Author: admin

MCB Bank PMI for October decreases

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LAHORE –  Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in October 2016 (which covers Aug-Sept 2016 period) at a slower pace than in August (covering Jun-Jul 2016 period).

The PMI for the month of October registered a value of 63.
51, a decrease from August’s reading of 64.
67.
As a rule of thumb, a reading of 50 or above indicates that manufacturing activity and the overall economy expanded.According to company executives surveyed in the MCB Bank Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), the manufacturing sector has got to off to a good start, increasing on a year-on-year basis by 2.
62% YoY in July FY17.
With improvements in energy availability and lower input prices, supply conditions for manufacturing firms have also improved.
On the downside, however, declining exports continue to weigh in on growth prospects.
Pakistan’s exports declined by 9.
08%, in dollar terms from July – Sept FY17 when compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

The October MCB Bank PMI indicates that manufacturing activity continued to grow for the 17th consecutive reading but at a much slower pace compared to August.
New orders increased at a slower pace, registering an index value of 73.
89, compared to 74.
72 in August.
Meanwhile, the Production Indexdecreased0.
83 points to 68.
06.
Inventory levels decreased by3.
06 points to 56.
66 (previously registered at 59.
72).
Therefore, new orders and production grew at a slower pace than before while manufacturers increased inventories at a slower pace which reflects slightly slower pace of growth in demand.

Supplier deliveries were slow at 53.
33 compared to an index value of 54.
44 in August.
A reading of below 50 indicates faster deliveries and a potential cooling down of the economy and vice versa.
Employment in the manufacturing sector also grew at a slower pace, registering a value of 53.
33 from an earlier value of 54.
44.

The Prices Paid and Prices Received indices both pointed to an overall increase in price levels (with index values above 50 for both) which corroborates with Pakistan’s current inflation dynamics.
CPI Inflation has experienced a reversal since bottoming out in September 2015 at 1.
32% YoY and currently stands at 3.
88% YoY for the month of September 2016.
Prices Paid Index stood at 61.
11, unchanged from August which indicates that prices paid increased at a stable rate.
YoY WPI Inflation was registered at 3.
4% YoY in September, almost unchanged from 3.
5% YoY in August.
The Prices Received index decreased 1.
67 points to 66.
39.

Overall, the manufacturing sector still remains on a moderate rate of growth and this indicates an uplift of the general economy.
Manufacturing PMI serves as a leading indicator of economic activity as health of the manufacturing sector is typically highly correlated with future GDP levels.

SCB declares Rs12.1b profit

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KARACHI –  Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) has announced its results for third quarter and first nine months of 2016, declaring profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 12.
1 billion.

The Bank delivered resilient financial performance despite margin compression due to lower interest rates.
On the liabilities side, the bank’s total deposits grew by 9 percent since the start of this year.
The continuous increase in low cost deposits has significantly supported the bank’s performance with current and savings accounts comprising 93 per cent of the deposit base.

Radwanska through to last four in Singapore

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SINGAPORE-Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska overpowered Karolina Pliskova 7-5 6-3 on Friday to clinch the last available place in the semi-finals of the WTA tour championship and stay on course to defend the title she won last year.

Radwanksa, who made a stunning comeback to win the 2015 tournament despite losing her first two round-robin matches, made it through to the last four again after having lost her opening match when she beat Pliskova in a sudden-death showdown.
The 27-year-old will now face world number one Angelique Kerber in Saturday’s semis with the winner to play either Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova or Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.

Kuznetsova suffered her first loss of the tournament on Friday when she was beaten 3-6 6-0 6-1 by Spain’s French Open champion Garbine Mugurza but the result had no bearing on the semis with the Russian already assured of finishing top of the White Group and Muguruza out of contention after losing her first two matches.
“It was a dead match, but it kind of shows if the desire is there or not,” said Mugurza.
If you’re like, ‘Oh, man this match is so, you know, you know’, you kind of let it go.
But I’m like, ‘no.
I can’t do that.
‘”Pliskova, who qualified for the elite end-of-season event when she reached the final of the US Open last month, led 4-2 in the opening set before the more experienced Radwanska took control on the key points, capitalising on the Czech’s 29 unforced errors, which included hitting two routine overheads into the net late in the second set.

