Saturday, 7 November, 2020
COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively
PTI’s governance and crippling economy THE rampant inflation and plunging GdP have engulfed us this year. as per iMF data Mapper, October 2020, GdP growth was -0.4 percent and the inflation was recorded as 10.7 percent. Such worsening conditioning has come up due to an unprecedented hurdle according to the government. Which is said to be: Corona. State Bank, during corona, overprinted the currency to meet the cash flow as it wasn’t being deposited by people owing to Corona. However, in the present day, the policy of overprinting has pushed the inflation up. it has descended the value of Rupees and dollar has peaked in comparison to it. in the present day, 1 US dollar equals 162 Rupees approximately. incumbent government seems incapable to cope up with the faced issues. Economic indicators are towards gloom and doom in Pakistan. Opposition, taking the advantage of which, has stepped out on the roads against the government. Since the very first day people, in Pakistan, are facing such ups and down in the economy. Will a time appear that it will stand stable on its feet? Jahangir JamEEl TurbaT
Increasing infection
Terrorism ravaging Pakistan thing else. Further, this school of thought says that the fast deteriorating internal situation of the country is opening space for the discontented to The second school of thought says that the disrupt the national political scenario. added bomb blasts are a spinoff of the internal situation spite is offered by high inflation which is fast of Pakistan. The bomb blasts can be seen in iso- severing the relationship between the public and lation from the assassination of the religious the sitting government. scholar in Karachi. That is, the blast in Peshawar On balance, the second school of thought can be seen in combination with a bomb blast in favouring separatists perpetuating violence Quetta, which was claimed by the BLa. Taken seems to be outweighing its competitor. The together, the separatist ethnic elements have got Tehrike Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is fiercely opactive in Sindh, posed to the act of the Balochistan and Khyber government to fence Pakhtunkhwa in an efthe durand Line. it is fort to capitalize on the known that fencing is given situation of politbound to restrict and The Tehrike Taliban Pakistan ical uncertainty in the regulate mobility (TTP) is fiercely opposed to country. across the border, and This school of the act of the government to this factor offers a thought believes that major hindrance to fence the Durand Line. It is the current wave of vioboth the public in genlence ravaging Pakistan eral and the members known that fencing is bound is against the backof the TTP. Common ground of a conglomerpeople might be ready to restrict and regulate ation of 11 regional and to cross the Pakistanmobility across the border, national political parties afghan border through sitting on the opposition designated visa-depenand this factor offers a major benches havin initiated dent entry check hindrance to both the public points. nevertheless, a countrywide chain of rallies under a shared the TTP takes the fence in general and the members banner called te Pakas a method meant for istan democratic circumventing their of the TTP. Common people Movement (PdM). The free movements across might be ready to cross the activities of the PdM the border from the are gradually raising the points of their choice. Pakistan-Afghan border political temperature Perhaps, the separatists through designated visaacross the country. in all the three The PdM has been provinces assume that dependent entry check creating two effects. the PdM is somehow First, the PdM has bepoints. Nevertheless, the TTP forwarding and supcome successful in porting their cause and takes the fence as a method catching the attention of is sympathetic to them. policy and decision in short, the ongomeant for circumventing their makers who are now ing political turmoil free movements across the spending more time in seems to have overneutralizing the PdM’s taken the security of the border from the points of narrative than looking country, making it vulafter the internal secunerable to internal setheir choice. Perhaps, the rity of the country. Seccurity disturbances. separatists in all the three ond, the PdM is Further, instead of suibecoming successful in cide bombing the timeprovinces assume that the eroding the credibility device based bombs PDM is somehow forwarding have been used to disof both the sitting government and the derupt peace in Quetta and supporting their cause fence institutions. and Peshawar. Given despite all kinds of the trend, it seems that and is sympathetic to them blackouts on the main more violence is in the electronic media, offing, if the political speeches of all leaders turmoil is not settled. of the PdM are heard on the social media. apparently, the PdM is an Dr Tehmina Aslam Ranjha is an Assistant expression of tr discontent wrecking society. The Professor at t School of Integrated Social Scidisgruntled ethnic elements in three of the coun- ences at the University of Lahore and Research try’s four provinces– Sindh, Balochistan and Fellow ate UoL Centre for Security, Strategy Khyber Pakhtunkhwa– are up in arms to cash in and Policy Research. Currently, she is SDPI’s on the given struggle between the opposition and grantee for a mega project on Countering Viothe government benches. The way the defence lent Extremism. She tweets at Ta_Ranjha. institutions have been impugned, these institudisclaimer: The views expressed in the tions seem to be more focused on salvaging their paper are the author’s own. it is not the policy integrity in the eyes of the people than of any- of the institution.
