Harnessing the GCC’s Baloch Pedigree: New Age Islam's Selection, 11 February 2016
New Age Islam Edit Bureau
11 February 2016
• Multiple Crises in Thar
By I.A. Rehman
• Harnessing the GCC’s Baloch Pedigree
By Naveed Ahmad
• The General Makes another Announcement
By Shaukat Qadir
• NATO Needs a New Strategy
By Harlan Ullman
• No Thanks!
By Tanuj Garg
• Desperate Steps
By Farieha Aziz
• The Big Little
By Chris Cork
Compiled By New Age Islam Edit Bureau
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Multiple Crises in Thar
By I.A. Rehman
February 11th, 2016
THE plight of the people of Thar has been part of the public debate for many days now, but there is little evidence of any adequate comprehension of its causes or a meaningful effort to find appropriate remedies.
As has been happening for quite a few years, Thar is again attracting media attention because a large number of children have died since the beginning of this year and as usual extremely simplistic analyses are being offered. The two-day debate on the Thar situation in the Sindh provincial assembly degenerated into a slanging match between the government and the opposition and neither side added anything new to the arguments that have become quite stale. The government continued to assert that children are not dying because of shortage of food although this argument has been accepted for quite some time.
Speaking on another occasion the Sindh chief minister indicated his awareness of the findings of health experts that the causes of the increase in child mortality in Thar lie in economic factors (unemployment, poverty, malnutrition among children and women) and socio-cultural practices (early marriages, births of children without proper gap between them).
But then he strayed into the stock official explanation and declared that “we have developed the area, established more BHUs, dispensaries, upgraded taluka hospitals and equipped the Mithi Civil Hospital with necessary gadgets and medicines”. He also claimed that the provincial government had installed 400 reverse osmosis plants and in the same breath conceded that another 700 plants were needed.
The government cannot be unaware of public complaints that many health facilities — as many as 70pc of the total, according to some reports — are not functioning for a variety of reasons, that many reverse osmosis plants too are not operating and that their location is often chosen to suit the convenience of the local satraps or contractors (too many plants close to one another and large areas are left uncovered).
The demographic changes in Tharparkar could lead to a human disaster of unimaginable proportions.
For several years now, health experts have been telling the government that the poor cannot derive due benefit from health facilities for three main reasons: premature births or birth of babies with dangerously low immunity to disease, lack of basic health cover in villages, and the absence of readily available transport to take sick children to a proper health facility. And, of course, tales of corruption are countless.
Now the government has set up a judicial commission comprising the same former judges who were assigned an apparently identical mission in 2014. Their report was never published. One does not know what the new commission’s terms of reference, if any, are, but it will not be out of place to point out that the suffering of the Thar population is due less to the ignorance of their problems and more to the failure to properly address them, even if the state can deny the absence of the will.
For instance, it is known that the land resources in Thar cannot sustain the vastly increased population and there is not enough fodder for the growing number of cattle either. There is no employment for the youth for up to 300 kilometres away from home. And on top of everything the government is apparently insensitive to the consequences of ill-planned development, the intrigues of land grabbers and what looks like organised efforts to change the demography of Tharparkar.
Nobody knows Thar better than Arif Hasan, who has been working there for more than 40 years and has conducted numerous studies on socio-economic issues. The authorities’ refusal to heed his reservations on the Thar coal project is nothing short of a scandal. He argues that the project could have been planned in a way that it yielded the desired economic benefits without causing an ecological disaster and great harm to the local community. Several issues need to be resolved through a mix of skill in planning and due respect for the rights and interests of the community affected. These issues are:
Firstly, the directly affected families’ need for pastoral land to prevent a disruption of their productive pursuits is not receiving attention. Without provision of such land their rehabilitation will be impossible.
Secondly, coal is to be extracted by digging pits — as deep as over 24 metres. The mounds of earth that will rise around the pits will affect the ecology. Besides, the natural flow of underground water will be disturbed and a great deal of polluted water will be pumped into the sea.
Thirdly, the arrival of project personnel and the emergence of services to meet their needs will have an extremely adverse effect on the traditional rural economy and the people’s living habits.