“It was a very tight match,” Radwanska said after she finished runner-up in the group standings.
I think I was waiting and praying that (the) first serves won’t be in, then there’s a chance for a second serve.
She is one of the best servers on the tour.Kuznetsova finally ran out of steam after winning a tournament in Moscow last weekend just to qualify for the WTA Finals then winning two gruelling matches at Singapore’s Indoor Stadium.
The 31-year-old seemed to be in cruise control after she took the opening set against Mugurza but won just one game in the last two sets as the physical effects of the past week began to take a toll.”I’ve done the most important job in the past matches,” Kuznetsova said.
“You definitely don’t want to lose the match.You try to fight (but) sometimes the lack of energy just won’t let you do that.”

Pakistan preparing for Junior WC in India: Shahbaz

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KUANTAN –  Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Friday said the training of its team for the Junior World Cup in the Indian city of Lucknow is in full swing, even as it awaited clearance from the government.

Shahbaz Ahmed Senior, Secretary of the PHF, said an unnecessary controversy had been created in the media whether Pakistan would participate in the Junior World Cup, to be played December 8-18 in India.
“The team’s preparations are in full swing and the tournament is more than six weeks away,” Shahbaz told PTI during the fourth Asian Champions Trophy in the western Malaysian city of Kuantan.

“There are procedural issues and sanctions that are sought from the government every time a team goes abroad,” said Shahbaz.

“We have applied to the government for the clearance and the tournament is more than month and half away.
In the meanwhile, our team is preparing for the tournament and travel issues are being looked into,” said Shahbaz, a former Pakistan captain and dazzling striker in his career that spanned over a decade and a half.
Shahbaz said the PHF had already communicated to the International Hockey Federation (FIH) that it was committed to participate in all international tournaments.

Recent political tension between the two countries led to media reports that sporting relations between the two countries may be affected.
Bilateral sporting tours are already under a strain, but media reports said international tournaments could also be affected.

“All this talk is speculative and an unnecessary controversy is being created,” said Shahbaz, adding that there was no problem about visas for the Pakistan junior team to visit India.
“Visas for Pakistan team are not a problem.
The matter has been resolved,” he said.
Pakistan have twice won the Junior World Cup, which started in 1979.

In the two states tug of war the Kashmiris bleed

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n the two states tug of war the Kashmiris bleed

States are heartless creatures. The ruling establishments claim that their policies are to serve the people but more often in practice these are hollow claims. People’s benefit is only the byproduct of some of the policies of the states ruling classes. Many a time’s right things happen for wrong reasons. And people are crucified on the altar of narrow nationalism. Ego and territory matters more than humanity.

This point is amply proved by the trajectory of Pakistan- India conflict over Kashmir which has brought nothing else but misery for the people of Kashmir in particular and in the people of both countries in general. Perhaps, had it been only the Kashmiris struggle for an independent secular democratic country or the struggle for maximum autonomy within the framework of India over the last 70 years, there were more chances of success. It would have also gotten more international support which it did not because at present the world sees it as a conflict between the two countries.

Obstinate stand of India on Kashmir for the last 70 years has not resolved the issue. The worst sufferers of this conflict are the people of Kashmir who are torn to shreds in between the two revisionist states. There have been many uprisings of Kashmiris in India and all have been suppressed by the state by using brute power against the people. Human rights violations in Kashmir are indeed a stigma on the world’s largest secular democracy record. Every time there’s an uprising India blames Pakistan for instigating it. Pakistan which is condemning India for human rights violations internationally doesn’t help. It has also not an enviable human rights record in Balochistan, Sindh, KP and FATA.

