Tesla figures take major hit in five European markets

China Daily | Updated: 2025-02-10 

This photo taken on April 15, 2024 shows a view outside a Tesla store in San Mateo, California, the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

Tesla posted lower sales across five European countries in January, including the United Kingdom and France, as competitors with newer models gained on the electric vehicle maker and polls show public opinion souring on CEO Elon Musk.

Musk has made a high-profile foray into politics, with much of 2024 dominated by his financial support of Donald Trump. The billionaire CEO spent $250 million in what proved a successful campaign to return Trump to the White House. He has also stirred controversy with his vocal support for far-right parties in Britain and Germany on his social media platform X.

Tesla's UK sales fell nearly 12 percent in January, even as monthly EV registrations in Europe's biggest battery-electric market surged to a record, according to data published by New AutoMotive on Tuesday.

That follows a 63 percent decline in January sales for Tesla in France, drops of 44 percent and 38 percent in Sweden and Norway, and a 42 percent fall in the Netherlands. In California, the largest US car market with more than 1.7 million vehicle registrations in 2024, Tesla sales fell by 12 percent.

In 2024, Tesla posted its first-ever annual decline in deliveries, though it is still the leading EV seller in the US. Musk said the company would soon launch long-awaited cheaper EVs in 2025, and the company has increased its focus on autonomous driving technologies.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its sales.

The company fell from the No 2 spot for EV sales in Britain in January 2024 to the No 7 spot behind Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis' Peugeot, which all posted higher sales.

Several polls show consumers have mixed views of Musk. A late January survey conducted by EV review website Electrifying.com showed that 59 percent of British owners of EVs, and those intending to buy such a vehicle, said Musk's influence would deter them from buying a Tesla.

"Musk's influence on the brand is becoming increasingly polarizing, pushing many buyers to look elsewhere," said Electrifying.com CEO Ginny Buckley. "With over 130 mainstream EV models now available in the UK — compared to just 25 in 2020 — competition has never been fiercer and Tesla is already feeling the pressure."

European politicians have pushed back lately against Musk's recent comments, which include the amplification of far-right commentators on X. Some accounts have left the platform, citing the spread of misinformation. Musk has dismissed criticism against him as an affront to democracy and free speech. The Tesla CEO has become a vocal supporter of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of February elections. He recently told an AfD audience just before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp that Germans should not feel guilt for the sins of their great-grandparents.

The share of Swedes with a positive view of Tesla fell to 11 percent in a Novus survey conducted after Trump's inauguration, down from 19 percent in a similar poll conducted on Jan 15-17, according to Swedish news agency TT. Those with a negative view jumped to 63 percent from 47 percent, TT reported.

The chief executive of research group New AutoMotive, Ben Nelmes, said that Tesla's problems stem less from Musk's actions and more from its failure to launch a new mainstream model since the Model Y in 2020, while rivals, including Chinese EV makers, have newer products on the market.

"It's not due to Musk's views or British motorists' views about Musk — they stopped innovating after the Model Y," he said of Tesla.

Despite these factors, the company's stock has continued to outperform the market, with shares more than doubling over the past year. The stock currently trades with a forward price-to-earnings ratio exceeding 131, ahead of not just legacy carmakers but high-flying tech stocks with P/E ratios in the 20s, according to LSEG data.

Reuters

 Snake petting shops slither into popularity

english.shanghai.gov.cn| February 08, 2025

As the Year of the Snake slithers in, an intriguing trend has emerged — petting snakes.

Dedicated shops offering interactive experiences with pet snakes and other reptiles have become trendy destinations. According to the shop owner, the Year of the Snake has ignited a newfound curiosity about snakes. These experience shops provide a safe environment for people to interact with snakes, dispelling misconceptions and fears. Click the video to learn more.

The-taoism-for-modern-world.comwww.the-taoism-for-modern-world.com/snakes-in-taoism-legends-practice-and-daily-life/

Snakes in Taoism: Legends, Practice, and Daily Life

Snakes play a vital role in Taoist mythology, philosophy, sorcery, and ... Taoist healing traditions sometimes incorporate snake imagery or even snake ...

Wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_White_Snake

Legend of the White Snake - Wikipedia

In the lake dwells a white snake spirit who has been practicing Taoist magical arts. ... Snakes in Chinese mythology. Notes. edit. ^ Idema (2012), p. 26 ...

CHINA

Youths' disconnection from kin a cultural shift

By HU XIAOWU | China Daily |  2025-02-08 

SHI YU/CHINA DAILY

The rising trend of youths' disconnection from relatives' networks represents a profound transformation in Chinese society — one that is both a consequence of socioeconomic changes and evolving culture. In the past, kinship ties were essential to social life, especially in rural communities. But they are rapidly fading among urban youths today.

To understand this trend, we need to examine several key factors, including the changing fabric of Chinese society, the pervasive influence of the internet, the complexities of urban life and the rise of individual autonomy among the youth.

China's shift from an agrarian society to an industrialized, urbanized society is the first reason behind the youths' disconnection from relatives. Rural life was built around strong family networks, where families supported each other and social and economic security was tied to the clan or village. Kinship was not just an emotional bond but a practical necessity. In rural communities, people spent their lives maintaining these networks, with kinship influencing all aspects of life.

But after the launch of reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, migration became a defining feature of Chinese society. Millions of people have left their hometowns to work, study or settle in cities, gradually replacing the traditional rural ties with interest-based social networks in urban areas.

For the younger generations growing up in cities, social life has become more fragmented and individualistic, leading to disconnection from the family networks their parents maintained in rural areas.

A crucial factor in this cultural shift is the rise of the internet and its pervasive influence, especially on the youth. The internet has fundamentally changed how people live, work, socialize and even unwind. For young people, particularly those born in the 2000s, the internet is not just a tool — it is their environment. They are "digital natives" whose every action, from work to leisure, is increasingly mediated by technology.

In this digital world, even leisure time is an extension of the internet. Gone are the days when young people visited relatives on holidays or weekends. Today, they are more likely to stay connected online than engage in face-to-face interactions with family. This detachment is both physical and psychological. The constant pull of social media, online gaming and virtual communities has redefined socializing for the new generation. "Family time" has been replaced by "screen time", weakening kinship bonds.

In this sense, the internet has become both a unifier and a divider. It connects youths with the world at large but also isolates them from the very family networks that once defined their social existence. The disconnection from family, especially among those whose time is consumed by online activity, is a direct outcome of this digital transformation. Kinship is no longer the central force in shaping identity. Now, the virtual world defines them.

As more and more youths migrate to cities and towns, they are no longer bound by the same family networks that their parents and grandparents painstakingly maintained. Instead, their relationships are defined by academic ties, professional networks and shared interests. In urban areas, relationships often revolve around common goals, such as education, career or hobbies, rather than family.

For many young people, especially those from single-child families, in cities, extended family bonds no longer play a central role. Instead, peer relationships have become more important. The rise of "de-ruralization", especially among younger generations of rural migrants in cities, has further weakened traditional family bonds. As a result, kinship is no longer the bedrock of individual identity.

Perhaps the most important reason for this shift is the increasing autonomy and individualism of today's youths. With each generation, the gap between the values of parents and children, their world-views and life choices has been widening. This disconnect often leads to conflicts, as youths assert their independence and work to fulfill their personal aspirations, rather than those imposed by tradition.

The tradition of parents exercising control over their children's lives — in terms of their career, relationship and personal decisions — is outdated. For many young people, this imposition feels like an infringement on their individuality, leading to tension and, in some cases, the severing of familial ties.

