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Editorial, ‘Price of inaction’
The News International, 01 September 2023
The drift is that while Pakistan is bound by a covenant with the IMF to keep its exchange rate pegged to the open market rates, nothing stops the government from taking administrative measures to plug the holes that enable hard currency flows out of the economy and into the black market through smuggling rings operating through Iran and Afghanistan. Once the caretaker government failed on that count, the rupee’s slide was a given, leading investors to park their funds in bullion and hard currencies and encouraging expats to use hundi and hawala.
Jan-e-Alam Khaki, ‘Torching churches’
Dawn, 01 September 2023
See how the Quran deals with a major problem in the context of pre-modern Arabia! Mischief-mongering has long been part and parcel of human society, and the revelation rightly addresses it in the most common-sense way. The government can insist on making such Quranic verses key policy guidelines while tackling such events. Today, fake news has become such a nuisance that many, unfortunately, even profit from deliberately spreading it. First, the Quran advises not to create fasaad (corruption) in the world with excuses. Second, even if news or a rumour reaches someone, they should not jump to conclusions, but investigate the allegations through those who are responsible for such things.
Faisal Bari, ‘Inflation and desperation’
Dawn, 01 September 2023
Given the government’s financial constraints, the immediate question in such discussions is: where will the money for additional support come from? And the mostly likely answer is that the government does not have the money, and so programmes for the needy will not be expanded and/ or increased in number. But the truth lies elsewhere. We know that we provide massive subsidies to the rich in general, and to various interest groups in particular. If the state was actually serious about finding money, and if their priority was relief for the needy, finding money would not be an issue. Sadly, it is not a priority for the state.
Editorial, ‘Continuous decline’
Dawn, 01 September 2023
The main question is: can the caretakers stop the economic decline? With their limited mandate and powers, it looks unlikely. The current state of the economy demands tough decisions that a temporary set-up is not capable of making.
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