On the other hand Pakistan has shown some flexibility on a few occasions on the Kashmir issue.  From its traditional stand that the Kashmir issue should be resolved in the light of the 1948 UN resolution, it agreed to resolve the issue through bilateral negotiations in 1972 under the Simla agreement. The subtle change in the nomenclatures of the disputed border between the two countries in Kashmir was made — from calling it the ceasefire line it was renamed as the line of control. But the spirit of Simla agreement was violated by Pakistan by establishing India specific non-state Jihadi groups. The incursion of these groups and their attacks on the Kashmiri pundits weakened the Kashmiri movement. It gave India an opportunity to propagate around the world that Pakistan was indulging in cross-border terrorism. In the 90s Benazir Bhutto’s government again moved away from its official position and instead of referring to this issue as only the dispute between the two countries maintained that any solution acceptable to the people of Kashmir would be acceptable to Pakistan.

Generel Pervez Musharraf, who was responsible for the Kargil adventure against India changed his position in the wake of post 9/11 world and offered his famous four point out-of-the-box solution for Kashmir issue. Even this time India which has failed to show any flexibility on its stand that Kashmir is an internal affair of the country did not grab this opportunity. It was an important opportunity because the offer had come from the military chief, the institution which is traditionally very hawkish against India.

However, his efforts brought some relief for the Kashmiris when both the countries decided to allow them to travel to each other’s part of Kashmir on a special permit. And duty free Kashmir-Kashmir trade was allowed by both the countries.  In spite of many hiccups which occur whenever there is a tension on the line of control, this process is still going on and is considered very favourably by the Kashmiris from both the sides.

Musharraf government’s foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri has painfully maintained in his book that Pakistan and India were quite close to clinching the peace deal when the lawyers launched the countrywide movement for the restoration of judges, (mistakenly named as the movement for the restoration of judiciary by the lawyers and the media as its success did not bring any meaningful judicial reforms that could help the people). India decided to wait and see the fate of the military general who ruled the country and the progress on peace process got derailed.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s peace efforts which softened the hardliner Indian Prime Minister were also sabotaged by the Pathankot attack allegedly by a Pakistan- based Jihadi group who hates peace between the two countries as it is against its ideological and financial interests.

Both the countries blame each other without doing any soul-searching. Given that historically adversarial relations it would be naive to believe that the intelligence agencies who always look for trouble spots in other’s countries would not add fuel to the fire across the borders. This is a historical fact that the countries which have powerful war economy lobbies with the capacity to dictate the national security and foreign policy narrows the space for the political leadership to take decisions for resolving the outstanding issues with their neighbours.

Pakistani rulers have inculcated anti-Indian mind-set in the country because it justifies the religious nationalism which was the basis of the Two-Nation Theory. The Indian rulers have always looked down on Pakistan as the younger brothers who strayed out and broke away from a joint family system. Pakistan being a smaller and weaker country hence has depended on foreign alliances as explained above. And has always relied on the non-state actors—Jihadi groups—to make up for its military and economic resources deficiencies. These Jihadi groups are considered the front line of Pakistan defence by some Pakistani security officials. Hatred against India and Hindus is part of the schools syllabus in Pakistan. Some states in India have also such material.

Pakistan’s ruling establishment like many other countries is not monolithic. The country is already in a state of civil war against the Islamic non-state actors who have revolted against the state. Significant section of the establishment wants to keep the Eastern border quiet but it seems that the India and Afghanistan specific terrorist groups and their supporters are not willing to give up their Jihad. They are working independently to sabotage all attempts to normalise relations with these two countries. But given the history of tension-ridden relations between the two countries it is extremely difficult for Pakistan to fast rewind the Islamic fervour and control the co-evolutionists of the war economy.

