Dawn Editorials (with Summary and Vocabulary)
DAWN EDITORIALS
January 9, 2024 (Tuesday)
Day’s
Vocabulary
- Deity. a god
or goddess
- Straddle. sit or
stand with one leg on either side of
- Myriad. a
countless or extremely great number
- Pulped. crush
into a soft, shapeless mass
- Accompaniment. something
that is supplementary to or complements something else
- Lament. a
passionate expression of grief or sorrow
- Exhilaration. a
feeling of excitement, happiness, or elation
- Abut. (of an area of
land or a building) be next to or have a common boundary with
- Malleability. noun
form of malleable. (of a metal or other material) able to be hammered or
pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking
- Throng. (of a
crowd) fill or be present in (a place or area):
- Leeway. the
amount of freedom to move or act that is available
- Agnostic. a person who
claims neither faith nor disbelief in God
- Corpus. a
collection of written texts, especially the entire works of a particular
author or a body of writing on a particular subject
- Heft. lift or carry
(something heavy)
- Naysayer. a person who
criticizes, objects to, or opposes something.
- Notoriety. the state of
being famous or well known for some bad quality or deed
- Nugget. a small
lump of gold or other precious metal found ready-formed in the earth
- Staunch. loyal and
committed in attitude
- Pounce. (of an
animal or bird of prey) spring or swoop suddenly so as to catch prey
- Hitherto. until now or
until the point in time under discussion
- Semitic. relating
to or denoting a family of languages that includes Hebrew, Arabic
- Glitzy. ostentatiously
attractive (often used to suggest superficial glamour)
- Bonanza. a situation
or event that creates a sudden increase in wealth, good fortune, or
profits
- Ephemeral. lasting
for a very short time
- Fallacy. a
mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument
- Votary. a
person, such as a monk or nun, who has made vows of dedication to
religious service
- Syncretic. the
amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures,
or schools of thought
- Ploy. a cunning plan
or action designed to turn a situation to one's own advantage
- Cliché. phrase
or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought
- Ilk. a type of
people or things similar to those already referred to
- Fore. situated or
placed in front
- Hapless. (especially
of a person) unfortunate
- Contraption. a
machine or device that appears strange or unnecessarily complicated, and
often badly made or unsafe
- Credence. belief in or
acceptance of something as true
- Tacit. understood
or implied without being stated
- Anointed. nominated or
chosen as successor to or leading candidate for a position
- Autocratic. relating to a
ruler who has absolute power
- Perverse. (of a person
or their actions) showing a deliberate and obstinate desire to behave in a
way that is unreasonable or unacceptable, often in spite of the
consequences
- Crumbs. a very
small amount of something
- Aberrant. departing
from an accepted standard
- Spawn. the
product or offspring of a person or place (used to express distaste or
disgust)
- Sway. rule;
control
- Vacuous. having or
showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless
- Bleak. (of
an area of land) lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements
- Proclivity. a tendency to choose or do something
regularly; an inclination or predisposition toward a particular thing
Desperate
need for divine help?
Summary
- The Hindu deity Ram is worshipped in many different
ways across a wide geographical area.
- In modern India, matters of faith are generally not
decided by courts.
- The author believes that the opposition should
interpret Modi's perceived need for divine assistance as a sign of
desperation.
- The author suggests that the opposition should focus
on facts, such as voting patterns, rather than mythology, in order to win
the upcoming election.
- The author points out that not all worshippers of Ram
supported the destruction of the Babri mosque.
- The author concludes by stating that the opposition
should see Modi's need for divine help as desperation, and their own
possibility of victory as anchored by a simple headcount.
Article
The legend of Hindu deity Ram straddles the
geographical stretch from the Caspian Sea to Southeast Asia and beyond. There
are myriad lores and countless tellings of the ancient narrative. That
many such legends are being pulped or have been airbrushed has a
political purpose.
It doesn’t help Hindutva that Ram has been worshipped in
different ways or that his name surfaces to the accompaniment of lament
and exhilaration in folk music. “I lost my precious pearl around here, O
Rama. Help me find it, or I’ll die of grief.” So goes a beautiful kajri sung by
Rasoolan Bai.