And, finally, the polluted air will affect the people not only in Islamkot but as far away as Nagarparkar.
Unless these issues are fully tackled, the Thar coal project could become a permanent cause of misery for the Thar population.
At the same time, the demographic changes taking place in Tharparkar could lead to a human disaster of unimaginable proportions. It is said that the non-Muslims who till recently constituted 74pc of the population of Tharparkar now account for around 45pc only. This change is not the result of any significant migration of the non-Muslims, its cause lies more in the arrival of Muslim settlers. The most prominent arrivals in Thar are described as “grabbers of land for setting up madressahs”. A Punjab-based militant organisation is said to have been allotted a large tract of land in Nagarparkar.
If this story is true, somebody in authority must intervene to prevent a horrible tragedy. Thar will lose much of its grandeur. The non-Muslim population’s reduction to a minority will be a grave injustice to a community that has a right to be counted among the best Pakistanis. It will also negate Pakistan’s claim to extension of protection to minorities and make this country a pariah among the nations of the world.
Will the new Thar commission or anyone else have the authority and good sense to look into these matters?
Source: dawn.com/news/1238661/multiple-crises-in-thar
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Harnessing the GCC’s Baloch Pedigree
By Naveed Ahmad
February 10, 2016
Darwish Bin Ismail Al Balushi holds the portfolio of Oman’s minster for financial affairs while Dr Fatima Al Balushi is Bahrain’s human rights and social development minister. They are obviously no ordinary folks in their countries. However, they are equally special for Pakistanis too. They are two of the many distinguished Baloch living in the Gulf Arab nations, who belong mainly to the Kalat and Makran regions of Pakistan. Oman’s ambassador to Pakistan, Riyadh bin Yusuf bin Ahmed al Ra‘isi is yet another proud Baloch by ethnicity and loyal Omani by nationality. Major General Sharafuddin Sharaf, also a Baloch, used to be the intelligence chief of the UAE. Talib Miran Ra‘isi is the former air chief of Oman.
Not many Pakistani politicians, civil servants and academics know the achievements of this community that is largely stereotyped for being ‘backward’ and ‘impoverished’. It’s anybody’s guess as to why such stereotyping exists in their own homeland and who is responsible for their dismal state of affairs. While over 70 per cent of Baloch live in Pakistan’s Balochistan, they remain a distinct community in countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Oman, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.
The word ‘Baloch’ is largely understood to mean nomad. It is also spelt as al-Baloshi and al-Balooshi in the Gulf region. Some Baloch claim to have migrated to present-day Balochistan in the 12th century from Aleppo (the Halab region of Syria), sharing an ancestry with Kurds. Legend also has it that they travelled all the way from the shores of the Caspian Sea centuries ago.
The ethnic Baloch comprise approximately 35 per cent of Oman’s population. Over the past two centuries, the Balochi tribesmen have taken to the high seas in search for a better way of life. They settled as far as Zanzibar and the Republic of Congo, mostly migrating to Muslim-dominated regions of Asia and Africa. They integrated exceptionally well by adopting local cuisine, marrying within the local communities and learning their languages too. There was a conscious effort to preserve their own culture and cuisine as well that met with a varying degree of success.
The state of Kalat gave the Baloch a political identity in the 18th century, lasting till the British advent in the region. Throughout the Gulf, all the way into eastern Africa, the traditional Baloch economy and migration patterns are based on a combination of factors that involve farming, semi-nomadic shepherding and acting as Askaris (mercenaries). The emerging oil economies became a factor too after the First World War. When Sultan bin Ahmad was forced to flee Oman in 1783, he was given refuge in the Makrani coastal fishing village of Gwadar by the then Khan of Kalat. The ousted sultan used Gwadar to launch attacks on the Omani coast till the death of his belligerent nephew in 1792. Thereafter, the sultan never returned it to the Khan, but sent a governor to administer Gwadar. Oman exercised influence over this area until 1958 before handing it over to Pakistan. Conservatively speaking, around three million Baloch tribesmen — the majority of whom maintain some degree of contact with their kin in Balochistan — are citizens of virtually all the Gulf nations.