Violence in Pakistan will be ended by an Afghan settlement Dr teHmiNa aslam raNjHa
P
aKiSTan is passing through trying times. On October 10, a renowned religious scholar and an administrator of Jamia Farooqia, Maulana adil Khan, and his driver were gunned down in the Shah Faisal area, of Karachi. The assailants, who had come on motorcycles, were unidentified. On October 25, a bomb went off in the Hazar Ganji area of Quetta, takiing the lives of four bystanders. it was a typical vehicle-borne improvised explosive device mounted on a motorcycle, and detonated through a time appliance. Reportedly, the Balochistan Liberation army, a militant ethnic organization working for an independent Balochistan, claimed the responsibility for the attack. On October 27, a bomb blast devoured the lives of seven innocent students instantly and injured more than a hundred students gathered at a religious seminary (the Speen Jamaat mosque) in the dir Colony area, Peshawar. Early in te morning, someone left a bag of explosive which had been fitted wit a time appliance. The series of violent incidents has caused the alarm to be raised in Pakistan. Regarding the probable reason for the uptick in violence, there have emerged two schools of thought. One school of thought says that the series of violence is a spillover effect from afghanistan, especially from its south-east region bordering Pakistan. in afghanistan, a conflict is going on between the forces loyal to the Kabul regime and the afghan Taliban. The Kabul regime is also in negotiations with the afghan Taliban at doha, Qatar, to settle the modalities of power sharing after the US forces leave afghanistan, as scheduled, by May 2021. Since 12 September, rounds of talks have been taking place but to no avail. The afghan Taliban are adamant about re-establishing the islamic Emirate of afghanistan, and thus substituting the current scheme of an islamic Republic of afghanistan. One of the major stumbling blocks is the way the afghan Taliban plan to interpret islamic jurisprudence, as there are sectarian groups inhabiting afghanistan wary of any partisan explanation. These groups cherish their own versions of islamic jurisprudence. Similarly, the rights of women have been a moot point. The afghan Taliban have not yet explained the way they would interpret islamic laws on the rights of women to seek education and work in the fields. The delegation of the afghan Taliban has insisted on general principles of islamic law and not specifically the law’s application in this modern age. although there is a truce between the US forces and the afghan Taliban, no such truce exists between the Kabul regime and the afghan Taliban, who spare no chance to engage in combat with each other. it is assumed that the afghan Taliban are getting frustrated at the talks and the attendant stalemate and have resorted to disrupt the peace in Pakistan, which pushed them into the talks.
aCCORdinG to statistics, for some weeks, Pakistan is reporting 14 to 16 deaths due to Covid-19 everyday.The most reasonable explanation behind the rising number of cases are the people who are seen violating the SOPs. although everyone is in the know how deadly the virus is, but the Pakistanis are yet to follow the SOPs.if it remains the same, then the government would surely be closing the businesses and industries across the country, including educational institutions.While the country went for a lockdown in the first wave of the virus, students were involved in different injurious activities.They were ruining their lives, and we do not want that to happen once again.Lastly, i would like to request the people to please follow the SOPs to save yourself from novel coronavirus. hammal m nahEEm bugh
Biden v Trump FOR the most integral times of the US presidential election, where donald Trump has twiced become known to be selected, and there’s a huge change in votes between Trump and Joe Biden. in the coming hours or days, donald Trump falsely claimed victory and made unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud. However, Biden held a small advantage with votes still left to be tallied, and those states would deliver Biden 270 votes needed in the state-by-state to win the White House. although, Trump still has a path to victory as being a most successful president in america. according to the latest news, Biden takes the lead in Georgia as race for the White House. Surprisingly, Biden jumped ahead of Trump by 917 votes. accepting the fact that , no democratic presidential nominee has won the state since Bill Clinton in 1992. at that time, Clinton narrowly defeated former president George H.W. Bush in that state in part because he and Bush were in a three-way race that included Ross Perot, an independent candidate for the presidency. The election is continued and Biden put himself on the doorstep of the critical threshold of 270 votes needed to become president. The president’s allies launched legal challenges and floated conspiracy theories and Trump tries to keep his hopes alive. But there’s obviously less chances for Trump to make him sure about what he makes such a change in votes counts. barkaTullah TurbaT
Face mask mandatory KaRaCHi Commissioner iftikhar Shalwani on Friday issued a citywide directive, making the wearing of face masks compulsory for all citizens. The decision was taken in view of the rising incidence of coronavirus cases in the port city, according to a press release issued by the commissioner’s spokesperson. Shalwani, who also holds the charge of Karachi administrator, directed deputy commissioners to ensure that all citizens wore masks and to impose penalties of up to Rs500 in case of violation of the order. The commissioner further directed the dCs to ensure that SOPs to combat the virus were being implemented in markets and shopping malls in their respective areas, adding that shopkeepers must ensure that their staff and customers don’t enter the premises without wearing a mask. He added that penal action would be taken against the shopkeepers and market administration in whose premises SOPs were being flouted. To a question about whether commuters will also have to wear masks while riding vehicles, the commissioner replied in the affirmative. mEhmood khan karachi
Babar number 1 again? PaKiSTan captain Babar azam will be looking to regain the top place in the iCC Twenty20 player rankings, in the upcoming three-match series against Zimbabwe to be held in Rawalpindi from Saturday. Babar, who scored 221 runs including a fine 125 in the final match of their iCC World Cup Super League Odi series against Zimbabwe on Tuesday, has been a familiar name at the top of the Twenty20 batting table and was currently the only one in the top five of all three formats, said a press release issued here. The Pakistan skipper, who has been number one for a total of 774 days in four different stretches since January 2018 and was at the top till September this year, was only eight rating points adrift of dawid Malan (877 rating points), who leapfrogged him during England’s 2-1 home series win over australia. Similarly, Pakistan all-rounder imad Wasim would be looking to move back towards the top spot for bowlers from his current eighth position in the series. ahmad buTT lahorE