Muslim actors in Indonesia are applauded daily for enacting the
stories of Ramayana with a fusion of poetry and music. Ancient Hindu temples abut
Buddhist meditation centres on the island of Java where most citizens are
otherwise Muslim, many with names suggesting a Hindu link, the former president
Megawati Sukarnoputri, for example.
In modern India, as in other enlightened nations, matters of
faith were deemed non-justiciable. Nobody asked a judge if God existed. Nor
could courts claim to have the answer, anyway. There are countries with Sharia
courts and other religious equivalents where matters of law are interpreted in
the light of religion.
The Indian constitution accords enough leeway to
believers and agnostics alike. The corpus of Hinduism’s
multi-layered beliefs would lack heft without the nastikas or the naysayers
of ancient India who enjoyed the same respect with the masses (or notoriety
with the elite) that Socrates commanded in his sphere of influence by
questioning the supremacy of the priestly class.
Eventually, the Supreme Court, headed by a chief justice on the
eve of his retirement (and days before he would be made a member of parliament
in the upper house) handed the verdict in favour of those that had violently
opposed its orders against destroying the Babri Masjid. Since the secular
courts weren’t supposed to offer views about deities as real people, how should
the state position itself in the debate?
Indeed, in another context, the Manmohan Singh government was
asked for its opinion by the Supreme Court. The straightforward answer that any
secular government would give was given. It said it was not aware of any
historical person like Ram. The BJP pounced on the government, accusing
it of blasphemy. It’s an invention in Hinduism — the hitherto Semitic
idea of blasphemy.
In Hinduism where goddess Durga is worshipped as a slayer of the
demon Mahishasur, there are communities that worship Mahishasur as their hero.
Likewise, Raavan is worshipped in parts of India and shunned as a villain in
others. Many Hindus see Sita as the star of Ramayan, not Ram. Imagine a modern
court in Athens pondering the question whether Zeus existed, worse, if he still
rules the world as the king of gods.
The opposition
should interpret Modi’s perceived need for divine assistance as a sign of
desperation.
Be that as it may, the million-dollar question today is whether
Lord Ram would intervene on behalf of Prime Minister Modi to give him a third
term in office with elections due in May?
The answer hinges on the trust the newly minted INDIA alliance reposes in
stark facts, as against mythology. If INDIA partners focused on the pattern of
the votes cast in the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency in the general elections
in 2019, for example, they would have to do something very foolish not to win back
the seat from the BJP.
Should Lord Ram still not help Modi, for reasons more earthy
than ephemeral, it would not be on account of the leader not trying. His
party did what it knows best to win power, by hook or by crook. It mocked the
Supreme Court’s authority and paved its march on Ayodhya with human blood. It’s
a fallacy that all worshippers of Ram wanted the Babri mosque to be
destroyed.
On November 16, 1993, Lal Das, a vocal opponent of Hindutva, was
shot dead just 20km from Ayodhya. In 1981, Das was appointed by the court as
the head priest of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi temple located under the
central dome of the Babri Masjid. A votary of syncretic
traditions of Awadh, Das rejected the Ram temple movement as a ploy to
garner Hindu votes. He spoke instead of how many temples in Ayodhya were built
with the aid of the Muslim rulers of Awadh.
This and the fact that the BJP received just 37.36pc of the
votes in 2019 to win 303 seats should encourage India’s opposition partners.
They should see Modi’s need for divine help as desperation, and their own
possibility of victory as anchored by a simple headcount.
Summary
- Elections in Pakistan have become predictable and
filled with clichéd twists.
- New political alliances and factions are emerging,
causing uncertainty in the political landscape.
- The PML-N may face competition from these new
claimants in Punjab.
- The PPP is active in comparison, with Bilawal leading
campaign events.
- The PTI is focused on court cases and dealing with new
members.