While this generational disconnect may appear as a consequence of modernization, it has deep social and emotional impacts. Many parents feel a sense of loss as their children distance themselves from the family and relatives. Some see it as a betrayal of traditional values, while others worry their children would feel isolated in the future without the support of relatives.

On the other hand, many youths feel burdened by family expectations, and seek "independence" to protect their emotional well-being.

The challenge facing Chinese society is how to balance these competing needs, and how to maintain family bonds while allowing youths the space they need to assert their individuality.

To rebuild the extended family ties among today's youths, we need to highlight the value of kinship. In today's world of individualism and nuclear families, anxiety and loneliness are common. This makes it necessary to fall back on the family for emotional support and stability. The same social platforms that have "alienated" the youths from family networks can play a crucial role in promoting family values and encouraging youths to reconnect with their roots. At the same time, both parents and children should adapt to the realities of modern life.

Also, youths must recognize the intrinsic value of family ties. While the digital world offers convenience and instant gratification, it cannot replace the emotional support and deep connections that kinship provides. Since the emotional bonds formed through kinship cannot be replaced by digital connection, youths must not be misled by the fleeting charm of online relationships.

In a rapidly changing society, where urbanization, digitalization and individualism are reshaping the social fabric, it is more important than ever to preserve and nurture the family as a source of support, warmth and continuity. Only by reconnecting with our roots — while seizing the opportunities offered by the modern world — can we ensure the family remains a cornerstone of Chinese society.

The author is an associate professor at the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily

PAKISTAN

PIGEON SPORTS: REIGNING OVER THE PARADE

WITH INTERNET CRASHES THEY ARE A COMMUNICATIONS NECISSITY

Shazia Hasan 

EOS/DAWN

Highflying, low-flying, racer and fancy pigeons all have their own competitions

 | AFP

It is 5am, two hours before the competition. Charsi needs to warm up before the race.

Ahmed, who had fed his pigeon almonds and pistachio last evening, now needs him to feel light. Charsi, a highflying pigeon, must feel up to the race. So Ahmed fills up a small syringe with water and empties it into Charsi’s beak, to make him vomit all the extra food he has not digested.

That done, he is given a careful check. His wings are spread open by Ahmed to see if everything is okay. His claws are given a quick massage, any ruffled feathers are smoothened with gentle strokes as he is also given a pep talk to concentrate and not let Ahmed down in the race.

Then, as Charsi is left to contemplate his actions, Ahmed turns his attention to his other pigeons — Cutie, Missile, Kaalu, Toffee, Concord and Rocket — all of whom receive similar treatment.

The umpire reaches the rooftop a little while later. Ahmed’s seven pigeons are all quite ready by then. Get set go! The umpire notes the exact time they are released before running off to another rooftop to witness more action and make notes. The name of the lofts the pigeons are released from are jotted down in one column, their arrival timings will be listed too, along with the distance travelled by each pigeon and at what speed.

Racing pigeons, once associated with Mughal-era decadence, is again gaining popularity in parts of Karachi. And now they have properly adjudicated tournaments and social media pages…

“Some pigeon tournaments feature seven pigeons, some 11,” says Kashan Sardar, who maintains an official pigeon sports page on Facebook titled ‘Pigeon Passion Sports Karachi’, which he takes very seriously and keeps updated with information about the tournaments and their results all over the city.

“But pigeon sports are common in many countries,” Sardar tells Eos. “Besides Pakistan, tournaments also happen in the USA, Canada, Italy, China, Belgium etc,” he says.

“To understand the sport, you first need to understand the pigeon types. You have highflying breeds, low-flying breeds, racer pigeons and fancy pigeons. And all have competitions of their own, though the real sporty ones are the racer pigeons, who have the endurance and stamina to fly long distances. Their pattern of flying is different from the other pigeons. Some are released from Punjab to reach Karachi. Their flying hours may amount to 80, 100 or 125 hours,” he says.

“There are also tournaments for high-flying breeds, also known as the highflying brigade. When they fly, you cannot see them because they fly so high. They are released from their owners’ rooftops or lofts, as we call them in pigeon sports lingo. The tournament organisers have an umpire, known as munsif in Urdu, who supervises the activity by going from one rooftop to the other,” Sardar explains.

“The highflying pigeons must return to the loft they were released from in the morning by evening, no later than 8pm. If they return after that, their arrival timing is not applicable. They are disqualified. Also, if a pigeon arrives before or on time but was found hopping around on the ground, the umpire scratches out its name from the competition as, according to the rules, it must return to its own loft. Its timings won’t be recorded either.

“Meanwhile, there are no fixed arrival timings for low-flying pigeons. But they must show their presence to the umpire within one hour of taking flight,” Sardar elaborates on the different rules of the different competitions.

“There is also a category of fancy pigeons. These comprise the beautiful pigeons, with pretty tail feathers that resemble hand fans. But they have no flying endurance. They are just show pieces. If there is any competition involving them, it is only based on their beauty and upkeep,” he laughs.

Pigeon competitions and tournaments have lured many big names such as businessmen, industrialists, and even politicians. All find it an interesting sport and hobby. “It is an outing, a leisure activity, a chance for get-togethers too,” says Sardar.

“Even the consul general of UAE in Karachi, Dr Bakheet Ateeq Al-Rumeithi, takes an active interest in the sport. He releases pigeons from the rooftop of his personal residence, which is registered as a pigeon point in our tournaments. There used to be a Karachi Pigeon Alliance, under which many tournaments used to be held. But after Dr Bakheet arrived on the scene, he took over and renamed it the Abu Dhabi Alliance, which is an umbrella for many big pigeon tournaments,” he shares.

“And if you turn to other international pigeon lovers, there is also the famous boxer Mike Tyson. His craze for pigeons became known when he travelled to a Polish village to purchase a hundred or so pigeons from a breeder there,” he says.

Danish Khan, chairman of Johar Pigeon Flying Association, under which many clubs are registered, says that pigeon sports have a lot to do with ego boosts. “Keeping pigeons and training them is a hobby that we have inherited from the great Mughals of India, who used pigeons for sending and receiving messages,” he says.

“But some people denounce this hobby. They look down upon it, calling it ‘Qabootar baazi’, which doesn’t sound very nice, and ‘an utter waste of time’. Not that it makes any difference to people like us. But pigeon competitions have also come to be associated with betting and gambling,” he adds.

“There is a true story from our part of the world which I want to share here regarding pigeon sports and the ego associated with it,” he says. “Many years ago, a pigeon competition enthusiast, who prided himself in training his birds, bet that if his pigeon lost a particular race, he would give away his daughter to the winning pigeon owner. And he had to do that. That daughter would herself take pride in telling people how she was married,” he laughs.

“Those were very different times, when daughters never questioned their parents’ decisions regarding finding a match for them. These days though, we stick to prize money,” he chuckles.

The winning pigeons, meanwhile, are often offered to the highest bidder. “One of my club tournaments saw a pigeon owner sell his highflying pigeon for 20 million rupees. Another racer pigeon that crossed a distance of 1,200 kilometres fetched 22 million,” Khan shares.

“It is an understanding between all pigeon lovers and pigeon sport enthusiasts that the birds will be well taken care of. The pigeons need to be taken care of and fed well to take part in competitions. And we work on them like a bodybuilder works on shaping his or her body. We feed them dried fruits, medicinal herbs such as kasturi, which we feed them in very small quantities. Also ambergris, which is whale vomit, and mushk kafoor,” he says.

“Then after a long race, there are also massages prescribed for the pigeons to help them recover soon. We massage their claws. We clean their feathers as they tend to gather a lot of dust,” he adds.

