Pakistan Press on: Climate Space Indus Gaza Humanities: New Age Islam's Selection, 26 April 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
26 April 2025
The Climate Crisis Is Now
Rising From The Meltdown
Elite Capture Of Space
The Indus Must Flow
Rule By Fear
Gaza And Ai Warfare
India Must Buy
Studying Humanities
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The Climate Crisis Is Now
By Hassan Baig
April 26, 2025
A hailstorm in Islamabad and surrounding areas a few days ago delivered one of the harshest warnings for both urban and rural populations. Farmlands were devastated, and the expensive windscreens of cars, SUVs and other vehicles – old and new alike – were shattered without discrimination. It served as a stark reminder that climate change can destroy anything if it is not taken seriously.
Pakistan is among the top ten most vulnerable countries and one of the most climate-affected nations in the world. The international community must take climate disasters seriously in order to effectively manage and mitigate their impact on a permanent basis.
Climate disasters are occurring all over the globe, severely impacting human life. Droughts, cyclones, hurricanes, floods, hailstorms and heatwaves have become some of the deadliest threats to humanity. The last calendar year, 2024, was the hottest year in recorded history. Continents including Europe, America, Africa, Australia and Asia have all been equally affected by climate change. Even Antarctica has not been spared, as extreme heat has led to glacier melt and rising sea levels.
Extreme heat claimed the lives of 1,300 pilgrims in Saudi Arabia last year, when temperatures soared to nearly 52 degrees Celsius. Other countries such as the UAE, Kenya, India, and various EU nations also suffered from floods and related casualties. Pakistan is no exception.
Spain was the most affected country in Europe last year. Hurricanes devastated the US and the Caribbean, along with the Philippines. Key events of last year’s disasters include severe flooding in Europe, hurricanes and cyclones in the US, drought in Brazil, and hailstorms in Africa and Asia. Extensive flooding in Spain killed almost 200 people in the province of Valencia. Hurricanes Helene and Milton exacerbated the disaster in the US while also affecting the EU region, causing more than $24 billion in losses in America last year. The cost of the drought in Brazil was approximately three billion dollars. Pakistan, India and other Asian nations, including China, had to bear losses of more than $40 billion. Migration due to weather conditions and heatwaves adds to the overall losses caused by multiple climatic disasters.
The scale and frequency of climate disasters have increased in recent years. These climatic emergencies have become so rampant and common that insurance companies are reluctant to insure farms and properties. They have also started increasing their premiums due to uncertain climate changes and unpredictable weather patterns. Climate-vulnerable countries like Pakistan are in distress and struggling with how to cope with the current climate vulnerabilities. One approach is to ensure and insure farms and agricultural products through general insurance companies. In fact, climate risk has created a greater need for insurance than ever before to help mitigate losses. Although insurance fees may increase the cost of living, they can protect people from total loss.
The fiery rains in 2022 affected 33 million people in Pakistan, causing an estimated economic loss of over $30 billion. Despite all odds, Pakistan has been actively contributing to the COPs to counter the worst effects of climate change worldwide. The historic Loss and Damage Fund proposal, which succeeded at COP27 held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in 2022, originated from Pakistan. The country also introduced its first National Climate Finance Strategy (NCFS) framework at COP29 to mobilize climate finance for adaptation and mitigation. The framework outlines climate-related investments, international financing and the mobilisation of domestic resources to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.
The world is in the grip of climate disasters, yet a matching response from the international community is still lacking, if not entirely absent, in addressing these emergencies. Climate financing should have been a hallmark of any policy devised for climate mitigation, but it is sorely lacking. Surprisingly, the level of support and sustainability required to build a bulwark against global climate change is missing. The withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement was a major setback to these efforts. There is an urgent need to make Americans realise that they are equally vulnerable to climate disasters, just like the rest of the world. In fact, they are already suffering from such disasters, and it was a dangerously short-sighted move by Donald J Trump to make such a disastrous decision.
The IMF has already consented to extend an RSF facility worth $1.2 billion to Pakistan to deal with climate emergencies over the next three years. The Economic Affairs Division has also signed an agreement to receive $500 million in climate finance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The irony of the situation is that the government is doing little to enhance the capacity of its institutions to tackle climate-related damages.
