1 National

Social
Foreign policy
I. Challenges

II. Wayforward

A multi-aligned Pakistan focused primarily on economic development and not

heavily invested in geopolitics is the course that is required to be pursued.

Education
It is unfortunate that quality education has never had a
constituency within the state
Links
https://www.dawn.com/news/1682180/education-crisis
challenges

PAKISTAN’S educational crisis is rooted in inequality. Nowhere are national

socioeconomic and gender fault lines more apparent than in the education
sector.
Threats
Wayforward/ recommendations

Poverty
 The "international poverty line" is defined as $1.90 per day (updated from the
previous poverty line of $1.25 to $1.90 in 2015) united nations
a) Nexus between environmental degradation and poverty

 In developing countries, millions of people are trapped on degraded lands

at risk from the rise in sea level, droughts, crop failure and pollution.
 Together, poverty and environmental degradation are inflicting serious
blows on the earth’s ecosystems and also pushing the poor deeper into the
quagmire of hunger, malnutrition, disease and destitution. There is no
winner in this vicious cycle.
 South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are particularly hard hit as land
degradation and water stress in these regions are leading to loss of
livelihood and job opportunities for the majority of those who rely heavily
on agriculture for a living. Devoid of social protection, they are distressed
economically and may consequently suffer from mental health issues.
b) Role of international financing bodies and poverty
UN Secretary General António Guterres observed that “the need to service an
ever-mounting and more expensive debt will leave developing countries with
little fiscal space for recovery, job creation, climate action, reimagining
education” etc. as “today’s global financial system is supercharging
inequalities and instability”

Unemployment
Nuclear security
India has been receiving state-of-the-art weaponry, and is working on
canisterization of nuclear warheads with missiles, anti-ballistic missile
systems, MIRV, hyper sonics, weaponized drones, and augmented sea-based
capabilities. This will compel Pakistan to take countermeasures.

Energy
Water
Links

https://www.dawn.com/news/1322655/pakistans-water-diplomacy

A policy that ignores non-IWT sources of water is perilous for our security and
economy.

our water diplomacy is overly Indus Waters Treaty centric, and begs for an
integrated view. While the IWT is a strategic asset that both India and
Pakistan must strive to protect and constantly enrich, for Pakistan it is a
lifeline that drives livelihoods for the poor and lifestyles for the rich.

Security
Population
Gender
Links

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2347181/gender-equality-for-growth-and-development

1) Different problems or existential threats that women are facing

 The statistics gathered by the UN show that out of 1.3 billion poor
people in the world, 70% are women. Therefore, women will have to be
liberated, empowered and emancipated for their respective countries’
economic development.
 Women’s equality and empowerment are among the 17 Sustainable
Development Goals that seek to end all forms of discrimination against
women and girls everywhere
 Gender equality denotes women’s rights to access economic resources,
financial services, justice, ownership, and control over property,
inheritance, natural resources, and, importantly, to get equitable pay
and representation at the boardroom.
 The one the Unicef has identified states:
“Empowerment of women and girls concerns women and girls gaining
power and control over their own lives. It involves awareness-raising,
building self-confidence, expansion of choices, increased access to and
control over resources and actions to transform the structures and
institutions which reinforce and perpetuate gender discrimination and
inequality.”
 Pakistani women have suffered from this bias, sometimes imposed on
them in the name of religion, even though Islam had given women equal
status to men long before the concept of human rights and gender
equality were codified.
Unesco

 Women make up more than two-thirds of the world's 750 million adults without basic literacy
skills; women represent less than 30% of the world’s researchers; and women journalists are
 more exposed to assault, threat or physical, verbal or digital attack than their male
counterparts.

 UNESCO believes that all forms of discrimination based on gender are violations of human
rights, as well as a significant barrier to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

 Our message is clear: women and men must enjoy equal opportunities, choices, capabilities,
power and knowledge as equal citizens. Equipping girls and boys, women and men with the
knowledge, values, attitudes and skills to tackle gender disparities is a precondition to
building a sustainable future for all

2) Unnoticed traficking of women

The case of trafficked girls and women goes unnoticed.

 Only recently, it came to light that the Punjab police had disclosed that
40,585 women have been abducted in the period 2017-22 from Punjab.