Both Kashan Sardar and Danish Khan feel that pigeon sports have become so big in this country that the government needs to also turn its attention to it. “With the government’s patronage, Pakistan can make a big name in pigeon sports, nationally and internationally, instead of just on social media pages, as it is doing right now,” says Sardar.

“We already have so many politicians involved in pigeon sports. But sadly, we still haven’t been able to shake off the stigmas of ‘kabootar baazi’ as easily as a pigeon shakes off the dust it collects in its feathers during long flights,” concludes Khan.

The writer is a member of staff. X: @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 19th, 2025

IN RASTRUCTURE: PAKISTAN’S INTERNET RECESSION

Saddia Mazhar 

EOS/DAWN

Illustration by Farooq Dawood Saati


Shahzaib Mustafa from Okara in Punjab has been working as a freelancer on Fiverr, a multi­national online marketplace for such services, for the past six years. During this time, the 24-year-old fulfilled the criteria for ‘top-rated’ status, which requires, among other things, for a seller to have earned at least $10,000. He also became a ‘level two seller’, which factors in response rate, completion rate, met deadlines, complaints etc.

But frequent internet outages and slow internet connectivity over the last year has resulted in Mustafa losing not just his rank — he was demoted to level one seller recently — but also his work.

“Fiverr flagged my account, citing an unstable internet connection, which prevented me from securing new projects,” Mustafa tells Eos. It has also affected his ability to meet deadlines, running into problems with over a dozen clients spread across the USA and Australia, he says. “The missed deadlines led to dissatisfied clients, with some of them ceasing to work with me altogether.”

AN ECOSYSTEM IN PERIL

Pakistan’s internet issues crystallised on February 8, 2024, the day of the general elections, and escalated shortly after the election results were announced. In the wake of multiple allegations of rigging, the government took the drastic step of shutting down the social media app X (formerly Twitter) — although it only acknowledged the same after more than two months — and slowing down internet speeds nationwide.

Interestingly, a request under the Right of Access To Information (RTI) Act, 2017 was filed with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), inquiring about the internet shutdown and mobile services disruptions on election day itself.

The country’s thriving gig economy is facing contraction, as freelancers feel the impact of internet shutdowns and slowdowns. But the IT ministry and the PTA appear more interested in managing dissent and passing the buck than dealing with this disruption…

The PTA responded by referring the matter to the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) which, in turn, passed the responsibility on to the Ministry of Interior. The interior ministry, however, declined to provide an explanation, stating that the decision was a “national security” issue.

A study for the assessment of Pakistan’s freelancing ecosystem, commissioned by the MoITT and carried out by an Islamabad-based consulting firm, in partnership with Boston-based Arthur D. Little, reported that Pakistan was home to approximately 2.37 million active freelancers in 2022, with more than 550,000 full-time professionals.

The study, while extrapolating the 2020 data of the Online Labour Index, developed at the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford, estimated Pakistani freelancers to be around 12.5 percent of the global freelance workforce. Meanwhile, according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan, Pakistan freelancers earned $350 million in FY2023-24 (July-March).

The number and the percentages can be contested, as can the remittances generated by such freelancers. But one thing is certain: for these professionals, slow internet has severely impacted their performance and productivity. Freelancers who typically earn a significant portion of their income from international work, are now forced to spend extra money on high-speed internet or to rent co-working spaces as they struggle to meet deadlines, says Tufail Ahmed, who is the president of Pakistan Freelancers Association (PAFLA), which has more than 80,000 members.

“Many freelancers are now forced to work extended hours to ensure timely project deliveries,” he tells Eos. “Losing a foreign client not only results in financial losses for freelancers, but also reduces Pakistan’s inflow of foreign exchange,” he points out.

In Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, Pakistan has routinely ranked poorly for mobile and internet broadband speed. Its November 2024 index ranks Pakistan 97th out of 111 countries for mobile internet speed, and 139th out of 155 countries for broadband speed, both much lower than the global average.

THE COSTS OF NOT DOING BUSINESS

Such shutdowns are not only impacting freelancers, but also Pakistan’s start-up ecosystem which, in turn, has a profound economic impact on Pakistan’s already fragile economy.

A Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) research, based on input provided by the industry in 2023, found that the country can lose Rs1.3 billion in a 24-hour internet shutdown. It highlights how key sectors are severely impacted by such disruptions.

For example, online cab services witness a 97 percent reduction in rides, amounting to daily losses between Rs29 million to Rs32 million, says the research. Similarly, food delivery platforms suffer a 75 percent drop in orders, translating to a Rs135 million loss. Meanwhile, the telecommunications sector incurs a loss of Rs450 million for every 24-hour suspension of 3G/4G services.

The same PIDE research posits that the freelance community faces a $1.3 million revenue shortfall (approximately Rs390 million) per day due to denied orders. This is based on the assumption that freelancers earn Pakistan $500 million annually, which translates into a daily average revenue of $1.37 million.

PIDE further notes that internet closures, compounded by protest-induced economic disruptions, cost the nation an estimated two percent of its GDP annually.

Meanwhile, Pakistan ranked second globally for internet shutdowns in 2024, according to a report by Top10VPN.com, an independent reviewer of virtual private network (VPN) services. These disruptions lasted 9,735 hours and impacted the country’s nearly 83 million internet users.

However, in terms of monetary cost, according to the report, Pakistan was the most affected nation, with the shutdowns costing the country $1.62 billion. In 2023, the same reviewer reported 96 hours of internet blackout and 163 hours of social media shutdown for Pakistan, with the total cost of internet restrictions estimated to be $237.6 million.

WhatsApp, one of the world’s most popular messaging platforms, has officially shifted its Content Delivery Network (CDN) operations out of Pakistan, following recent internet disruptions in the country. This relocation has caused significant service interruptions for local users, impacting their ability to send and receive messages reliably. PTA confirmed that the routing of WhatsApp’s session servers outside Pakistan has resulted in connection difficulties.

MISPLACED PRIORITIES

Even as relevant government officials fail to provide any concrete explanation for — or solution to — the recurring internet shutdowns and slowdowns, the country’s leadership continues to sell the idea of digitisation as a saviour for Pakistan.

Punjab, it seems, has taken the lead on this front. Its chief minister, Maryam Nawaz, has pledged to turn the province into an IT hub and launched the ‘Digital Punjab’ and the ‘Nawaz Sharif IT City Lahore’ initiatives, while failing to address the issue of internet disruptions.

On August 13, 2024, a massive advertisement, featuring CM Maryam Nawaz and promoting the IT facility in Lahore, went on display at Times Square in New York, around the same time Fiverr suspended its services in Pakistan. According to documents acquired by Eos following an RTI request, the Punjab government approved Rs442 million for the advertisement after it was unanimously approved.

Three months down the line, the Punjab CM launched the Youth Laptop Scheme, under which laptops are to be distributed to 20,000 university students, 14,000 college students, 4,000 students from technical and agricultural colleges and 2,000 medical and dental students. Approximately 32 percent of the recipients will be from south Punjab, with a total of 35,000 laptops to be distributed by February 20, 2025.

It is no surprise that the Punjab government and CM Maryam Nawaz have come under flak, with critics pointing out how launching seemingly high-tech initiatives when basic internet services remain unreliable highlights the disconnect between ambitious plans and ground realities.

In Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, Pakistan has routinely ranked poorly for mobile and internet broadband speed. Its November 2024 index ranks Pakistan 97th out of 111 countries for mobile internet speed, and 139th out of 155 countries for broadband speed, both much lower than the global average.