The Climate Authority is yet to become fully functional, let alone other disaster management authorities. There is an immediate need for capacity building of climate-related management authorities to effectively address this menace of immense magnitude that threatens to disrupt both the people and the economy.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) needs to be strengthened to protect humanity and the planet from global warming. World leaders and governments must recognise the urgency of this issue to prevent total disaster and destruction. There is an urgent need to prioritise climate change. The COPs must reinforce their implementation mechanisms to ensure progress on their past and formal decisions. That should be a priority.
Climate financing to phase out fossil fuels must be a top priority for the Global North to support the Global South in addressing emissions caused by the greenhouse effect. The EU, China and India must take the lead in this regard, especially as the US remains largely disengaged due to President Trump’s controversial priorities, which have ignored climate emergencies.
Climate change is a stark reality. Climatic catastrophes have been destroying people’s lives, liberty, and homes, robbing them of their right to pursue the common goal of happiness. The policies of oil-producing countries are detrimental to achieving the goal of an emissions-free atmosphere, as they are reluctant to phase out fossil fuels due to their vast reserves of oil and gas. These countries, in fact, belong to the Global North, which must finance the climate-related needs of the Global South.
Among them are the OPEC+ countries, which determine their own roles in climate action – including the transition to a fossil fuel–free environment – though this often runs counter to their economic interests. What is needed now is a balanced approach, so that these countries are minimally affected by climate policies while still contributing to a cleaner atmosphere. That is the ultimate goal of climate action policies.
The urgent need is to strictly govern and implement all proposed climate actions in their entirety, in accordance with the decisions made at each year’s Conference of the Parties (COP). The sanctity of these COP decisions must be respected by all signatories, and actions should be taken against those who violate them.
Since this is a matter of life and death for humanity, it must be taken seriously. Climate actions must be pursued on a war footing. Violators must be held accountable. Decisions regarding the mitigation of climate effects should be enforced with the same seriousness and binding power as decisions made by the UN Security Council.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1305227-the-climate-crisis-is-now
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Rising From The Meltdown
By Raoof Hasan
April 26, 2025
The Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE) has confirmed sending 172,144 Pakistani workers abroad to different countries in the first three months of this year. That speaks of a number short of a million during the financial year. Then there are other people who leave the country through whatever means become available to them, with some even losing their lives on the way to their destinations.
Simultaneously, the IMF has lowered Pakistan’s growth forecast to 2.6 per cent for the current fiscal year. This falls significantly short of the 3.6 per cent growth target set by the Pakistani government. The World Bank has trimmed the forecast to 2.7 per cent.
The growing unrest in Balochistan and the decisive protests in Sindh against the canals project add to the heightening level of uncertainty that plagues Pakistan today. This can no longer be hidden behind an artificial veneer. Gradually, the plaster is coming off the surface to show gaping holes appearing in an increasingly debilitated structure.
The most alarming of these developments is the mass exodus that is taking place from the country, impacting virtually every household. The more people one talks to, the more one realises that there are just a few left who may still manage to keep their faith intact in the future of the country. The bulk of the population is looking at every possible alternate avenue to escape. Most of them are liquidating their paltry assets to leave rather than suffer the depleting prospects of a future here.
Evaluating the policies being pursued by the power wielders, and with no indication of any significant improvement in the economic, security and political domains, the gravity of this syndrome is likely to intensify. To add to the existing problems, the growth graph continues to slip further, thus rendering even the meagre projected targets unrealistic.
The terrorist attack in Pahalgam in IIOJK, which resulted in the death of more than 20 people, is another development that India would want Pakistan to suffer for. From the moment the tragedy occurred, the Indian media has been hollering, indicting Pakistan without evidence, with officials of their government not lagging far behind. Pakistan has been at the forefront of fighting the scourge of terror and has suffered enormously in the process, with billions lost in the wars and over 100,000 dead. But mostly, this has gone unrecognised because of the incoherent policies pursued by Pakistani leadership intoxicated by the task of enhancing their personal profit rather than promoting the national narrative.
In the wake of the terrorist attack, India has implemented a few steps immediately. It has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty; banned Saarc visas for Pakistanis; cancelled existing visas and given visitors 48 hours to leave India; shut down Wagah-Attari border; declared defence attaches and advisers at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi ‘persona non grata’ and given them a week to leave India, and recalled its defence, naval and air advisers from its High Commission in Islamabad whose strength will be brought down to 30 from the existing 55. Indian defence forces have been put on high alert with a vow to launch action against those who planned and carried out the Pahalgam attack.