 For nearly two decades, the US State Department has been issuing an
annual report on the Trafficking of Persons (TIP) giving details of this
criminal activity worldwide. Pakistan’s record is horrendous in terms of
the massiveness of the number of victims and the paucity of corrective
and preventive measures taken.
 The figures reported in the TIP report annually increased over the years
from over 12,000 to around 32,000 (2017 to 2021). The total includes
boys and men picked up for bonded labour. The country is a leading
member of the club patronising modern-day slavery.
 The trafficking of women for sex trading is probably the biggest financial
factor in Pakistan’s black economy. It has international links and
transactions of multimillion rupees are conducted daily. The icing on the
cake is that there is official complicity at all levels after the crime is
committed. The funds generated are shared by a wide range of parties to
provide protection to all involved.

Reasons for unnoticed female traficking

 In the case I was privy to even a judge of the higher judiciary was unable
to ensure the presence of the victims’ mother at the bail hearing of the
accused. He won his freedom on bail. Out of jail he continued his
machinations in the lower judiciary. The case did not even reach the
sessions court where it was expected to go having been directed to the
judiciary by the Anti-Violent Crime Cell that deals with serious crimes
3) Underrepresentations of women in science
  Even though women have made huge gains towards increasing
their representation in science in recent years, they are still
significantly underrepresented. According to research by
UNESCO, today, globally, only 33.3 percent of all researchers are
women, with rates varying depending on the country.
Furthermore, female researchers tend to have shorter, less well-
paid careers. Their work is underrepresented in high-profile
journals, and they are often passed over for promotion.

 To achieve true gender equality, it is crucial to acknowledge and

address the underrepresentation of women in science, and the
additional obstacles women scientists face because of their
gender. Moreover, addressing gender disparity in science would
help us better address gender-based discrimination in many
other areas, especially health.

 In 1962, Franklin’s former boss Maurice Wilkins, Francis Crick

and James Watson were awarded the Nobel Prize in
Medicine/Physiology for discovering the molecular structure of
DNA – a discovery they were only able to do because of
Franklin’s hard work. Franklin was not nominated for the Nobel
Prize alongside her male colleagues for seemingly technical
reasons: the rules at the time put limits on how many people
could share the award and nominees had to be alive at the time
they were nominated. Nonetheless, none of the three scientists
who earned this highest recognition in science felt the need to let
the world know how crucial the woman they once mocked as
“dark lady” was to this discovery. Indeed, Franklin’s contribution
to the discovery of DNA’s molecular structure was not publicised
until years later.

4) Lack of research in medicines related to women

 For example, take fibroids, a life-limiting, painful disease that

impacts approximately 26 million people with wombs in the US.
Black women are two to three times more likely to have the
disease. Despite the disease being so widespread, very little is
 known about it. Women suffer in silence for years before
receiving a diagnosis.

Gender equality leads to good economy

 Empowered women and girls contribute to their families, communities,
and countries, creating a domino effect that benefits everyone. Various
researches have corroborated that sustainable development cannot be
achieved without women’s empowerment. Generally, what is suitable for
gender equality is also good for the economy and society.

Human rights
 Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2022 pointed out that Pakistani
“authorities expanded their use of draconian sedition and
counterterrorism laws to stifle dissent and strictly regulated civil society
groups critical of government actions and policies”
 unresolved malady is the issue of missing persons or ‘enforced
disappearances’, a wound that continues to fester due to the impunity
enjoyed by certain state agencies.____The enactment of a law
criminalising ‘enforced disappearances’ is a long-standing demand of
bodies like Amnesty International and HRCP.____The issue of missing
persons that surfaced in the hinterlands of Balochistan and erstwhile Fata
on the pretext of combating terrorism and insurgency have been extended
to the rest of the country, including Islamabad.
 the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has very rightly expressed alarm over
the “failure of the state to protect their right to life.”The mysterious recovery of
bruised and battered dead bodies of not one, not two but three workers of Muttahida
Qaumi Movement from different parts of Sindh

 Transgender rights
Pakistan is among the first few states to have officially recognised the third
gender. It also passed the widely lauded Transgender Protection Act in 2018.
 Transphobia
 Way forward
 It is high time the state built on its admirable policy and legislative efforts
to protect the rights of the transgender community in practical terms, by
addressing the root causes of the violence they are subjected to,
criminalising hate speech against transpeople, including them in the
legislature, teaching and encouraging respect and inclusion, and
conducting an impartial inquiry into the endemic violence the community
has been facing. Trans rights are human rights, and they must be protected
at any cost.

