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Farid Panjwani, ‘Educating the privileged’
Dawn, 28 June 2024
“As a conversation starter, I propose the following: To begin with, there should be no compromise on the quality of scientific, mathematical, artistic and literary education. However, this academically rigorous education should happen in the crucible of equity and emancipation. For example, economics education should question the highly skewed distribution of wealth and control over resources, the causes of poverty, and the link between wealth and politics. Integrated in the teaching of technology must be the moral questions it raises, its social consequences, and its link with economics. Literature should go beyond canon and include writers who bring to the forefront the lives of the dispossessed and exploited. All this and more to help the young grasp the historical and contemporary structures and power relations shaping the visible state of the world.”
Shahzad Chaudhry, ‘How high is the Sino-Pak friendship?’
The Express Tribune, 28 June 2024
“The reasons mostly pertain to capacities within Pakistan to give these projects the right attention and spare finances required to put in place the necessary infrastructure. From political disharmony to a decaying ability to transmit power, to producing lesser and lesser electricity — power consumption in Pakistan is reducing at the rate of 12 per cent per annum — to an international and IMF concern of Pakistan being drowned in debt, mostly Chinese, have literally paralysed decision making which could have moved the needle forward. China calls CPEC its flagship programme in the Silk Road project aimed at expanding its reach and influence as well as resource its critical needs from the Middle East and adjoining Eurasian region. A suspended or a slowed CPEC threatens the entire edifice of China’s future strategy. China should be genuinely concerned.”
Abdul Sattar, ‘To all victims of oppression’
The News International, 28 June 2024
“The conference discussed the necessity of a revolutionary philosophy; the war in Palestine; the history of the Russian Revolution; the building of the Bolshevik Party; historical materialism; the history of communist international and imperialism; and other important topics. Left-wing parties often face paucity of funds and constraints of financial resources, but the conference managed to collect 488,930 euros, which organizers say will be used to further the cause of the party. Addressing the conference, Hamid Alizadeh from the International Secretariat of the RCI, pointed out that “there is nothing like the RCI anywhere in the world. No other organization has taken a serious approach to the genuine ideas of Marxism and the real traditions of revolutionary communism.””
Editorial, ‘Chinese industries’
Dawn, 28 June 2024
“That said, it is Pakistan’s internal security challenges that will continue to dictate the investment decisions of Chinese companies, notwithstanding better business policies. Safety of their workers in Pakistan was perhaps the most critical issue raised by Chinese investors during their meetings with Mr Sharif. This concern was more forcefully raised by a senior minister of China’s Communist Party recently; while addressing the representatives of Pakistan’s political parties in Islamabad, he identified internal security defects as a major factor responsible for the erosion of investor confidence. While the safety of its workers has always been a matter of concern for Beijing, the recent targeted attacks, especially the one in Bisham, near the project site of the Dasu dam, on its engineers has significantly dented China’s confidence in our ability to protect its interests from militant groups. Security conditions will have to be improved in tandem with the business environment to make Pakistan a destination of choice for Chinese investors.”
Editorial, ‘Resolution 901’
The News International, 28 June 2024
“As was inevitable, the PTI is hardly upset at the resolution. In fact, former President Arif Alvi has lauded the resolution and said that it is “a positive push in the right direction, along the lines of our own constitution”. Many other PTI leaders have also lauded the House of Representatives resolution. By most analysis, while the resolution is being applauded by the PTI leadership and criticized by the government representatives, it does not mean anything more than the lawmakers obliging their voters due to this being an election year where campaign funding plays a major role for different lobbies and voters. It would be quite fair to deduce that this does not count as official US policy and that this will not have any adverse effect on Pak-US ties. On the other hand, there are some political commentators who are sounding an alarm. Khawaja Asif is not wrong when he says that the US is facilitating a genocide. He is also not wrong in saying that the superpower has been engaged in overthrowing democratically elected governments around the world in the past. Such obvious contradictions should be highlighted when it comes to the so-called supporter of human rights and democratic values when the same country is involved in turning a blind eye to a genocide and has supported dictatorships around the globe for its own vested interests.”
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