Last year, Oman selected some 350 Baloch youth for various military cadres. The number of applicants from Gwadar, Kech and Panjgur districts ran into thousands. Today, Baloch soldiers and policemen are easy to find in most of the Arab Gulf nations. The Baloch are no economic migrants but citizens of the GCC. Pakistan’s diplomats in the Gulf need to proactively connect with this diaspora. India and Iran have gone to great lengths to reach out to their indigenous people separated by time and distances in countries as far as Fiji in the Pacific, and in Central and South America. Through state-level efforts, prominent Balochis of the Gulf can help build bridges for the prosperity and development of the remote districts of Balochistan. They can help attract enormous foreign investment for the Makran and Kalat regions, and also integrate Pakistan deeper into the GCC economy. Why can’t there be economic zones – factories, refineries and warehouses — for the Gulf Arab nations in Gwadar and Kalat?
Though the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become the favourite topic of politicians and analysts, few have pondered on its importance for the GCC economies. The CPEC will essentially be a Chinese highway running across the Strait of Hormuz, which largely guarantees the sheikhdoms’ economic and political stability via two-way trade. Thus, the Gulf States will be preserving their own interests in the region by promoting development and stability in Balochistan. Islamabad has not invested enough effort in attracting more financial support from the Baloch living in the GCC region and who still have links to Balochistan. This is an area that needs to be looked into seriously.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1043971/harnessing-the-gccs-baloch-pedigree/
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The General Makes another Announcement
By Shaukat Qadir
February 11, 2016
General Raheel has acquired quite a varied reputation. He talks infrequently but means exactly what he says. Conscious of the speculation that was rife about whether he would be offered an extension and, if one were offered, whether he would accept it, he decided to make public the fact that he would not. Unsurprisingly, this has given rise to further speculation from all corners. Why so early, does he have ulterior motives, and what will happen in the next 10 months of his tenure? These and many more questions have been raised. Two articles come particularly to mind: Humayun Gauhar’s ‘Am I a Fish? But then, maybe not’ and Cyril Almeida’s ‘Three men, three questions’. I can merely suggest that Raheel Sharif is not capable of the duplicity suggested by Gauhar in the bulk of the possibilities he suggests. Almeida seems to have understood Raheel a little better.
He is no angel, by any standards. And, while traits like duplicity, guile and wile are considered Machiavellian by some, I find nothing wrong with them per se; they can be used for good ends as well as bad ones. But none of these traits are a part of Raheel’s chemistry. I do not think Raheel ever consciously thought of “not being a Kayani”, as Almeida suggests, but he must have been strongly influenced by Ashfaq’s example in this context. Perhaps if he is offered what Ashfaq is rumoured to have been seeking at the end of his extended tenure, the chief of defence staff, he might be persuaded to accept — perhaps. While unwilling to consider an extension, he might be willing to consider a promotion.
The ‘why’, therefore, is simplest to explain. He decided to publicly clarify his position and, yes, this makes it easier for him to go full speed ahead in the 10 months he has left. Why so early is also simple. It was supposed to put speculations to rest, which it has not and, while giving enough time to the powers-that-be to select his replacement, it was intended to liberate him from all the shackles that the public debate might impose on him for the time he has left. Finally, I do not think there are any ulterior motives in his announcement and I am fairly certain it will be full steam ahead, all engines firing for his remaining period. However, I am more worried about the other negative consequences of his decision.
The first politician to extol his decision was Asif Ali Zardari. To me his praise sounded close to gloating. Not so long ago, having sought refuge overseas, he was seen wailing against the “persecution on charges of corruption” that he claimed his party was being subjected to by the army. And his first point in that speech was that generals have limited tenures, while politicians are forever or words to that effect. His extolling Raheel’s announcement reminded me of that.