Tanveer Nandla, who runs a digital marketing institute based in Multan, tells Eos about how frequent internet shutdowns are devastating for freelancers and entrepreneurs trained by his platform. “Many clients require real-time communication, and internet outages undermine their confidence in consistent delivery,” he points out.

Nandla says that it has resulted in clients increasingly opting for competitors from countries with uninterrupted digital connectivity. “This shift not only affects freelancers’ incomes but also poses a significant setback for Pakistan’s freelancing community, which relies heavily on foreign clients for sustainable growth,” he adds.

The ‘Nawaz Sharif IT City Lahore’ advertisement on a billboard at Times Square, New York, for which the Punjab governmetn approved Rs442 million | X/MaryamNSharif

GASLIGHTING CONCERNS

At the same time, state minister for IT and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja has, on multiple occasions, dismissed accusations that the government is deliberately throttling the internet. This despite concerns raised about this on the assembly floor by her party’s own coalition partners. She attributes the nationwide slowdown to the frequent use of VPNs or virtual private networks, labelling it the primary cause behind the connectivity issues. VPNs can be used to bypass state-imposed restrictions, such as those on X.

VPNs have indeed skyrocketed in popularity, as Pakistanis try to navigate around a draconian firewall on the lines of China or the UAE, which many have blamed for the slowdown in internet speeds. A Forbes report revealed that, in the wake of last year’s ban on X in Pakistan, international VPN services recorded a 100 percent jump in demand for their services in the country.

But VPNs do not provide a solution to freelancers, says Hamid Javed, who is from Bahawalpur. “When we use VPNs, clients block us, because the VPN masks our location and shows it as another country,” he tells Eos.

Nandla echoes Hamid’s concerns, pointing out that VPN registration policies and internet restrictions have created significant barriers for freelancers, including the additional cost of the service. “Reputationally, these restrictions signal unreliability to international clients, making Pakistani freelancers seem less trustworthy,” he adds.

Farieha Aziz, a digital rights expert, tells Eos that even VPNs are now being restricted, further limiting access to vital information and platforms. She points out that monitoring systems, firewalls and surveillance tools are undermining the fundamental purpose of VPNs, which are meant to secure communications, encrypt data and mask users’ IP addresses. “These restrictions not only compromise individual privacy, but also expose users to cyber threats, such as hacking and communication interception,” she says.

Aziz underscores that marginalised groups and small businesses are particularly affected by such restrictions, especially in areas where internet access is already limited or frequently shut down. “While urban centers are starting to address these issues, small businesses without the resources to adapt are struggling,” she adds.

The requirement to register VPNs has added another layer of complexity and cost, excluding individuals who lack the resources or access to influential networks. This creates a widening digital divide, leaving vulnerable groups, who depend on the internet for their livelihoods, at a severe disadvantage.

LEGAL LIMBO

The future of Pakistan’s IT industry and online businesses is increasingly at risk due to restrictive internet control policies, which are driving both talent and capital out of the country. As losses from internet shutdowns in Pakistan become substantial, the country risks losing its competitive edge and limiting opportunities for its growing tech workforce.

According to an investigative report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), published in May 2024 as part of the Dubai Unlocked project, 17,000 Pakistanis own $11 billion worth of property in Dubai. Furthermore, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce reported that 3,968 Pakistani companies were registered in Dubai in the first half of 2024, a 71.2 percent increase from 2022.

Dubai’s favourable business environment, lower taxes, robust payment systems and streamlined processes make it a preferred destination for Pakistani businesses, especially in the IT sector. In contrast, Pakistan’s weak payment infrastructure and restrictive policies undermine its potential, particularly its ambitious goal of increasing IT exports to $10 billion in the next two years.

In a recent Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology session, PTA defended its practice of internet shutdowns, citing government directives as the basis for these actions. PTA Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Hafeezur Rehman pointed to Supreme Court and high court directives to justify the frequent blackouts, although he failed to clarify the legal framework behind them.

When asked by a senator about the legal grounds for the shutdowns, Rehman responded that the decisions were made on instructions from the government and questioned the challenge to their legality by asking, “If this is illegal, why has the government been directing us to do so for nine years?”

The committee also scrutinised the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), noting that it doesn’t explicitly authorise geographic internet blackouts. The IT ministry representatives acknowledged the ambiguity, but argued that the interior ministry had the authority to issue such directives. This left the issue in legal limbo, with each party deflecting responsibility to the other.

Further complicating the situation, the PTA has been avoiding media inquiries, refusing to provide official responses on the ongoing internet shutdowns, creating a communication vacuum.

Both the PTA and the IT ministry appear to be passing the responsibility back and forth, with neither providing clear answers on the matter. This lack of transparency has left citizens, businesses and freelancers vulnerable to disruptions without proper justification or explanation, highlighting the confusion and uncertainty surrounding Pakistan’s digital governance.

The writer is an investigative journalist and RTI activist.

 X: @saddiamazhar

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 19th, 2025

SEE

THE PECA DOSSIER

‘Wild and distasteful’: Journalists assemble against Pakistan’s new cybercrime law

WELCOME TO SMOGISTAN

This season has made it abundantly clear that smog will continue to get worse.

Taha Ali | Umair Shahid | Rida Tayyab | Noor Fatima | Abeha Hussain

EOS/DAWN

Smog season is here to stay.

For four long months, from October to January, a heavy pall shrouds the hills and plains, from Peshawar in the north all the way down to Larkana in the south, choking the life and spirit out of millions of hapless souls. Social media is abuzz. News articles describe the air as “methane-laden.” A WhatsApp message from Lahore reads: “It’s like inhaling directly from a car exhaust.”

In terms of scope, we have utterly shattered all records. The Air Quality Index (AQI) level — a measure of the concentration of fine-grained particulate matter in the atmosphere — deems a value of 50 or less as “good” and 300 or more as “hazardous” to health. This season we have registered AQI levels in excess of 1,000 as a matter of routine. Hospital admittances have skyrocketed. Multan even jumped the 2,000 mark.

In the visuals, the affliction is apocalyptic. In November, drone footage of Lahore went viral, the once-renowned “City of Gardens” resembling a dark Hollywood dystopia, a setting right out of Blade Runner. International media reported that the smog over Punjab was viewable from space. The satellite images captured an unnatural alien white patch, like factory chemical discharge in water, a seething living presence.

Smog has become a global phenomenon over the last few years, pervading the world silently, affecting billions, but it is most concentrated here now — a narrow strip stretching from Dhaka in the east to Islamabad and Peshawar in the west, with the epicentre concentrated in Delhi and Lahore.

“The world has turned the corner on tobacco,” warned the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in 2018. “Now it must do the same for the ‘new tobacco’ — the toxic air that billions breathe every day…No one, rich or poor, can escape air pollution. It is a silent public health emergency.”

At our end, there is a flurry of activity, which is now all too predictable. There are prompt bans on burning crop stubble, fines on vehicles, mass school closures, work-from-home policies, and curbs on socialising. Think-tanks and NGOs are cycling through a crowded calendar of events, sessions and seminars on the topic.

Everyone has a statement ready. Our politicians tussle on social media. When Bilawal Bhutto shared AQI readings for various cities on X with a tongue-in-cheek invitation to Pakistanis to move to Karachi, PTI responded with the famed Marie Antoinette quote, “Let them eat cake.” Some users dragged up images of Karachi wrecked after rains.

The mainstream discourse is a litany of complaints, excuses and explanations. The official version tends to vary. Currently, as per Punjab information minister Azma Bokhari, “[T]he wind direction brings air from India into Pakistan, yet India does not seem to be taking this problem as seriously as it should.” Multiple policies and guidelines have been issued over the years but serious structural change still seems distant.