National integration
a. Threat to non muslims
 climate of bigotry____the lynching of the non-Muslim Sri Lankan
manager of a Sialkot factory____“a monumental failure of both policy and
moral courage__ government and opposition blaming the lapses in the
criminal justice system____the state policy of appeasement and society’s
moral decay has made us hostage to bigotry and violent extremism.
 Miss use of blasphemy law are a constant threat to minorities____forced
conversions
 Forced conversions are also threat non-muslim community
Baloch insurgent groups
 Multiple Baloch insurgent groups are active in the province, including the
BLA, the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), the Baloch Republican Guard,
the United Baloch Army (UBA), BLF and the Baloch Raji Aajoi Saangar
(BRAS) that is an umbrella grouping of Baloch insurgent organisations

1.1 Economy
Import/export
 Budget deficit
Current account
Economy survey
State bank reports
Policies

1.2 Political
Democracy

Accountability
 “Without strong watchdog institutions, im punity becomes the very
foundation upon which systems of corruption are built. And if impunity is
not demolished, all efforts to bring an end to corruption are in vain,” said
Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu.
 The phenomenon of ‘elite capture’ is reflected in the farcical accountability
process. Both the military and civilian governments have misused the
institution that was ostensibly created to carry out across-the-board
accountability. NAB is an utter failure. It lacks transparency, autonomy
and integrity. The process of appointment of its chairman has become
tainted. Prime ministers and leaders of the opposition who selected
successive NAB chiefs know they succumbed to the machinations of the
string-pullers.
 Recent amendments in the NAB law have rendered it a toothless body
whose chief serves at the pleasure of the ruling elite. If we cannot select a
person of unimpeachable integrity, absolute impartiality and unquestioned
professional ability, then we might as well shut down NAB.
 State institution
Pillars of the state
Good governance
https://www.dawn.com/news/1678709/state-of-crisis

 According to the World Justice Project, Pakistan ranks 130 out of 139
countries on rule of law.
 “powerful and crooked politicians, cartels and mafias have become
accustomed to being above the law in order to protect their privileges
gained through a corrupt system” by PM Imran Khan
 Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index ranked
Pakistan 140 out of 180 countries, with a low CPI score of 28 during 2021,
indicating a drop of 16 places from its previous ranking.

Local government
Article links

https://www.dawn.com/news/1676781/limited-or-empowered-lgs

Local governments need to be protected against

encroachments designed to weaken them as effective
institutions of representation by dawn ali cheema.
 Article 140-A of the Constitution has constrained provinces from outrightly
abolishing LGs, the current political equilibrium is enabling provincial
executives to kill local government with a thousand cuts. The result is
limited LGs that are nothing but empty shells, even though more than a
decade has passed since they were constitutionally recognised as a third
tier of government.

 Dillon’s Rule, a doctrine in American municipal law. According to Dillon’s

doctrine, LGs derive their powers and rights wholly from the provincial
legislature.
 Policies
Both state and society need to initiate a serious dialogue to ensure ‘a
stable and secure Pakistan’. ‘dawn threats from within by tariq khosa’
“a stable and secure Pakistan where citizens enjoy their constitutional
privileges and are protected against violence, extremism, and crime, and
where rule of law is upheld equally for all” in National security policy
Another malady is the ‘culture of impunity’_Sadly, many civil servants,
including police officers, lack the courage to resist the pressure exerted by
some chief executives and ministers to facilitate malpractice and misuse their
authority. Files move faster when palms are greased.

Civil military relations

2 International
Climate
Links

Ali touqeer sheikh articles in dawn

https://tribune.com.pk/epaper/news/Karachi/2022-03-03/
YWNiNDQyYmZmODQ4NzM4ODdkYjJhZTFjMzc5YmY1ZjcuanBlZw%3D%3D

https://www.dawn.com/news/1679553/the-age-of-adaptation

UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 specifically calling for

‘urgent actions to combat climate change and its impacts’,

“The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to

human well-being and the health of the planet. Any further delay in
concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to
secure a liveable future.” al jazeera (alxendre black)

For the first time, there is high confidence among scientists that the
impacts of climate change are increasingly driving displacement in all
regions of the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change’s (IPCC) latest report, published on February 28 2022,
recognises that climate change is one of several multi-dimensional
factors contributing to forced movement today, and that “peace and
mobility” are at significant risk from its effects. Without global efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and better adapt to the effects of
climate change, say the authors, the number of people displaced will
grow in the coming decades.