What is required is immediately opening the backdoor secret negotiations between the two countries away from the eyes of the completely irresponsible warmongering media and the extremist elements in both the countries. These negotiations can pick up the thread where the Musharraf and Manmohan Singh governments left it. This dialogue could be time bound and the decisions should be implemented before the champions of hate on either side could spoil it once again. This is only possible if both countries want to really focus on the welfare of the people instead of wasting their energies against each other. It would not be a win for any side. The only winner should be the peace and peoples of the subcontinent. I know it is daydreaming but then hope is the only balm for us — the people.

The writer can be reached at ayazbabar@gmail.com

Progress versus disruption

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I write these lines not as a politician or a chief minister but as a common citizen of Pakistan. Barely 24 months back, we had the infamous Islamabad dharna. Once you cut through the noise and bellicose rhetoric, its only contribution was delaying the launch of the historic CPEC, which is already proving to be a fate-changer for Pakistan. Does it matter if this delay may have been an unintended consequence, as some like to argue? What matters is that the project got postponed by one whole year.

As in the life of an individual, every day matters for a nation. Every day, millions of choices are made and decisions taken. And every choice we make, or choose not to, has consequences. What I am talking about here is exactly one such critically important choice for this country; does one support or reject the promised PTI charge on Islamabad?

There are millions of those who reject it, and thousands others who support it, but I want to hear the voice of the many who are still quiet about it. Because, honestly speaking, silence is not an option here; for we are talking about the future of our country, our children.

There are two conflicting versions here – and one is obviously wrong. And it’s time to call that out, loudly and clearly. Government detractors insist that the impending attack on Islamabad and its law-abiding residents is the only available recourse to evoke a ‘truthful’ response from the prime minister on the Panama Papers issue. Unfortunately, this premise itself is untrue.

The truth is that the Supreme Court of Pakistan is already seized of the matter. The truth is that the prime minister has declared, despite stiff opposition by his legal team, not to challenge the court’s legal jurisdiction to take up the issue and has voluntarily submitted himself and his children to the writ of the court. If seeking the truth was the ‘true’ objective, then the Supreme Court is the forum to do it, for there is nothing above it but Allah Almighty. So isn’t it now time for the other side to tell the truth as well and share the ‘true’ reason for this planned onslaught? Or is it, in truth, a covert attempt to disrupt the ongoing progress?

Curse the blinders of ignorance and selfish motives, which prevent many from seeing the difference between personal greed and the country’s need because even outsiders are talking about Pakistan taking off. The Chinese are lauding the progress of work being done here and have coined the term ‘Punjab Speed’ as an acknowledgement. The outspoken managing director of the IMF, Christine Largade, has described Pakistan’s economic turnaround as “a moment of opportunity”. All our economic indicators are up, terrorism is down, economy is on the rise, hopes have been revived, and hopelessness has evaporated. After a long hiatus, we have finally hit the economic deck running. In order to sustain the momentum, we need uninterrupted forward progress, and not retrogressive disruptions.

Every indicator says life is good and getting better. Our forex reserves are the highest in history. Stock exchanges have touched the highest positive notes and there will be surplus energy in 2018. It was only a few days ago that the World Bank listed Pakistan among the top ten improvers in its latest report of Doing Business 2017, titled ‘Equal Opportunity for All’.

Massive transformation is underway in sectors like infrastructure development, transportation, agriculture, communication, youth development, education, and health etc. But, above all, the nation’s morale is high and positive after many years.

But for any country to walk the arduous road of progress, its people must stand and stand firm. It’s time for every citizen of Pakistan to be counted for his and her country. Staying silent, or what many call being ‘neutral’ is not an option. Each one of us has to be biased towards the country, and must openly reject what is manifestly wrong. Call me wrong if you so feel and I shall respect you for expressing your opinion candidly, but will you respect yourself if you do not speak up for your country and allow a few agitating thousands to forcibly attempt subjugating hundreds of millions to their whims and caprices?

The dharna will change nothing in terms of balance of power. The PML-N is the ruling party because the nation elected it and gave it the mandate. And only the nation can take it away. But what the dharna will, however, change and affect is the pace of our progress. It could have an immediate and disastrous impact on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), something our enemies across the borders and those within have tried their best to do, but failed so far.