The air quality and pollution measurement scale | All diagrams and visualisations courtesy the writers


There is cacophonous noise and activity in these four months of smog, doom and gloom, recriminations aplenty, but things are very quick to die down when the skies clear. Wash, rinse and repeat. And every winter season the smog returns, more intense and more lethal. It has been almost a decade of this menace and we have yet to even get a sense of what confronts us.

What would a serious conversation on smog look like? In this piece, we try to ground the discourse in facts and data — the precious little that we have of it — to try to get a handle on this new normal.

KILLING US SOFTLY

The cold hard numbers on air pollution are eye-opening: the WHO reports that around 99 percent of the world’s population inhales polluted air, which exceeds their prescribed safety limits. Middle- and low-income countries are worst-hit.

A robust body of evidence now exists for the heavy toll air pollution exacts on our health, a wide spectrum with a multitude of respiratory problems, heart disease, stroke, asthma and cancer. Prenatal and early exposure has been linked to IQ loss in children. Air pollution is dangerous even at low concentrations. And it is unique compared to other killers — it can amplify the harmful effects of other pollutants and health risk factors.

The leading authority on this topic is the landmark ‘Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study’, which has been running for 30 plus years now, tracking 88 health risk factors in over 200 countries and territories. According to their latest edition, which presents results up to 2021, the global impact of disease stands at a staggering 2.88 billion disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) — where each DALY equates to a year of healthy life lost to disability or premature death.






Of this colossal tally, an estimated eight percent — some 230 million DALYs — are due to particulate matter air pollution. This count outpaces well-known killers such as smoking, high blood pressure, and birthing complications. It has now become official: air pollution is the world’s “leading contributor to the global disease burden.”

The University of Chicago Energy Policy Institute, the leading air pollution tracking unit in the world, estimates that air pollution now cuts lifespans globally by 2.3 years, surpassing cigarettes and tobacco, which clock in at 2.2 years. Air pollution kills more than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. It may even be worse than war.

We lack high quality data for Pakistan but, if the pollution problem were somehow magically fixed overnight, the average Karachiite would gain an estimated 2.6 years of life expectancy, Islamabad residents 4.6 years, and residents in Lahore 5.3 years.

With numbers like these, our current mainstream discourse on smog seems outright tame. Why is there no grand awakening? Where is the mass mobilisation, the national emergency?

“Air pollution is the greatest external threat to human health on the planet,” says Professor Michael Greenstone, renowned economist and director of the Energy Policy Institute, “and that is not widely recognised, or not recognised with the force and vigour that one might expect.”

There are several reasons for this. Unlike traditional health threats, such as smoke from cigarettes, lead in paints, or mercury in fish, it can be hard to connect the dots with air pollution. Particulate matter air pollution is largely invisible. It is hard to quantify. It is ubiquitous, it disperses rapidly. It is a slow and patient killer. The effect is disproportionate and the poor are hit hardest.

There is also the question of geography, of infrastructure and agency: air pollution can easily travel large distances, it does not care for borders, and it can be very difficult to police.

And there is no easy fix.






IT STARTS WITH DATA

The very first thing one notices in this conversation is that we seem to be flying blind. A decade of smog and we still do not have reliable air monitoring networks, dedicated research groups, or policy frameworks. Our mainstream discourse is reminiscent of a famous quip from US management theorist Edwards Deming: “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”

The conversation is an ongoing struggle. What are the real numbers for health impact in Pakistan? What is the economic cost of air pollution? How does air pollution vary across our cities and larger regions? What are the different solutions open to us? How do these solutions compare with each other? Without solid data, we cannot answer the simplest of questions with any degree of confidence.

To give readers a flavour of what a data-driven exercise looks like, we pick apart a local air pollution dataset and tease out the insights buried within. We use publicly available air pollution data from US embassies and consulates. The US government has deployed high quality sensors at embassy locations worldwide to inform overseas citizens about air pollution conditions, and to assist local authorities and residents. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only publicly available, long-term, detailed air quality dataset for major Pakistani cities.

The embassy sensors log hourly particulate matter concentrations, specifically PM2.5 (ie particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter). An algorithm is used to convert these readings into AQI values that can help inform health-related decisions. The index is calculated based on data over a 3-to-12-hour period, depending on the variability of particulate concentration.

We examined data for Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar — these are the only locations in Pakistan for which US sensor data is available. We specifically focused on data for the last three years (2022-2024).

This experiment has some very obvious limitations: the embassies only log PM2.5 readings and do not track other contaminants, such as coarse dust particles, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide etc. The data is also highly localised to the embassy region and should not be considered representative of an entire city. Pollution levels can differ dramatically over large spaces. Moreover, we worked directly with AQI values. This is relatively quick and easy, but for rigour and accuracy, computations should be done on the PM concentration values.

However, the biggest challenge was the data itself. There were over 95,000 data points and over 10,000 missing values. There were periods in the dataset where entire days — even weeks — were missing from the record, ostensibly due to sensor malfunction or replacement. Likewise, there were over 2,000 invalid readings (zero values or abnormally low AQI readings). For our purposes, we interpolated missing values using a filtering technique for gaps which had 6 hours or less missing. Even then, significant gaps persist.

A team of three undergraduate students collaborated over some 80 hours to sanitise this data. This was a significant exercise. Most AQI reporting portals (such as aqicn.org) report results using the incomplete and defective data.

On the plus side, this effort makes a good starting point for a data-driven discussion. Numbers can help structure our thinking about pollution and smog in a way that simple visuals cannot. The results confirm our intuition in several instances. They also broadly agree with findings reported in the research literature from India. We also encounter some interesting insights, particularly for day-night cycles and rainfall.






A TALE OF FOUR CITIES

We start with visualisations of average daily AQI readings for the period spanning January 1, 2022 - November 30, 2024. We aim for a monthly breakdown. The different colours on the horizontal lines indicate the number of good, moderate, unhealthy and hazardous days, as per the standard AQI scale for every month. The light grey represents the amount of missing days in every month.

Some trends spring right off the charts: the smog season can be clearly discerned in the crimson-purple concentrations spanning October-February in all four cities. Air pollution builds up in the winter months, with colder temperatures resulting in atmospheric inversions that trap air near to the ground. Coal, wood and biomass fuel are used to heat homes and buildings, crop stubble is burnt in the fields. These combustion emissions, together with the lack of air circulation, allow pollutants to accumulate, giving rise to the phenomenon of winter smog. Lahore is the worst hit, followed by Peshawar. Karachi is better off, likely due to the coastal geography and the sea winds.

Smog season is also progressively getting worse and more intense with every season, in all cities except Karachi. There is also a common perception that the brunt of the smog season is borne in November and December. But January fares almost as bad as December in Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar. 2024 is the first year that Islamabad experienced significant smog. The results for January 2024 in Islamabad and Peshawar are a revelation — a dramatically worse January than the two preceding years. It remains to be seen what this January brings.

Some trends are less evident but equally disturbing: smog may be a seasonal four month phenomenon but elevated AQI levels are a year-long problem. Air pollution — unhealthy levels of it — is perennial. The green patches — the ‘good’ days — are concentrated in the summer and monsoon months and seem to be getting scarce with every year. But even here — in cities such as Lahore and Peshawar — red and purple patches (denoting ‘unhealthy’ and ‘very unhealthy’ days) are showing up in increasing numbers over the years.

There are no really healthy periods in our cities anymore — there is bad AQI and then there’s worse AQI.