After the arrest of Uzair Baloch, media reports indicate that the Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif has expressed some concern over politicians being targeted for corruption by the Rangers, which he feels the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are capable of handling. More importantly, these concerns seem to have been voiced in a cabinet meeting on security wherein, for the first time, neither the military leadership nor the newly appointed National Security Advisor (NSA) were present. This virtually echoes the contention of the PPP leadership since the arrest of Dr Asim Hussain. This was exactly the reason for the disagreement on extending powers to the Rangers. The disagreement was actually between the central and provincial governments but was being debated as one between the army and Sindh government.
So, what suddenly changed the mind of the PM? Is it possible that Raheel’s announcement has liberated him from his shackles too? Does he now believe, like Zardari, that if they see through Raheel’s period, he will appoint a less intractable army chief to undo Raheel’s legacy? In the meantime, the PPP-heavy Senate has already approved an amendment in the National Accountability Act, curtailing its powers to pursue corruption in the provinces. Does the PM’s change of mind imply that the PML-N will now support this amendment in the National Assembly? Can one fail to connect these dots and find a conspiracy? If that is so, it is the most dangerous development for the country.
Some time ago, I had reached the conclusion that however reluctantly the PM might have joined Raheel’s crusade against corruption, he has realised that for his own political future it must be pursued vigorously. But maybe I was merely hoping. Like Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, I too believe: “When you eliminate all possibilities, the only one left, however impossible, is the truth.” And I fear that having eliminated all possibilities, this seems to me to be the only one left to explain the sudden change of heart by the PM.
However, if Raheel Sharif has chosen to make this announcement, he is not so naïve as to be unaware of this possibility. And, if he is aware of it, he will take measures to safeguard his legacy. His reputation is certainly precious to him but not more than his country, as he has demonstrated. I am sure he will not leave us, his countrymen, at the mercy of our unscrupulous, pusillanimous and gutless political leaders who, despite evidence, lack the guts to take on Islamic State (IS) in Islamabad — Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid, whom I refuse to address as Maulana, as an example — until the army makes them.
I can make one prediction with some certainty: the next 10 months will be far from uneventful.
Shaukat Qadir is a retired brigadier. He is also former vice president and founder of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/11-Feb-2016/the-general-makes-another-announcement
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NATO Needs a New Strategy
By Harlan Ullman
February 11, 2016
Make no mistake: Russian President Vladimir Putin is running rings around NATO and the west. His seizure of Crimea and the incursion into eastern Ukraine two years ago awakened NATO from a lengthy siesta in which the alliance was coasting when it came to defence. Putin’s intervention into Syria and Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian fighter late last year complicated matters.
Combined with the expansion of Islamic State (IS), the Syrian civil war has created a massively disruptive flow of refugees into Europe exceeding the capacity to assimilate this migration. And the spread of IS terrorists to Europe and the US has made actual attacks against NATO states a reality that did not exist during the Cold War. Now challenged by President Putin’s intent to “push the envelope” for Russian engagement and the menace presented by Islamic State (IS), NATO has no choice but to respond. Conditioned by the binary nature of the Cold War, NATO has reacted to Russia with traditional responses based on increases in the readiness and deployment of military forces. And it has deferred real action against IS so far.
At the Wales heads of state NATO summit in September 2014, the alliance agreed to an ambitious readiness action plan in response to Russia’s Ukrainian intervention. Training and exercises would be increased. A very high readiness force was established should Russia make threatening moves west. And the US created and funded a European Security Initiative to provide money for a strengthened military posture in Europe.
NATO nations promised to spend two percent of the GDP on defence, a goal only a handful of members would reach. In many ways, the military responses exceeded initial expectations. However, while these steps reassured many of the nations, Russia still maintains formidable means to intimidate its neighbours. The first is geographic. The US is 3,000 miles away from Europe. Russia borders NATO’s Baltic and Black Sea states and has interior lines of communications. Furthermore, if Russia were to threaten the Baltics, NATO reinforcement would have to overcome serious defences and the Kaliningrad oblast that blocks direct access by sea, air and road. Communications would have to move through a part of Poland that does not have well-developed transport nodes or Belarus, a state more closely aligned with Russia. Second, Russia has advantages in its Spetznatz or Special Forces: propaganda, cyber and a huge numerical superiority in theatre nuclear weapons. Third, much of Europe is still dependent on Russian oil and natural gas. Finally, Putin does not have to make decisions based on gaining approval from 28 other peers as is required in NATO.