These extremely portentous and consequential steps can have a far-reaching impact on the marginal relations that India and Pakistan have struggled to maintain in the recent past. But even more worrisome are the calls for punishing Pakistan by launching an outright war. Jingoism reigns supreme across the length and breadth of India.
In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan has since done likewise. It may restore some parity in the context of semantics, but it does little in terms of mitigating the grave dangers that seem to be inching closer in a relentless manner.
Such are the times when nations come together in an expression of unity and resolve. Though verbal assurances to the effect have been transmitted by leaders, Pakistan presents a picture of a country riven by deep division and discord. With its constitution and rule of law having lost relevance, the judiciary having been subdued in the clutches of the executive, and most state institutions reduced to being the handmaidens of the bastions of power, Pakistan survives on wobbly ground.
A country in a state of such disrepair is rendered vulnerable by adversaries, both internal and external. Would it, therefore, be advisable to continue treading the path that we have done in the past, thus aggravating the state of discord and disunity, or is there even a remote prospect that we ponder our gravely flawed policies and, seeing the lurking dangers hovering above from the neighbour next door, get down to injecting a semblance of order and justice in our thinking to bring people together?
Let it be known that this is the only sensible way to move further, as an insistence on pursuing the old and divisive ways will put us deeper into the meltdown that we have been experiencing in the recent past. The only avenue forward is by re-evaluating our policies and priorities. We must determine whether Pakistan and its people are more important or the interests of its minuscule beneficiary elite. If it is the former, it would require a surgical shift in our policies. But if it is the latter, we are well on course to self-destruction. We need no foreign forces to attack us, as we have done the groundwork admirably. It is only a matter of time before the structure comes down upon us.
One understands that undertaking a drastic reappraisal of policies and deeds requires immense courage. But one also understands that the state cannot take sides. It must assume the role of a non-partisan and caring arbiter in dispensing with its people. Once we get on this difficult remedial trail, regenerative steps will keep leading us across the hurdles to the rising of a morning that people of this country have survived in desperate hope of. That day must dawn in their lives.
Let the bastions of power be shaken from their slumber. Let their ego not obscure their wisdom. Let sanity and sagacity combine to determine the course ahead. In these challenging times with existential repercussions, there is only one person who can rally the people behind him because he reverberates in their hearts and minds. He has been incarcerated in a cell at Adiala for the last two years for no crime of his. He is needed more than ever to lead his people.
The day Imran Khan walks out of the jail gate will mark the beginning of the long journey to salvation, extricating Pakistan from the meltdown where it has long been abandoned to simmer in.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1305228-rising-from-the-meltdown-candid-corner
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Elite Capture Of Space
By Mustafa Bilal
April 26, 2025
On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin’s first human spaceflight not only carried the hopes of the Soviet Union but also bore the aspirations of humanity as a whole.
Gagarin’s view from orbit revealed a magnified version of a pale blue dot with no boundaries. The first human spaceflight sparked a dream that mankind’s next frontier would be a realm of boundless possibilities, which could be realised through altruistic unity. However, 64 years later, that dream has begun to fade as it is caught between idealistic notions of space exploration and realist competition over space commercialisation.
As Apollo 11 astronauts planted their flag on the Moon, the US declared victory in the space race. In the decades that followed, space-faring nations shifted focus toward more grounded ambitions in space exploration. More recently though, private space firms have been reaching for the stars. They claim to have reignited the dwindling flame of space exploration by achieving breakthroughs in developing reusable rockets and advanced spacecraft, driving a rapid decline in launch costs.
Although often described as a ‘New Space’ revolution, some counter argue it as a regression in space exploration, advancing the privatisation of space more than its democratisation. While private space firms espouse noble ideals, their ventures have largely served the elite. SpaceX, in particular, pioneered billionaire joyrides to space in 2021. Last year in September, SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission made headlines with the world’s first private spacewalk undertaken by a billionaire. Months later, on March 31, 2025, this milestone was overshadowed by a SpaceX polar-orbital mission funded by yet another billionaire.
Optimists argue that even billionaire-funded spaceflights have contributed to scientific research, conducting experiments that benefit humanity both in space and on Earth. On the other hand, cynics would argue that the focus should be on the welfare of billions who are suffering on Earth rather than the pastime amusement of the rich in space.