FOLLOWING THE WIND

Wind patterns play a huge role in diffusing air pollution and dispersing it across great distances. Multiple studies have shown, for instance, that air pollution from Chinese factories contribute significantly to smog in US cities, traversing the Pacific Ocean in as little as six days.

We discern the effect of wind when we look at monthly AQI averages for all four cities over 13 months, November 1, 2023-November 30, 2024.

Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar exhibit common patterns — strong evidence for wind currents at play — where AQI peaks over the December-February period, then dips in the summer (April) and monsoon months (August) and then climbs again September onwards. Levels in Lahore in particular ascend right into the stratosphere after October.

Things get interesting when we overlay Lahore AQI levels with those of New Delhi. The dips and the peaks synchronise almost perfectly. New Delhi lies across the border from Lahore, at a distance of 265 miles, and is often implicated in our discourse on smog. The two cities share a common geography, they are sister cities on the grand Indo-Gangetic plain, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world, along with cities such as Multan, Kolkata and Dhaka.

Scientists call this the ‘valley effect.’ The plain acts as a kind of low-lying bowl – it runs parallel to the Himalaya mountains. Pollutants get sucked in from multiple directions. Particulate matter from vehicles and industries, along with construction debris in the cities, mixes with dust blowing in from the Thar Desert and stubble and wood burning in winters. Cold air descends from the Himalayas, effectively trapping the polluted air near the ground, a deadly hazy cocktail, a layer of smog almost a kilometre in height.

On the other hand, in Karachi, pollution is easily dispersed due to winds from the sea. Karachi’s AQI levels closely resemble those of Mumbai, another coastal city, with significant dips into healthy territory over the monsoon period.

Farmers put crop stubble on fire in a field in Shahdara: the burning of crop stubble has been banned by the government in an attempt to curb the rise in smog | White Star


THE DAY NIGHT CYCLES

We find a similar pattern when we look at the day-night AQI cycles over a month, say November, 2024. If we average out the hourly changes in AQI for the month, we see that Lahore and New Delhi are again in good synchronicity: AQI levels peak in the early morning hours, likely when the weather is coldest (around 4-5am) and then again during morning rush hour (9-10 am).

The big dip is in the late afternoon, around 4-6pm. A 2021 research study of Indian cities attributes this fall to “higher PBLH allowing for vertical mixing and dilution of the surface pollutants.” PBLH refers to the height of the planet boundary layer, the lowest layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, home to most types of clouds and weather events. Air pollution concentrates in this layer. The height of this layer tends to vary (from a hundred meters to several kilometres), depending on the time of day and location, and therefore impacts the dispersal of air pollution upwards into the atmosphere.

Karachi and Mumbai again correspond in terms of dramatically lower levels than the other cities, a flat line for the most part, with a more pronounced dip in the case of Karachi.






RAIN TO THE RESCUE

When things get dreary, we look forward to a shower of rain to clear the skies. And the aftereffects of rain during smog is often very marked, with a clear change in visibility and the emergence of blue skies.

We investigate a few instances to see how the change manifests in AQI values. Results are mixed: for instance, on November 23-24, 2024, when it rained in Islamabad, AQI dropped significantly, as depicted in Figure X. The day-night peaks persist clearly, but the average AQI (the white line) drops one entire category from red to orange (from ‘unhealthy’ to ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’). But it takes only about four to six days for the average to ascend to the older pre-rainfall levels. Again, this makes intuitive sense. The pollution has not stopped.

Moreover, this mitigating effect of rain may be limited to smog season. We investigated the case of monsoon rainfall in Lahore on August 1, 2024 — these were torrential rains that broke a 44-year record for the city — and we did not find a significant change reflecting in AQI levels.




DATA TO ACTION

These results above are preliminary and not suitable for policy recommendations — but hopefully they give a bit more substance to our intuitions about smog. We hope they also provide readers a snapshot of what kind of insights we may be able to derive if we had actual high quality, real-time data from multiple sources, ie a proper monitoring network. In advanced countries, real-time monitoring is the bedrock of national policy to combat air pollution and smog.

With a proper network of distributed sensors, we could understand and track actual sources of air pollution. We could undertake targeted interventions. As an example, China routinely halts cement production in regions when AQI levels cross a certain threshold, with significant success. China has also implemented numerous industrial relocation policies for pollution-intensive industries. Several European cities have used monitoring data to plan new roads and demarcate car-free zones.





Day-night data can be used to stagger office timings, reducing traffic congestion and transport emissions. Rainfall data can feed into cost-benefit analyses for very costly and controversial solutions like artificial rain. We can use AQI data to provision our hospitals accordingly. Data-backed ad campaigns can encourage behavioural change. Citizens around the world often use hourly readings to schedule outdoor activities, when the air quality is better.

Data can also give us deeper and more fundamental — and even illuminating — insights.

The average hourly changes in AQI during the month of November, 2024 in Islamabad, Lahore, New Delhi and Peshawar

For instance, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in late 2019, Stanford University Professor Marshall Burke investigated the impact of the lockdown on air pollution levels in Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic and the first city to shut down. He used US embassy readings over a two month period — the same type of data we use here — and found dramatic declines in PM2.5 concentrations.

He then drew on the health research literature and calculated, using conservative estimates, that the lockdown likely saved the lives of 1,400 children and 51,700 elderly people across China. To put these numbers in context — the lockdown likely saved 20 times more lives than those lost to the Covid-19 virus.

This is a staggering result. We locked down the world and put our lives on hold for Covid-19. But air pollution is much more deadly, yet everything continues as business as usual.

Burke takes pains to emphasise that he does not advocate endless lockdown, but only to emphasise the startling contradiction: “…the often-hidden health consequences of the status quo… the substantial costs that our current way of doing things exacts on our health and livelihoods.”

The average hourly changes in AQI during the month of November, 2024 in Karachi and Mumbai

OSTRICHES AND OWLS

If there is ever to be a serious effort to combat smog and air pollution, monitoring would be the critical first step. It is impossible to come up with an informed and intelligent response without good data.

The absence of data at this point in time is a lapse that simply fails to compute: Pakistan is the fifth most populated country in the world, a bona fide nuclear power, the menace of smog has been building up in our biggest cities for almost a decade now, we have an official Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination — this list could go on and on.

Perhaps, this is the real tragedy here. We are faced with a life and death situation that necessitates a serious and sustained long-term strategy, but our institutions and policymakers are not capable of much beyond short-term band-aid solutions. A letter-to-the-editor in Dawn from last year dubs this the “famed ostrich approach” — let’s stick our heads in the sand and hope the problem goes away on its own.

The hourly AQI and daily average AQI in Islamabad from November 22-30, 2024. After November 23-24, when it rained in Islamabad, the AQI dropped significantly for a period of time

Our citizens have no clear pathways for activism. A few months ago, when Abid Omar, founder of the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, sought out air pollution activists in Lahore for a collaborative art project to highlight the issue of smog, he was unable to find even a single one.

This season has made it abundantly clear that smog will continue to get worse. This crisis is, in a sense, also perhaps symbolic of our overall predicament as a country, with respect to our politics, our culture, our very identity as a nation. All have been severely tested in recent times. It is tempting to view smog as the physical embodiment of our darkest demons, the ones we ignore at our peril.

Unfortunately, smog season is here to stay.

Taha Ali is an associate professor at the NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in Islamabad. X: @agrammaton

Abeha Hussain, Noor Fatima and Rida Tayyab are second-year undergrad students at the NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Umair Shahid is a concerned citizen residing in Islamabad. He is working on setting up a low-cost community monitoring network in Islamabad

 (https://sensor.xtendum.com/list/).

