faruki, who lost his wife and all three children in the
tragedy, take to social media with appeals for help.

He said there was not a single person, not one, as the designated contact from PIA,
the federal and the provincial governments nor the two disaster management
agencies who they could contact for the most rudimentary of information such as
where to go to offer their own/relatives’ DNA sample.

It was equally tragic to see someone tweeting appeals for help in despair as this
particular person’s parents had been among the passengers and they had been
running literally from pillar to post in order to find out how they would be able to
find their remains for burial, to get some closure.

Khalid Sherdil’s family members say some of them were aware of the
shortcomings of the DNA analysis capacity of the Sindh lab working under the
Karachi University so ensured that a team from the Punjab Forensic Science
Agency was despatched from Lahore by road.

Bizarrely, rather than welcome the additional expertise, the Karachi University
vice chancellor and some junior level administration officials reportedly got all
territorial about this and refused to allow the Punjab team access to the victims’
remains.

Even one order from the Sindh chief minister was not enough and it took a second
‘unequivocal’ intervention by Murad Ali Shah, who the Sherdil family described
as extremely humane, to enable the team to gather the required samples. It then left
for Lahore to complete the matching process.

The family concede that they are privileged, with access, and even then it took
them a number of days to make headway. Unlike the woman who last week
uploaded on social media a plea for her husband’s remains to be handed over so
she could bury them and tell her young children where he is.
Even now there are reports of anxiety among a few families because they are not
certain the remains of their loved ones were correctly identified as there have been
reports of differences in the DNA results of the Punjab and Karachi labs in some of
the cases.

More than one of the affected families have told me that the first time ever
someone was contacted by PIA was when they tried to make an appointment for
the CEO to visit and hand over cheques of compensation and insurance.

At least one family told me they found this quest for a photo opportunity
outrageous and disgraceful and told the CEO to stay away especially since the
airline officials remained distant and apathetic all through their painful ordeal.

An expert told me that DNA samples, given the state of some of the remains, can
take several days to extract, process and match with living relatives. That may well
be the case but was this explained by one designated person to the grieving
families?

Pakistan and its institutions really need to up their game and be demonstrably
much more empathetic when dealing with such incidents. What will we do,
Heaven forbid, if the fallout from the Covid-19 mishandling approaches
proportions impacting not dozens but thousands? Let’s collectively ponder.
Microfinance crisis
Farah Said | Rebecca Rouse

PAKISTAN’S microfinance sector faces a looming crisis unlike anything it has

experienced before. The Covid-19 pandemic threatens the livelihoods of
microenterprises, critical sources of income for poor households in low-income
communities. It has also created unprecedented challenges for financial institutions
that serve them.

Pakistan’s microfinance sector serves 7.3 million low-income households that live
close to the poverty line. Nearly half of these borrowers are women, with low
access to formal finance. A failure to help the microfinance sector survive Covid-
19 would cut off millions of Pakistan’s poor from capital and access to other
formal financial services at the moment they need them most. Without decisive
action from regulators, investors, and other private and public actors, microfinance
institutions could be irreparably damaged.

Recently, the WHO urged Pakistan to reinstate lockdowns as a way to control the
accelerating spread of the virus. In the wake of nationwide lockdowns, the
concerns of microfinance borrowers turn to keeping food on the table. Early data
indicate that borrowers will struggle to meet existing debt payments as a result.

In a paper published last month in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, we

conducted interviews with more than 1,000 microenterprise owners — current
microfinance clients — from Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir regions, starting about a
week after the country went on lockdown in March. What we found was a
devastating week-on-week fall in business sales — and thus household income.
Comparing the weeks before and after the lockdown was put into effect,
microenterprise owners in these regions reported a 90 per cent drop in income.
Notably, women-owned businesses were eight percentage points more likely to
experience a 100pc drop in revenues.

Covid-19 can cut access for millions to financial services.

For many clients, microfinance is a primary tool for managing liquidity. It allows
households and small businesses, whose incomes are often uncertain and volatile,
to manage their cash flow and expenditure needs. Recognising this fact has
important implications for regulation and oversight. Faced with massive
uncertainty about the time it will take for business activities to return to normal,
about 90pc of the microfinance borrowers who we surveyed stated that their main
concern in April was how to secure food. As a result, 70pc reported that they could
not repay their loans. Follow-up interviews with loan officers confirmed this fear.
While these microfinance institutions boasted extremely high repayment rates
before Covid-19 — 98pc repayment in February — loan officers expected a drop
to a repayment rate of only 34pc in April.

Covid-19 has restricted the ability of microfinance providers to remain in close

contact with their clients, while at the same time it has dramatically reduced the
ability of clients to earn income. Even if microfinance institutions can refinance
loans for their hard-hit clients, or forgive debts, their inability to recover will pose
serious challenges to the institutions themselves. These institutions may quickly
face insolvency, putting pressure on their ability to repay their own investors and
keep the lights on. Their survival will depend on their own creditors’ openness to
being patient and forgiving.
Regulators and donors can move quickly to provide microfinance institutions with
access to cash. Investors and government should consider introducing better risk-
sharing instruments, like credit guarantee schemes, to help microfinance
institutions manage this and future crises. The State Bank and the Security
Exchange Commission of Pakistan have been proactive, taking a number of
regulatory measures such as allowing debt restructuring and providing first-loss
sharing on loans to small and medium enterprises. Other countries have been
slower to react. Without collective action from microfinance institutions,
regulators and investors, the industry stands to lose arguably its most valuable
asset — the trust of its customers — which has been built over many years through
providing reliable services. Trust is difficult to build up and can be lost quickly,
with devastating consequences.

Low-income businesses, especially women-owned businesses, and their families

depend on these institutions. As our survey participants noted, it is unclear whether
borrowers will ever be able to repay existing loans. What will responsible lending
and repayment protocols look like in the aftermath of this pandemic? Clients will
need a strong microfinance sector, ready to support their recovery once the
pandemic subsides, and a strong regulatory framework that extends beyond
financial oversight to consumer protection.