Article
Elections in Pakistan have become a thriller film, where the clichéd
twists just never stop, and those watching do not know whether to be scared or
to laugh at the predictability. On Sunday, barely had the palpitations over the
Senate resolution asking for a delay in elections subsided when news arrived of
yet another press conference.
This time around, no one turned up to denounce May 9 and/ or
announce retirement from politics (or shake hands with leaders of the
Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party). Instead, it was Ijazul Haq, who recently had his
papers rejected and then accepted, announcing yet another save-the-nation
front.
He was flanked by (surprise, surprise) Usman Buzdar, the man for
whom the powers that be had had their hearts broken by Imran Khan. There was
also Amin Aslam, but he did not really cause any hearts to flutter, either
earlier or with his Sunday appearance.
The PTI now has as many breakaway factions as there are sequels
to Mission Impossible. One can only guess why this latest faction or group has
come to the fore, even though it was packaged as a group of
independents.
And while Haq may have convinced some about his concern for the hapless
people of Pakistan, one can only assume this new alliance had also been dreamt
up around the same conference table where the brainstorming for the IPP and
PTI-Parliamentarians took place. For why else would Buzzy come out of his
self-isolation? This was his ‘press conference’, for sure.
Hardly any
party out there seems to be worried about campaigning.
The only party which should be worrying about this new political
contraption is the PML-N, as it means another lot of Punjabi politicians
with some backing are going to be aspiring to win some seats from the province.
The sweeping majority the PML-N could have counted on in the absence of the PTI
seems to be at risk from these new claimants.
But then, these real-world events would only be worrying the
party if it emerged from the conference room it entered some moons ago to
decide party tickets. It is hard to tell when its Rip Van Winkle-like leaders
will wake up, open the doors and step out into the fog of elections.
Campaigning seems to be far from the party’s mind.
The PPP is quite active in comparison, but its activity is being
led by Bilawal, who just recently was locked in a teeny, tiny confrontation
with his father for being a bit too critical of the choosers and shakers.
PTI can barely be bothered about the appearance of Buzzy and
Amin Aslam. It doesn’t just have its hands full with court cases, but also with
new and newer members as the older ones depart quick and fast. It is hard to
tell who is running the party and who is just an enthusiastic, newly appointed
member.
Is the mild-mannered Clark Kent, aka Barrister Gohar, the man of the moment, or is
it Sher Afzal Marwat, who seems to be the product
of the DNA of Amitabh Bachchan and Charles Bronson combined? If TikTok were the
political stage, there would be no question about who is in charge. Politics is
now the name we give to slo-mo videos of lawyers walking to and fro.
Last but not least comes the Maulana, who says he doesn’t know
who is targeting him or causing unrest in KP, but he wants elections delayed.
Who is targeting him? He doesn’t know. How long does he want elections delayed?
He doesn’t know.
But what is more worrying are accounts that some in the
government have advised him to go sort out his
problems with the government in Kabul; a tacit admission
that the state can no longer ensure his safety and he should figure it out
himself.
Once all of this is put together, it doesn’t just resemble a
Ramsay brothers’ horror film, but a conclusion that there is hardly any party
out there worried about campaigning just a month before the election. Each one
of them is busy dealing with internal politics and managing their critical
relationship with the saas (who was never, ever the bahu).
And if there is any politics taking place, it is via television
interviews, Senate resolutions and court cases. It’s a right horror show, and
we are not just the audience but the unsuspecting cheerleader about to be
chased through the woods.
Summary
- Politics is often autocratic, but its best form is
democratic.
- Elites have created perverse political forms such as
patronage, populist, fascist, and religious politics.
- Pakistan's politics has shown a drift towards perverse
political forms over time.
- Different regions in Pakistan have different political
forms, with some embracing pro-poor ideologies and others favoring
patronage or populism.
- Small pro-poor forces are rising in the poorest and
most violent areas of Pakistan.
Article
Politics is to acquire and use power to achieve
one’s aims and is often autocratic (won via force to favour elites).
However, its best form is democratic, where rulers present pro-poor policies to
win and implement them. But elites have created many perverse political
forms to prevail even in democracy: patronage, populist, fascist and religious
politics.