He can be reached at umair.shahid@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 19th, 2025

POSTSECONDARY PAKISTAN 

Of student unions and wordplay

When universities disband officially sanctioned student representation, the vacuum it creates gets filled by something more sinister.

Ayesha Razzaque 

DAWN

The writer has a PhD in education

HEADS of universities and the organisational units within are typically more educated than the general population. Today, many are well-travel­led, either because they hold one or more foreign qualifications, attend academic conferences, ex­­ch­­­an­ge visits, or travel officially for a number of reasons. My point is that, just like their counterparts in the more muscular parts of the civil bu­­reaucracy, many are reasonably well aware of the broad norms and trends in academia around the world.

Despite the benefit of an above-average education and significant foreign exposure, it seems people at the helm are deliberately acting helpless, searching for excuses, and stalling on the issue of student representation. Talking to decision-makers on this issue can be exhausting beca­use, in a stunning display of a lack of nuance, most conflate student clubs/ societies, councils/ representatives, unions, and student political wings — all different things — with the term ‘unions’.

Clubs and societies are groups that allow students with shared interests to pursue and engage in them together; they can centre around sports, skills, hobbies, subjects of study, professional interests, etc. These are the most benign forms of student organisation on this list.

Elected student councils/ representatives provide a focused representation of students at the level of programme, department, college, and university. They serve as a bridge between students and the university, communicating student feedback and concerns about academic programmes and the broader student experience. Most importantly perhaps, they are part of the university governance structure, often all the way to the university senate. Making students part of the governa­n­­ce structure enhances the transparency of decision-making, which filters back to the student community.


When universities disband officially sanctioned student representation, the vacuum it creates gets filled by something more sinister.

A few public universities have already established student councils and collaborative forums, but most continue to employ poorly disguised stalling tactics, for example, kicking the ball to university committees, taking forever to create election procedures, or — otherwise so eager to exercise their autonomy — voluntarily seeking dictation from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on how to conduct elections.

Universities justify shying away from student representation, arguing that it is redundant because everyone is already looking out for students’ interests. Anyone who is familiar with the workings of university statutory bodies and has seen their internal deliberations knows that to be false. Standing up for an issue costs political capital and representatives of various quarters can be selective even for the constituency they claim to represent, sometimes for petty personal reasons. For evidence, most agenda items are on issues of interest to anyone but the students. In universities that have no student representation at all, introducing student councils with representatives on statutory bodies is a good, low-risk starting point.

In a judgement in October 2024, the Supreme Court clarified that there is no law standing in the way of establishing student unions in universities. Moreover, in March 2022, the governor Sindh sig­n­­ed the Sindh Students Union Bill, while the KP As­­­sembly passed a resolution to restore student unions earlier this month. Recently, when the HEC was approached on this issue by a few universities, it kicked the ball to the vice-chancellors at a meeting in Islamabad on Jan 15. This has given universities an excuse to further delay taking action.

Student unions, as they are understood outside the Pakistani context, focus on collective student interests, are university-wide, and operate autonomously with an elected leadership. In universities that employ students in various capacities, student unions may also function as student labour unions. Student unions represent all students of the university, without preconditions of ethnicity, beliefs, or pledged fealty. Being an elected member of a student union certainly does not entitle one to carry arms, indulge in violence or break laws.

What makes the bureaucracy and the people running universities recoil in horror when student unions are brought up is the prospect of seeing them hijacked by mainstream political parties — and not without reason. In the 1980s and 1990s, campus life in colleges and universities was routinely disrupted by clashes, physical altercations, and even violent battles fought between unsanctioned student wings of rival political parties. ‘Gangs’ is a more accurate way to describe these groups.

The purpose of a student union is not to wield power — it is to serve the collective needs of all students. Religio-political and ethnic student groups do not serve that goal and have no business being on campuses.

For ordinary students, there was no benefit, no upside in having these gangs on campus. Unaffiliated students lacking gang protection often found themselves victims of violence, and in extreme but not uncommon cases, physical torture. University administrators tolerated all of it, often under pressure.

If the goal of attending a university programme is to get an education, it might make sense in our context to tack on preconditions of academic performance for running for student union elections to ensure they do not become the exclusive domain of the same lot we saw in the 1990s.

Why then bother with the risk of having student unions at all? Because when universities disband officially sanctioned student representation bound to operate by the rules, the vacuum it creates gets filled by something more sinister and less accountable. Although many universities have had a ban on unions for years, students have organised themselves under ethnic councils. As a result, campus life continues to suffer from sporadic clashes between rival ethnic councils. Since they are not officially recognised, they are not bound by any rules and cannot be attributed or held responsible.

All this is to say that at present, the discourse on this issue suffers from a poverty of vocabulary that is essential for a nuanced discussion — everyone is using one word — ‘unions’ — but it means different things. Since there is no legal barrier to student unions, the greatest contribution the HEC (and political parties) can make to the cause of each university that is working out how to achieve student representation in the service of improved programmes and campus experience, is to refrain from injecting themselves into this process.


Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2025

India’s courting of the Taliban

Khurram Abbas

DAWN

ON January 8, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met the Afghan Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai. Although the two sides had been engaging for more than 14 months, the recent meeting is so far the highest-level encounter between the two countries.

In March 2024, the Indian joint secretary, ministry of external affairs, also met Afghan Taliban officials in Kabul.

Soon after the fall of Kabul in August 2021, New Delhi abandoned its diplomatic and development activities in Afghanistan due to security concerns. However, India continued to engage the Afghan interim government on two fronts.

First, India used humanitarian assistance as a tool to open communication channels with the Afghan regime. Second, it engaged with Afghan officials in the UAE for diplomatic outreach.

New Delhi gradually but carefully started its engagement with the Afghan Taliban in November 2023. These meetings witnessed significant progress in terms of bilateral engagement, with Indian officials agreeing to increase humanitarian assistance.

According to the United Nations World Food Programme, India has sent more than 47,000MT wheat. Moreover, Delhi has supplied 200 tons of medical aid.

Similarly, backchannel diplomacy between India and the Afghan Taliban resulted in the permanent closure of the Ghani administration’s embassy in New Delhi. Subsequently, the Taliban’s charge d’affaires in Abu Dhabi was invited by the Indian embassy in the UAE for the Republic Day celebrations in the Emirates’ capital.


There are major economic considerations that have pushed India closer to the Taliban.

There are several reasons for India’s outreach to the Afghan Taliban. First, the international community has been continuously engaging with the Taliban government. The US has been talking to the Taliban in Qatar.

China has been expanding its relationship with Kabul in the security, economics and political realms. Regional countries as well as the Arab world have been carefully engaging with the Afghan interim government. Therefore, India does not want to be seen as ‘strategically excluded’ from Afghanistan.

Secondly, soon after Kabul fell, the Indian media and opposition parties tried to portray the victory of the Afghan Taliban as a ‘victory of Pakistan’. The Indian opposition criticised Narendra Modi’s Afghanistan policy.

Moreover, the BJP government has been criticised for its weak neighbourhood policy due back-to-back setbacks in the Maldives and Bangladesh. Re-engagement with the Afghan Taliban is partly an attempt of the Modi government to silence critics on his Afghanistan policy.

Third, there are significant economic considerations that have pushed New Delhi closer to the Taliban. Prior to the fall of Kabul, India was carrying out around $3 billion infrastructure and energy projects in Afghanistan.

Soon after the Taliban takeover, Indian engineers abandoned the projects and diplomatic staff as well other officials vacated diplomatic premises primarily due to security concerns. India might be interested in resuming those activities.