The $51.5 billion CPEC forms a lynchpin in China’s historic initiative to build all regional economies and Allah blessed Pakistan to be in a unique geographical situation to be a hub of growth in the region. The CPEC’s overall economic benefit for Pakistan is calculated to be around $150 billion at the minimum in the short term alone.

Nothing is more injurious to the scheduled implementation of the CPEC than an atmosphere of political instability and turmoil. Already, a number of energy projects are at various phases of implementation. Their commissioning on time will add much-needed power to the national grid and have a huge transformative effect across various sectors. The CPEC holds the key to achieving energy security by replacing darkness with light. The ending of the energy shortages alone will add 2-3 points to our GDP.

The first dharna wreaked havoc on the CPEC by delaying its launch but thanks to our immensely strong friendship bond with China, the CPEC and Pakistan survived.

Next time around, we may not be that fortunate because not even the best of friends can wait forever for a country to grapple with its internal demons. Time and tide wait for no one and if we lose the surf, we lose the surge.

The ludicrous logic is being paraded nowadays that ‘the autocracy of majority of numbers is not acceptable’. Democracy may have many shortcomings. Sure, it is an evolving mechanism and must have the capacity to accept change and adapt to the needs of time, but only through an orderly legal process and not by anarchy on the streets. Anarchy breeds chaos and chaos consumes nations, not build them.

We are a nation in the midst of a war. Terrorism is down but not completely out. The valiant armed forces sacrificed thousands of its brave soldiers and officers as did the police and other law-enforcement agencies. But can we ever allow tyranny of religious extremism to be replaced with tyranny of political extremism? Accept anarchy over order?

I can fathom one political leader’s desperation to claim a legacy even at the cost of irreparable damage to the country but I feel compelled to say that notoriety is not a legacy; it’s a curse. Legacies of honour are not carved out of slogans or built upon empty rhetoric. They emerge over time, crafted painstakingly through service to the people. Honourable legacies can only be earned, and not snatched through anarchy or mob rule.

The writer is the chief minister of Punjab.

Facebook.com/shehbazsharif

Twitter: @CMShehbaz

(Monitoring Desk)

 

I wouldn’t hire James Bond, says real British spy chief

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LONDON: Despite his unrivalled record for single-handedly saving the world from disaster, James Bond would not get a job as a British spy, the head of external intelligence agency MI6 has said.

Alex Younger said real spies had to cope with complex moral and physical challenges in the most forbidding environments on Earth, which would rule out the agent known as 007 because he lacked a strong ethical core.

“In contrast to James Bond, MI6 officers are not for taking moral shortcuts,” Younger said in an interview published on Black History Month, a website dedicated to Britain’s annual celebration of its black culture and heritage.

“It’s safe to say that James Bond wouldn’t get through our recruitment process,” said Younger.

He added that while real MI6 spooks shared Bond’s qualities of patriotism, energy and tenacity, they needed additional values not displayed by the hero of “From Russia with Love”, “Goldfinger”, “Dr. No” or more recently “Skyfall” or “Spectre”.

“An intelligence officer in the real MI6 has a high degree of emotional intelligence, values teamwork and always has respect for the law — unlike Mr Bond.”

Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company launched

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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company (PMIC), a private-sector firm which aims to use public funding to invest commercially in people and businesses on lower incomes, was launched on Thursday by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

The PMIC has been created by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and Karandaaz Pakistan — funded by UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) — and the KfW, a German government-owned development bank.

Microfinance is central to Pakistan’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy, launched in May 2015. The PMIC aims to help create a new supply chain for microfinance services. At present, 4.2 million Pakistanis are accessing microfinance services out of an estimated potential market of 20.5m.

The investment company also targets expanding microfinance to those low-income people who would otherwise have no access to banking and other financial services. The financing made in this regard will go through micro-entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises, and help drive business expansion, create jobs and spur economic growth.