Our politics is clearly elitist. Sadly, it has shown a huge
drift to perverse political forms over time. Our mother political form was
Muslim League’s freedom one. Unlike Congress and Awami League’s pro-poor left
ideology, its politics were rightwing ethnoreligious populism based on fear of
Hindu rule sans a pro-poor vision. Yet this national politics hid many regional
forms.
Muslim League co-opted feudal Unionists in Punjab and patronage
politics ruled there for long, with elites winning by offering crumbs to
familial voter blocs rather than pro-poor agendas. Yet Punjab voted for PPP’s
leftist agenda in 1970 but later adopted aberrant rightwing forms again
like PML-N’s patronage and PTI’s populism (anti-elitism sans clear pro-poor
agenda). So, which one will prevail in Punjab is unclear. A distinct Seraiki
identity has emerged in its poorer southern region but is yet to spawn
ethno-ideological politics there. After 1947, Pakhtuns stuck to Ghaffar Khan’s
leftist ethno-ideology for long. Religious parties ascended slowly in isolated
areas like Dir, Kohistan and the south but PTI’s religio-populist nationalism
now holds sway despite the crackdown. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hindko
region, better off than many Pakhtun areas, has always stuck to patronage
politics, like Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.
Sindhis and Baloch too started with leftist ethno-ideology led
by G.M. Syed and Bizenjo. Among the Baloch, establishment ploys have stoked
religious and feudal-led politics as older ethno-ideological parties face
extinction. Sindhis later switched to PPP’s leftist ideology, but then adopted
patronage politics. Ethno-ideological Sindhi parties now get few votes.
Mohajirs supported Muslim League’s rightwing politics initially, swung to
religious parties in 1970, then turned to MQM’s ethno-populist quasi-fascism
after 1980 and PTI in 2018. With both PTI and MQM facing state oppression,
religious parties (JI and TLP) are rising again. But like Punjab, the future of
Mohajir politics remains unclear though it too may remain rightwing. Mohajir
politics is the oddest nationally as despite their high education, income,
global links and exposure, urban location (which makes mobilisation easy) and
big intellectual pockets, they keep moving from one perverse political form to
another.
Most of our
failures stem from our political failures.
So nationally, there is no ethnicity or region where ideological
politics prevails. Even those who had it have embraced perverse politics.
Stagnant patronage is now our main political form, vacuous populism its
main challenger, religious extremist politics the main wild card, and terrorist
politics the main spoiler, cutting a bleak view of our politics. This state is
mainly due to the establishment’s autocratic politics that serves as the
bedrock of our politics. It has ruled directly for 30 years and runs politics
covertly, and even otherwise, by furthering various forms of political
patronage. Our huge economic, security, social and foreign policy failures
stem from our political failures. Our political failures exist because
powerful forces have blocked our natural political evolution for six decades.
The view is not entirely bleak as small pro-poor forces
are rising. Strangely, these are mainly in the two poorest and most violent
areas: ex-Fata and Balochistan. The misery from poverty is magnified by
terrorism — religious in ex-Fata to conquer the state and ethnic |in
Balochistan. PTM won two national seats in 2018 in ex-Fata.
Baloch forces are still loose as seen in Gwadar protests and
Baloch march. So, politics in these areas now has three forms: patronage
politics, militant politics, and mass politics, which rejects both.
The state is unwisely crushing it, not seeing its value in
ending both forms of terrorism. The huge political energy of Baloch protests
must crystallise into durable political forms like PTM. In my solidarity visits
to the Baloch protest camp in Islamabad, I requested Mahrang Baloch and others
to think on these lines.
Our political decay reflects a larger SAARC proclivity:
Bangladesh embraces one-party autocracy, India has illiberal extremism and Sri
Lanka stagnant politics. Yet nowhere are multiple crises and the need for mass
politics bigger than in Pakistan.
Summary
- The Global Health Security Summit is being held in
Islamabad on January 10.
- Global health security is the ability to prevent,
detect, and respond to infectious disease threats.
- The Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) is a global
effort to strengthen health security.