Moreover, lithium has become an in-demand commodity for the world. There are several studies that have projected the potential of Afghanistan’s minerals at more than $1 trillion.

The major mineral resources include chromium, copper, gold, iron ore, lead and zinc, lithium, marble, precious and semiprecious stones, among others. Already, the BJP-led NDA government has been pushing for production of electric vehicles (EVs) in India.

Many Western firms have been setting up businesses in India for this reason. Lithium will be required for EVs’ batteries. Hence, Afghanistan can fulfil India’s demand for these critical minerals through Iran’s Chabahar port.

However, there are limitations to New Delhi’s engagement with the Afghan Taliban government. For instance, there is no possibility in near future that India might break with international and regional consensus regarding the Taliban’s policies, especially their policies related to girls’ education and women’s rights.

Officials as well as the Indian strategic community and civil society have consistently criticised and raised concerns about the Taliban’s decisions related to girls’ education, women in the workforce and exclusion of ethnic minorities in the government.

Hence, Modi’s government will not take any drastic steps, including de jure recognition of the Afghan Taliban. Therefore, despite its political and economic engagement with Kabul, New Delhi will continue to voice its concerns about the Afghan Taliban’s policies towards women, girls’ education and ethnic minorities.

Also, India will have a muted role in the domestic political affairs of Afghanistan. For instance, despite having cordial relationship with the Tajik and Uzbek leadership prior to the fall of Kabul, New Delhi has shown no enthusiasm to play a reconciliatory role between the Afghan Taliban and Afghan ethnic minorities.

At best, India can enhance its diplomatic staff in numbers as well as appoint a charge d’affaires in Kabul. Moreover, India will likely allow Talib­­an officials to operate Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi.

Similarly, Delhi-Kabul cooperation co­­­­uld lead to enhancing issuance of visas for Af­­g­han students and patients. New Delhi can also re­­start development activities which were abandoned due to the fall of the Ghani administration.

India is also pushing the Taliban interim government to use Chabahar port as an alternative to Karachi port to reduce Kabul’s reliance on Islam­abad. Strategically, it is logical for India to increa­­se Afghanistan’s stakes in Chabahar, as higher stakes will compel the Afghan Taliban to provide security to Indian goods passing through Afgha­nistan to Central Asia.

It is New Delhi’s long-term desire to develop sustainable access to Central Asia for its trade activities. Similarly, India has echoed condemnation of Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan, a gesture which will further embol­den the Afghan Taliban to resist Islamabad’s pressure to take action against the TTP.

It seems India — despite remaining cautious — has decided to abandon its previous approach of limited engagement with the Afghan Taliban. For the past three years, Indian emphasis has been on humanitarian assistance.

However, New Delhi seems quite eager to expand its bilateral cooperation with the Afghan Taliban based on its strategic, economic and political considerations.

The writer is director, India Study Centre, Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad.

directorisc@issi.org.pk
X: @itskhurramabbas

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2025

FEMICIDE PAKISTAN

Reviving a crucial law

STATISTICS on domestic violence (DV) in Pakistan affirm a reality of which we are all aware — that a large proportion of women remain unsafe even in their homes.

Sahar Bandial

DAWN


The writer is a lawyer.


According to the National Commission on Human Rights, 90 per cent of women in Pakistan have been victims of some form of DV in their lifetime. The Ministry of Human Rights reported 63,000 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) from 2020-2023, 80pc of which relate to complaints of DV (NCHR, 2023). In 2023, 10,201 cases of DV were reported in Punjab alone. These figures capture only a small proportion of the actual incidence of DV, which remains highly underreported.

The spate of violence against women in the home has persisted despite legislative efforts by the state and the silent work of several civil society actors who have continued to raise awareness on the issue, and provided shelter and support to victims. Over the last decade, the provincial governments have passed laws for the protection of DV victims and the redressal of their grievances. But unfortunately, the law-to-deterrence equation has not been borne out. This equation, of course, is not so straightforward as various factors impinge on its working. To delve into these factors is beyond the scope of this article, which focuses on the ill-fated DV legislation in Punjab, which is now, it is hoped, at a stage of revival.

The Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act, passed in 2016, introduced an ambitious scheme for the protection of women against not just domestic violence but also sexual violence, psychological abuse, economic abuse, stalking, and cybercrime. Notably though, it did not criminalise such violence. Instead, it introduced a set of civil remedies that a family court may award upon being approached by a female victim. The court may pass protection orders, residence orders, monetary orders and interim orders to, respectively, protect a female victim by imposing restraints on the perpetrator’s movements, ensure that she is not displaced from her home and is provided safe and secure residence, financially compensate and support her, and provide immediate relief where the circumstances so justify. A violation of these orders amounts to a criminal offence.


Resolve is needed to enforce the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act in its true spirit.

The Act also provided for the establishment of an organisational network at the district level, comprising district Women Protection Commit­tees (WPCs) and Protection Centres (VAWCs), to coordinate the provision of essential services and necessary support to female victims of violence.

Significantly, VAWCs were designed to help bridge the departmental disconnect in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against women by bringing first aid, police reporting, lodging FIRs, prosecution, medical examination, forensics, mediation, and rehabilitation available under one roof, thereby streamlining the process of accessing justice and eventually helping shore up the abysmally low conviction rate in GBV cases. The Act further mandated the establishment of shelter homes in each district to provide shelter to and rehabilitate female victims and their dependent children.

Much fanfare surrounded the launch of the first state-of-the-art flagship VAWC in Multan, where the law was initially notified. However, political disinterest and disownment following the change of government in 2018, coupled with the budgetary requirements of funding the mammoth infrastructure for execution of the Act, meant that the law and the lofty objectives it espoused remained largely forgotten. Although the VAWC in Multan continued to operate, to varying degrees of success, its functioning was marred by poor coordination and understaffing. The government further failed to notify the Act across the province, which remained confined in its application to Multan. The protections introduced through the Act therefore remained inaccessible to the vast majority of female victims of DV in Punjab.

It was not until 2022, after some judicial pushing and encouragement by the Lahore High Court, that the Act was notified across Punjab, and amended so that existing facilities could be declared as VAWC and shelter homes. The government has now declared 36 existing Darul Amans in Punjab as shelter homes and notified 11 existing Benazir Bhutto Human Rights Crisis Centres and 25 Darul Amans as VAWCs. In a more recent judgement, the LHC directed the government to formulate and notify rules under the Act; constitute and notify WPCs; provide training to women protection officers; and establish a database and software for efficient service delivery, monitoring and evaluation. Judicial intervention may well have set things in motion.

In the current provincial government, the first female chief minister has declared a zero-tolerance policy on violence against women. The VAWC in Lahore, which falls far short of the structure envisaged under the Act, is providing legal and psychological support to female victims of violence, while liaising with the police, medico-legal officers, and prosecution to ensure implementation of the Act. The District Women Protection Officer (WPOs), Lahore has secured protection, residence and monetary orders for women in a handful of cases.

However, challenges abound. The belief that DV is a private/ familial matter remains entrenched across the legal system, which attaches a premium to settlement as opposed to prosecution in such cases. The delay in the issuance of relevant interim orders by the courts, at times leaves victims of DV at the mercy of their perpetrators. Assistance by the police to enforce the orders is not always forthcoming. Poor coordination between police, the prosecution and medico-legal departments, means that victims and/ or WPOs often find themselves stuck in a bureaucratic maze. Budgetary constraints limit the quality of services provided to aggrieved persons as well as the extent of rehabilitative measures that can be undertaken. However, it is hoped that this government, with its apparent resolve on the issue, will undertake measures to implement the 2016 law in its true spirit.


Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2025