Thus, humanity’s future in space appears to be grounded not in astro-egalitarianism, but in astrocapitalism projecting Earth’s existing inequalities into the cosmos. This can be attributed to the projected growth of the global space tourism market, which is expected to reach $3.69 billion by 2028. Consequently, while the cold war space race had two players, the new space race includes hundreds of corporations with competing agendas that have evolved from ‘one small step for man’ to ‘one giant leap for shareholder value’.
For instance, the International Space Station (ISS), which has long become a symbol of astropolitical cooperation, is planned to be replaced by several private space stations backed by multibillion-dollar corporations, which would also serve as tourist outposts in space. China also reportedly plans to welcome tourists on-board the Tiangong space station. In the US, leading space firms are eyeing the suborbital tourism market. This year, on February 25, Blue Origin completed its tenth crewed suborbital flight, in which the passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness while seeing Earth against the darkness of space.
Meanwhile, a sub-orbital spaceflight by Virgin Galactic can reportedly cost upwards of $450,000 per seat. Such exorbitant flight tickets make space tourism a very costly endeavour even for millionaires. However, to the relief of wealthy space tourists, companies like Space Perspective are offering a ‘cheaper’ way to reach the edge of the atmosphere in a luxurious space balloon for just $125,000.
Regardless of the cost, projections suggest that many wealthy individuals remain eager to purchase seats on human spaceflights - an opportunity that has drawn interest from private space firms worldwide. In China, for instance, the commercial space sector has recently accelerated efforts to develop suborbital spacecraft to capitalise on the growing space tourism market.
While the expansion of suborbital flights signals growth in this emerging industry, it also reflects a deeper shift: the privatisation of the once collective and aspirational dream of human space exploration. Relatedly and somewhat ironically, Sierra Space is developing the ‘Dream Chaser’, the only commercial spaceplane designed to land on conventional runways.
However, space tourism represents just one facet of the broader commercialisation of space. Over the past year, there has been notable progress in developing in-space manufacturing and mining missions.
With International Day of Human Space Flight having just passed on April 12, we should reflect on how we reached for the stars but grasped a mirror instead. What spaceflight has revealed about corporate greed is as telling as what it’s shown us about the cosmos. Moving forward, tough questions will need to be confronted about the future of human spaceflight. Will it be reduced to joyrides for the ultra-rich elite? Will it be underpinned by collective prosperity or corporate profits? Can it be a future where space inspires all of humanity and unites rather than divides?
The way forward requires advancing an international consensus that considers space not as a resource to be exploited, but as the shared heritage of all humanity, as enshrined in the Outer Space Treaty. It is also imperative to advance discussions on reaching a consensus on regulatory frameworks that prevent the consolidation of monopolies in orbit. We have overcome gravity; now we need to overcome something even more stubborn: capitalistic greed.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1305230-elite-capture-of-space
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The Indus Must Flow
By Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri
April 26, 2025
For decades, the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has stood resilient, surviving wars and political upheaval between Pakistan and India. It safeguarded a precious resource essential to Pakistan’s agriculture, economy, and energy security. Today, that critical pact faces unprecedented challenges as India signals to unilaterally hold the IWT in abeyance, pushing our country into uncharted waters.
Pakistan’s dependence on the Indus River system cannot be overstated. Roughly 80 per cent of our agriculture depends on the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, and nearly a quarter of our economy hinges on this vital lifeline. Major cities rely on these rivers for drinking water and sanitation, while hydropower projects like the Tarbela and Mangla dams provide nearly a third of our electricity. Any disruption, even slight, threatens not just food security but also our livelihoods.
Yet, despite India’s recent rhetoric, it is important to recognise that practically stopping the flow of these rivers overnight is beyond India’s immediate capability. Two of its dams, Kishanganga and Baglihar (and the third one, Ratle –in coming soon mode) are run-of-river dams constructed to produce electricity and not for water storage. India currently lacks sufficient infrastructure, such as large storage dams and extensive canal systems, to significantly divert or withhold water. Any intended alteration of river flows would require massive construction projects spanning years, if not decades.
Beyond political and diplomatic hurdles, India faces substantial engineering, geological, seismic, seasonal and physical challenges. The Himalayan region, through which these rivers flow, is geologically fragile and highly susceptible to seismic activity. Classified under seismic zones IV and V, it frequently experiences significant earthquakes, making large dam construction risky and potentially catastrophic. Large dams increase the risk of reservoir-induced seismicity, where the weight of accumulated water can trigger earthquakes by altering stress on geological fault lines.