- Pakistan has signed onto the GHSA and is working to
improve its health security.
- Key challenges for Pakistan include tuberculosis,
antimicrobial resistance, and weak public health systems.
- Pakistan needs to invest more in health systems,
especially laboratory and surveillance capacities.
- The summit is an opportunity for Pakistan to learn
from other countries and secure funding for health security.
- Political ownership of the GHSA is essential for
success.
Article
The greatly anticipated Global Health Security Summit, one of
the major calendar events on the global health security agenda, gets underway
in Islamabad on January 10.
The two-day event draws delegates from over 40 countries and is
the personal initiative of the current caretaker Health Minister, Dr Nadeem
Jan, who worked hard to bring it to Pakistan since taking over as the third
technocrat at the health ministry after Dr Zafar Mirza and Dr Faisal Sultan.
This clearly shows that a technocrat with command over the brief can lead from
the front on key health challenges facing the country. And herein lie many rays
of hope for the health sector.
As a rule of thumb, global health security means the presence
and development of robust and resilient public health systems that can help
prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease threats. This assumes
particular importance in our globalised world, where a disease threat
anywhere is a disease threat everywhere. Remember the oft-repeated line
during the Covid-19 pandemic: no one is safe until everybody is safe? The Covid
pandemic underscored the necessity of global solidarity and working across
borders and governments in a whole-of-the-world approach to infectious
diseases. In this context, the global health security agenda represents global
efforts to strengthen the world’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to
infectious disease threats.
Global health security gained policy salience after the Ebola
outbreak. It led to the adoption of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) in
2014, with the initial involvement of 40 countries. With more than 70 countries
now signing up for the GHSA 2024, it is expanding its footprint and reach to
the rest of the globe. The key elements of the GHSA involve developing
sustainable financing mechanisms, promoting multisector collaboration,
improving information sharing across countries and strengthening the accountability
of member states to their country commitments.
While global health security had long been a concern, the Covid
pandemic helped a further shift towards it. This was manifested in the
interest of the media, the general public and health policy officials in
cross-border infections. Not only this, the Covid pandemic also kick-started
discussions on the need for pandemic preparedness and response treaties, as
well as revision of existing International Health Regulations (IHR). In
parallel, the GHSA also acquired its present shape, intersecting and feeding
into debates about new pandemic treaties and revisions to the IHR.
Building a
resilient public health system is of vital importance.
Pakistan has signed onto GHSA 24, and the National Institute of
Health (NIH) has been leading on both GHSA and IHR. GHSA 24 requires member
countries to develop leadership and technical knowledge and initiate
collaborative efforts to sustain health security in the long term. The GHSA
requires countries to show demonstrable progress in health security-related
technical areas, as well as complete a joint external evaluation and reach a
level of demonstrated capacity in at least five technical areas.
Pakistan participated in a joint external evaluation in 2023.
Based on the assessment, an action plan for health security is now being
formulated. The summit offers an opportunity to not only review the progress
Pakistan has made but also to benefit from the best global practices on show.
Pakistan faces many challenges when it comes to infectious diseases.
Tuberculosis and anti-microbial diseases remain issues of significant concern.
Anti-microbial resistance in Pakistan is mounting, and what has been called a
silent pandemic may balloon into a grand pandemic if not collectively
addressed.
The work on building up a resilient public health system is of
vital importance with respect to the global health security agenda. Yet, there
is a long way to go when it comes to strengthening public health systems in
Pakistan. The examples of Korea and Japan, where robust public health systems
proved crucial in beating back the Covid pandemic, are illustrative in this
regard.
Pakistan will obviously be looking to invest more in health systems, especially where laboratory and surveillance capacities are concerned. Funding for pandemic preparedness is also a long-standing issue, which is being negotiated in the new pandemic preparedness treaty. One funding window for pandemic preparedness and response has been opened up by the World Bank. Pakistan needs to be alive to such new funding streams. The global health summit offers an ideal opportunity to seize on these and other emerging opportunities and make use of them. More importantly, political ownership of GHSA is also a must.
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