The past several years have been some of the warmest on record, with
above-average rainfall, unusually active storm seasons and devastating
wildfires. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC),
whose data and analysis feature in the report, measured 30 million
displacements triggered by extreme weather in 2020. In recent weeks,
thousands of families have been uprooted as Brazil suffered
catastrophic flash flooding and landslides, and Madagascar was hit by
four tropical storms in as many weeks. Climate change will make
natural events such as these more frequent and more intense in the
future.

2.1 Regions
USA
https://www.orfonline.org/research/42912-u-s-sanctions-on-pakistan-and-
their-failure-as-strategic-deterrent/
 Russia
south Asia
China
Middle East
Ukraine crises
“Far too often the Ukrainian issue is posed as a showdown: whether Ukraine
joins the East or the West. But if Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not
be either side’s outpost against the other — it should function as a bridge
between them,” Kissinger wrote in the Washington Post presciently.
Reasons of the stand-off
 The stand-off between US-led Nato countries and Russia is widely seen to
be about the balance of power and security architecture in Europe.
 Russia’s stance
 President Vladimir Putin, who has witnessed several waves of Nato’s
eastward expansion, has now drawn a red line insisting on a halt to more
expansion. He regards this as a threat to Russia’s security and intrusion
into its ‘sphere of influence’. Among key Russian security demands
discussed with the US in abortive diplomatic talks was that Ukraine and
other states should be barred from joining Nato, no strategic weapons be
deployed in Ukraine and Nato’s presence ended in former Soviet countries.
This was turned down by the US and led to suspension of US-Russia talks.
 In security council meeting russsian ambassador denied any plan to
militarily intervene in Ukraine and accused Western countries of
“pumping Ukraine with weapons”.
 For his part, Putin accused the West of using Ukraine as a “tool” to
provoke war. His foreign minister said Western countries were spreading
“hysteria”.

US-stance
 Washington accused Moscow of planning an invasion and warned of
serious consequences as it began crafting tough economic sanctions aimed
at pressurising the Russians.

Global effects
a) Russia and China into closer alignment
Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics in Beijing concluded with a
strong expression of solidarity and resolve to mount a united front against the
US.
firm rejection of US policies
The crux of the lengthy statement was their common position “against
attempts by external forces to undermine security and stability in their
common adjacent regions”.
Russia reaffirmed support for the One-China principle and on the Taiwan
issue while China joined Russia in opposing Nato expansion and called on the
Western alliance “to abandon its ideologised Cold War approaches”. They also
criticised Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy and the trilateral security
alliance between the US, Australia and UK (AUKUS) for undermining security
and spawning an arms race in Asia.
b) exposing differences within the Western coalition
In contrast to the growing entente between Russia and China — even though
their interests don’t always converge — the Western coalition did not appear
united despite vigorous US efforts to rally Europe into forging a common front
against Russia. European countries seemed to have differing views about how
to respond to Putin not least because the continent is dependent on Russian
energy supplies while many states have significant commercial links with
Russia. The EU gets almost 40 per cent of its gas imports from Russia.
Germany, with over half its imported gas coming from Russia, was faulted for
not taking a tougher line and balking at sending arms to Ukraine. On
economic sanctions too, European nations differed because most would be
hurt by them with serious economic repercussions. Agreement on sanctions
has to be forged among EU’s 27 members, which is not easy.
US- RUSSIA
they were not on the same page on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from
Russia to Germany that the US wants stopped.
weak link in the united front against Russia.
Macron argued that “the geopolitical objective of Russia today is not Ukraine,
but to clarify the rules of cohabitation with Nato and the EU.”

c) further intensified East-West polarisation and sent tensions

The stand-off also reinforces the overarching global dynamic of growing East-
West mistrust and confrontation while holding out the prospect of a world
increasingly riven into two competing blocs.

European Union

2.2 Pakistan relations

Foreign policy
USA
In international relations, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies. It is only the
interests which bring nations close or apart from each other. By the same token, there is no
exception in the case of Pak-U.S.

America’s global hegemony or liberal international order — resting on three

pillars: economic strength, military might and the soft power of cultural
dominance
 Russia
China
Afghanistan
India
Iran
Muslim countries
2.3 Organizations
UN
https://www.dawn.com/news/1678376/conflict-and-un

OIC
SAARC
SCO
ASEAN
EU
World Bank
IMF
Impact of IMF on pak foreign policy

. Given that Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen’s recent meeting with the International Monetary
Fund ended inconclusively, it raises questions about Pakistan’s wherewithal to make off-the-
shelf weapons purchases, especially of Russian technology such as the S-400 missile defence
system.
ECO
FATF