NATO, however, has many options if it breaks out of a traditional mindset. Despite intimidation tactics, Putin will not gamble on provoking a war. Despite his preponderance of a theatre of nuclear weapons, strategic deterrence still works. The worst (and most unlikely) case is Putin’s use of ‘hybrid’ tactics against the Baltic or the Black Sea states. Propaganda, cyber and ‘little green men’ to infiltrate a target state would be the means. What should NATO do?
Beyond the current increases in readiness, training and deployment, NATO must shift to a ‘porcupine’ defence on its flanks against a hybrid campaign. Instead of depending on reinforcement by large numbers of forces facing the challenges noted above, defence of the Baltic and Black Sea states should rest initially on large numbers of Stinger-like anti-air and Javelin anti-vehicle missiles to bloody an initial incursion. The declaratory policy will be to shoot any ‘green men’ on sight. And NATO must bolster its capability for cyber and counter-propaganda capability that can be moved quickly to the states where it is needed. None of these steps need be overly costly.
More importantly, a high level dialogue with Russia must start aimed at reducing tensions. This column has argued for a P-5 Plus Two — the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the EU and NATO — as a better venue than the Russia-NATO Council. However, negotiations are imperative and must include Ukraine and Syria. The leverage will be through sanctions’ relief in exchange for changed behavior, a more potent weapon than military force in these conditions.
IS is more problematic. Some form of NATO troop deployment to the region may be required as a quid pro quo for creating an Arab/Muslim ground force. But without US leadership, NATO will not act. Even with US action, obtaining the needed unanimity for decision will be difficult.
Throughout its history, NATO has faced many seemingly existential crossroads. Yet it survived. But for history to repeat itself, NATO needs a new strategy. And it needs one now.
Harlan Ullman is chairman of the Killowen Group that advises leaders of government and business and senior advisor at Washington DC’s Atlantic Council. His latest book, due out this fall, is A Handful of Bullets: How the Murder of an Archduke a Century Ago Still Menaces Peace Today
Source: dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/11-Feb-2016/nato-needs-a-new-strategy
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No Thanks!
By Tanuj Garg
February 11th, 2016
There’s respite for those who wake up in the early hours to watch the live telecast of the Academy Awards and yawn through the human beings (and animals) thanked by the winners during their acceptance speeches.
Every year the winners tend to rush through names to keep within the time limit allotted to them and hope that no one has been forgotten. I’d rather watch the winners say what’s on their minds or share an interesting anecdote, unencumbered by thank you. From this year, nominees will be required to hand over a list of gratitudes, to be scrolled across the bottom of the screen if they win. I’m waiting to see who violates the new ‘no list’ rules because that’s bound to happen!
Valentine’s Day celebrations banned in Islamabad?
Tailpieces
1) Self-styled Indian god-man Asaram and his followers want us to discard Valentine’s Day and worship parents instead because it is in line with our values. Ironically, this comes from a man who has been accused of and arrested for sexually assaulting a minor.
2) Konika Dhar, the sister of the Brit ‘Jihadi Sid’ says she’s on a mission to bring him back to Britain. She adds that families like hers need more state support when their loved ones are brainwashed. I disagree. Responsibility starts and ends with the family and community. The family’s ignorance about his radicalisation process is nothing short of a gargantuan failure. On a separate note, the thought of getting him back is terrible — to put him on trial and send him to prison for a few years at British taxpayers’ expense? I doubt Britons would want that. Better he remains where he is till Putin’s men drop a bomb on him and his like.
Militant in Islamic State video believed to be British ‘bouncy castle’ salesman
3) The Siachen avalanche that resulted in the loss of lives of several Indian brave-hearts has been tear-inducing to say the least. Soldiers posted to the world’s highest battlefield are known to tell their families not to expect them to return. Stephen Cohen at the Brookings Institution equated the Siachen conflict between India and Pakistan to two bald men fighting for a comb.