Speaking on the occasion, PMIC Chairman Zubyr Soomro said the company was first of its kind as it was a market-based wholesale funding institution for microfinance at national level. “We look for it to lead financial inclusion to encompass affordable housing, livelihoods, energy and education finance,” he said. “This is an opportunity for significant growth in access to finance in Pakistan.”

British High Commissioner Thomas Drew said that “enterprising people from across communities in Pakistan are being held back by not being able to get access to finance — which they would use to increase their income and build their businesses”.

German Ambassador Ina Lepel also spoke on the occasion. “Microfinance is an important catalyst for business, employment and jobs. Germany is glad to have joined forces with our partners in order to foster the business potential of the people of Pakistan, especially the youth, through better access to finance.”

Lucky Cement profit rises 9pc

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KARACHI: Lucky Cement Limited on Thursday reported a 9.1 per cent increase in net profit at Rs3.24 billion translating into earnings per share (eps) of Rs10.01 for the first quarter ended September 30 over the same period last year.

Net sales revenue increased by 2.3pc to Rs10.57bn over Rs10.33bn in the corresponding period last year. “The rise in net sales revenue was mainly attributable to increase in sales volume,” the company said in an announcement.

The local sales in the quarter grew 25.4pc to 1.34 million tonnes from 1.07m tonnes whereas exports declined 27.2pc to 0.36 million tonnes from 0.49 million tonnes in the same period last year.

On a consolidated basis, Lucky Cement reported net profit of Rs3.78bn for 1QFY16, which was 14.6pc higher over the same period last year.

OGDCL: Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) declared 1QFY17 earnings at Rs14.6bn (eps Rs3.4), down 20pc year-on-year. This result announcement was in line with market expectations.

The result also accompanied by cash dividend of Rs1.5/share. Analysts at Topline Securities marked key features as decline in OGDCL net sales by 11pc to Rs39.5bn in 1QFY17, mainly on account of 14pc fall in Arab Light Crude oil prices to $43 a barrel during the period.

During 1QFY17, OGDC’s oil sales volume increased by 4pc year-on-year to 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), while gas volume shrank by 5pc to 1,074 mmcfd as per provisional numbers.

The company booked exploration charges of Rs4.3bn, up 139pc year-on-year in 1QFY17.

Engro Corporation Ltd: The company reported a 3pc decline year-on-year in its profit to Rs8.6bn (eps: Rs16.4) in January-September period over Rs8.9bn (eps: Rs17) in the corresponding period last year. The results also accompanied an interim cash dividend of Rs8 per share taking the 9MCY16 payout to Rs20 per share.

Analyst Arubah Zia at BMA Capital Management attributed the decline in earnings to 14pc year-on-year fall in topline due to fertiliser industry dynamics (EFERT’s topline down 21pc YoY in 9MCY16) and pressure on EFOODS’ volumes. Gross margins contracted 4 percentage points.

D.G. Khan Cement: The company announced 1QFY17 eps at Rs4.35 slightly below expectation of Rs4.66. “Variance in earnings is primarily attributable to above-expected operational expenses and an effective tax rate of 31pc,” says analyst Abdul Samad Khanani at Intermarket Securities.

PAT increased 11pc year-on-year led by 6 percentage points increase in gross margins, 9pc increase in local/export despatches and 8pc rise in other income. Effective tax rate, on the other hand, stood at 31pc compared to 24pc in the same period last year.

Breakdown or crackdown

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The deadly attack on the Police Training College, Quetta again calls for national introspection and revision of flaws in our security paradigms and systems as an angry (‘wutburger’ or enraged citizen in German) Imran Khan persists on his threat to lockdown the capital. Breakdown or crackdown is the question being asked in the capital amid national mourning over five dozen of our young police cadets.