The big debate to re-emerge post the tragedy is the need to de-militarise this fatal area. But with deep suspicion between the countries about cross-border insurgency and the continuous high alert, I doubt if the concept of an ‘undefended border’ (as between the US and Canada) will ever become a reality.
4) The hastily assembled Pakistan Super League (PSL) taking place in the UAE these days is, not surprisingly, a damp squib. Few leagues have been successful in emulating the success of the IPL and the PSL isn’t one of them. Beneath the veneer of home-grown glamour, roars and cheers lies the brutal reality of empty upper decks and most of the filled seats belonging to invitees and free-loaders. The PCB is believed to have pumped in significant funds into the production, ground event and procuring airtime for the broadcast and the huge shortfall in revenues from various streams, can leave a gaping lacuna in its profit and loss account.
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1044079/no-thanks/
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Desperate Steps
By Farieha Aziz
February 11th, 2016
ACCORDING to the visionaries at the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom (MOITT), an ideal telecom and IT policy space in Pakistan would have Section 34 from the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (PECB) in existence as law, with all other laws and policies in the IT and telecom space reflecting it. This is exactly what Section 9 of the Telecom Policy 2015 seems to indicate.
When MOITT hit a wall with the IMCEW’s (Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Evaluation of Websites) legality up for challenge, it dawned upon them that the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) should be pushed forward as the body to manage content online. Perhaps they thought, if the IMCEW was not legal enough since it wasn’t a legislated entity, surely PTA would cut it since it was a statutory body.
But then they were probed with where in the PTA Act were PTA deriving content management powers. That’s when it seemed almost ingenious to insert these powers into the proposed draft of the PECB.
So in March 2015, MOITT operatives diligently sifted through the PTA Act to pick out language from there and add it to the PECB. A look at the April 2015 version of the bill reflects this. In the definitions’ section, ‘authority’ stands for PTA. The definition of ‘intelligence’ in PECB — which is a stand in for information and content — is a copy-paste from the PTA Act.
All content-related sections of PECB contain references to both ‘intelligence’ and ‘authority’. After a hue and cry over this addition, in the amended version of the bill approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee on IT in September 2015, the word ‘intelligence’ was replaced with information. Yet the definition remained the same, and a reference to the PTA Act was added to it, to make sure it still served the same purpose.
Even the Telecom Policy Reflects PECB’s Controversial Aims.
Little did the government anticipate the opposition to the bill that came from outside and inside the legislature — and in both houses. The Senate drew a line on PECB: the bill would not be allowed to pass in its current form. Lacking a majority in the upper house naturally posed a dilemma to the government’s ambitions. But persist in gaining powers they had to, and so the Telecom Policy 2015 offered yet another opportunity.
Launched in January 2016, Section 9.8.2 of the policy reads: “PTA is required to manage content over the internet through integrated licences or ISPs as per their licensing conditions under the act.”
But where to find a justification in law, so they came up with this: “This framework will enable PTA to monitor and manage content including any blasphemous and pornographic material in conflict with the principles of Islamic way of life as reflected in the Objectives Resolution and Article 31…The framework would nevertheless protect the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 of the Constitution subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by the Constitution and the law and cover public networks.”
Any ‘framework’ would have to come through law, introduced by the legislature, drafted within the parameters prescribed by the Constitution to protect and not strip away fundamental rights. The executive, through a telecom policy by writing in an SOP as a ‘framework’ is not the equivalent of that.
Both Article 31 and the Objectives Resolution state Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teaching and requirements of Islam. The word here is ‘enabled’. There are ways of enabling citizens to shield themselves from unwanted and unwarranted material online without the state playing nanny and infringing on rights.
Moreover, while recognising the rights of minorities and fundamental rights of all citizens under the Constitution, the Objectives Resolution requires the state to “exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people”. That again would be the legislature.
Meanwhile, 9.8.4 states: “PTA under its inherent mandate on regulation of ‘access to content’…will perform the assigned role...” What ‘inherent mandate’? The one that’s under scrutiny before court? Or the mandate being created through PECB? Or is this a reference to 9.8.2 in the telecom policy, which happens to be a policy document issued by the executive and not a law passed by parliament?
Then 9.10.1 proposes that “in order to realise the objectives of this policy,” changes be made to acts, ordinances and rules. These include, but are not limited to, the PTA and Pemra acts, as well as the telecommunication rules.
Powers acquired in the name of protecting the people are often used to serve vested personal and political interests. ‘In the interest of the people’ may be the most convincing argument to make, but it’s not the most truthful one.
Farieha Aziz is co-founder and director of Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for digital rights.
Source: .dawn.com/news/1238664/desperate-steps
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The Big Little
By Chris Cork
February 10, 2016
It was a report on a global TV channel that pricked up my ears. It was an examination of the culture of entrepreneurship in India, but said that the observations were applicable worldwide. We tend to think of entrepreneurs, if we think of them at all, as stratospheric high-fliers that tap into funding sources as mysterious as quantum physics, the men and women who are the movers and shakers that stimulate economic growth, opportunists and far-seers — and not people running tiny general stores in remote parts of developing nations. Yet this was the thrust of the report that people at the very lowest level in entrepreneurial terms had got where they were by a micro version of what far bigger fish were doing or had done. And we are surrounded by them.
These smaller versions of Trump and Branson can be seen in the urban environment at traffic lights, or vending their wares at busy chowks that can be anything from pink inflatable toys with a life measured in hours (Bahawalpur in the last week) to balloons to obscure and dubious remedies for a range of ailments and physical conditions.
These are the men and women that make up the poverty economy, who eke out a tiny living that is above beggary and below the formal jobs market, who as entrepreneurs invest miniscule sums in the hope and expectation of making a bread-on-the-table return, possibly bankrolled by a slightly richer person higher up the scale in the poverty economy to whom they give a cut of whatever small profit they make. Some of them are undoubtedly victims of exploitation, particularly the children with their screen-washing services and the plaintive calls to buy colouring books — but for some this is their personal equivalent of a start-up, not exactly Silicon Valley and The Next Big Thing but perhaps the precursor to a tiny stall at the roadside selling sweets and matches.
My first contact with the poverty economy was in the Middle East: Lebanon in the ‘80s where shrapnel was being hawked at traffic lights — where there were traffic lights — but like most of us that were passing through it was not recognised as anything more than what it appeared to be at first sight. Then Egypt and Syria in the ‘90s before Pakistan in ‘95 and the Blind Balloon Man.
Looking back, it was the Blind Balloon Man that helped me get a glimmer of understanding. I came across him at dead of night in Saddar, Rawalpindi as I was walking back to my hotel. He had a hand-cranked three-wheeler that he trundled down the middle of the road. And a lot of balloons. He was, I discovered, almost completely blind and had plied his trade, presumably not very profitably, for many years. He was not a beggar, he was in business, making a paisa or two to put on the table.
But back to Bahawalpur and the local poverty economy which, the scales now fallen from my eyes, I now see as positively thriving, vibrant even, and emerging as an equal-opportunities niche as women have begun to appear (… yes, the pink inflatables) in this strata of very poor entrepreneurs. These are micro-traders, perhaps people who might qualify for a microfinance loan to give a boost to their start-up and take them the next step along the road. To owning the factory that makes the balloons, perhaps.
Perhaps I am being overly optimistic, and the reality is that the vendors I see are all in the clutches of some venal Shylock who will wring their last rupee from them at the end of every long day — but I suspect not in every case, and not every entrepreneur operating in the world beyond the poverty economy makes a killing with every punt they take.
There is a busy shop in my home village that started life as a tray of toys around the neck of the youth who tramped miles to harvest a pittance. After a couple of years he bought a cupboard and sold sweets as well. Now, he has a shop with a ‘fridge and a plan to set up another in a neighboring village. Entrepreneurs, huh?
Source: tribune.com.pk/story/1044077/the-big-little/
URL: https://newageislam.com/pakistan-press/harnessing-gcc’s-baloch-pedigree-new/d/106302