More than the capital is at stake as the power struggle gets complicated, with the delay in either extending the tenure of the incumbent COAS or nominating the next army chief. By now the necessary consultations regarding the next army chief must have been completed and the prime minister must not delay the decision anymore to plug the main source of uncertainty and rumour-mongering. At the same time, he must reach some agreement with the opposition in parliament on the terms of reference for the accountability of all who are named in the Panama leaks.

Even though the Supreme Court has come forward as a legitimate arbitrator in the cases filed against the prime minister and some others named in the Panama leaks, Imran Khan is not inclined to take a legal course.          In his illusion, or at someone’s behest, he is bent upon creating a constitutional breakdown and pushing the situation to a point where the army is forced to intervene, as used to happen in the 1990s.        If that happens, even after the 18thAmendment, that will not only be a terrible reversal of the democratic process, but also place an isolated Pakistan in much more adverse perspectives in the world.

What Imran Khan will gain out of it is quite mindboggling. He is neither offering a viable revolutionary alternative, nor can he force all the governments to resign and force the dissolution of all assemblies, including his own government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to pave the way for general elections that he cannot possibly win at this point. By creating mayhem he can, at best, get the opposition’s ToRs accepted or, at worse, become an instrument in the hands of extremist forces or some kind of an adventurer the nation can least afford.

He is building anger among the diverse angry sections of our society without any positive direction. Breaking ranks with the mainstream parliamentary parties, Khan is building a very dangerous coalition with the extremist forces who want to retrieve the space they have lost and/or derail the system they hate. This is dangerous brinkmanship that can jeopardise the whole system and benefit the undemocratic forces, outlawed groups and terrorist outfits.

Already, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has reversed some of the restrictions imposed on certain extremist elements and banned outfits, after the Difa-e-Pakistan Council showed its inclination to join forces with Imran Khan. Yet the banned terrorist outfits are weighing their options on how best to use the PTI’s offensive against the civilian government to attain their own objectives.

There is some kind of concurrence of positions across diverse and even conflicting elements. Behind a noble and moralist cause of accountability of the corrupt, the religious right would be able to pursue its agenda while benefiting from the ambiguous right-wing inclinations of the PTI. This will also further push the PML-N towards capitulation to ultra-right-wing forces.

Given the conflicting tendencies among the various elements of the establishment to both appease and fight violent extremists, a precarious balance of forces can tilt towards the extremist. Imran Khan, in his frenzy and impetuosity, perhaps doesn’t understand that the kind of forces he is unleashing would consummate his populism.

As opposed to this domestic scenario, Pakistan is increasingly coming under pressure from the international community, including our friends and sceptical partners, to abandon what it perceives to be a dualist stratagem of both keeping and fighting non-state actors. Despite the resoluteness of Operation Zarb-Azb, certain proxies continue to exploit the inconsistencies across the borders and bring Pakistan in conflict with its neighbours.

The war on terror in Pakistan has entered a stage where any negligence or concession to any extremist element will not help our national cause to free our land from the menace of terrorism. The terrorists are using inter-state conflicts to their advantage across tense borders.

There is a great urgency to change our erstwhile policies towards the jihadis. Either we force the Afghan Taliban to accept the ceasefire and enter into negotiations with the Afghan government or they are evicted from wherever they are in our territory. And, in return, the Afghan government and its allied forces must ensure that anti-Pakistan elements do not find any refuge or support from any element in Afghanistan, including RAW.

Similarly, we must revisit our Kashmir policy and not let militant groups defame the democratic indigenous struggle of the Kashmiris and fuel the Indo-Pak conflict that diverts Pakistan’s focus from its principal threat from terrorism.        Terrorism cannot come to an end unless Afghanistan, Pakistan and India stop their proxy wars and cooperate against terrorism. And this is what the world is also demanding.

Anything can happen when a moderately right-wing government, also under pressure from the conservative establishment, comes under attack from ultra-right and populist authoritarian forces. Is the capital up for grabs? There is no choice left – it’s either a breakdown or a crackdown.