From an engineering perspective, constructing infrastructure capable of significantly diverting large rivers in such mountainous terrains involves enormous logistical challenges. Massive dams and reservoirs require stable geological conditions, which are largely absent in these areas. The rugged terrain and steep slopes also significantly complicate construction, greatly increasing both the cost and the time required for such infrastructure.
The laws of physics also present barriers. Redirecting vast volumes of water away from their natural course demands enormous energy and highly complex systems of tunnels and canals, which are both expensive and difficult to maintain. Significant ecological disruptions, such as landslides triggered by seismic activity, could also lead to natural blockages or sudden reservoir breaches, causing catastrophic flooding downstream.
India’s recent actions will not significantly impact Pakistan’s water share through the three western rivers in the short term. From April to September, the seasonal flow of water in the Indus basin simply exceeds India’s storage limits; rather, it has to release surplus water to Pakistan from the three eastern rivers (where it has storage dams as per the IWT) during the monsoon season.
However, one cannot ignore India’s water aggression. India’s suspension of treaty obligations, especially regarding data-sharing and inspections, increases the uncertainty and unpredictability of water flows, making it difficult for Pakistan to plan its flood management, extensive canal-fed agricultural system, interprovincial water distribution, and electricity generation.
By unilaterally walking away from the IWT and defying the provisions of the treaty, India may pursue a gradual escalation strategy, incrementally building storage and diversion infrastructure that could alter water availability in the medium to long term. This might include expanding existing hydroelectric projects, initiating construction of new dams with larger storage capacities, and incrementally increasing irrigation and water-use projects in IIOJ&K.
In this scenario, Pakistan’s legal options, though limited, remain important. Internationally, India cannot simply abandon its treaty obligations without severe diplomatic repercussions. The Indus Waters Treaty does not contain provisions for unilateral withdrawal, making India’s current moves not only diplomatically reckless but also legally indefensible under international norms and the Vienna Convention of Treaties.
While Pakistan can engage international bodies like the World Bank and the International Court of Justice, realistically these institutions have limited enforcement power. They can facilitate dialogue and exert moral pressure but ultimately cannot compel India to abide by the treaty. Thus, Pakistan’s diplomatic strategy must realistically balance international advocacy with strong domestic action.
India’s unilateral action on the IWT risks eroding trust with its other neighbours. Countries like Bangladesh and Nepal, which share critical river basins with India, may reconsider their positions on water-sharing agreements, viewing India as a potentially unreliable partner. This erosion of trust could reshape regional alliances and diplomatic relationships in South Asia.
As Pakistan’s steadfast strategic ally, China will play a significant role in this unfolding drama. India’s attempt of water weaponisation could be self-harming, potentially inviting China to reconsider its approach to managing the Brahmaputra River, which flows from Tibet into India. Historically, the Brahmaputra has been a sensitive topic in Sino-Indian relations. For instance, in 2016, during the Doklam border standoff, China temporarily halted sharing hydrological data on the Brahmaputra, a pointed reminder of India’s vulnerability.
Without any formal water-sharing agreement with India, China holds significant leverage and could use India’s current move as an international precedence to use its upstream position strategically.
Having said that, Pakistan cannot rely on external factors only. It will have to enhance its water storage and security by accelerating the completion of dams such as Diamer-Basha, Mohmand and Dasu. Technological adoptions for enhanced real-time river flow monitoring, investing in predictive hydrological modeling, and upgrading infrastructure resilience are key for better flood management. All of the above measures will have to be supplemented by adopting advanced irrigation techniques and promoting widespread water conservation practices to safeguard against any potential unpredictability in water availability.
India’s recent moves should also serve as a clarion call for our polity. Water security must transcend political divides. As Pakistan faces both human-made threats and the unpredictable impacts of climate change, unity and clear-headed policymaking become indispensable.
The Indus waters have been nourishing the region we call Pakistan today for the last many centuries. Protecting this lifeline requires not only vigilance against external threats but also the resolve to implement solutions within our grasp.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1305229-the-indus-must-flow
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Rule By Fear
Tariq Khosa
April 26, 2025
FEAR defines us as a nation. It has been cultivated by choice by the present arbiters of actual authority. Unfortunately, this kind of fear has not been known before. It is insidious and seeps into our daily lives. It dictates our responses to survival in an environment of acute instability and uncertainty. A war of narratives is being waged within the digital domain. It divides us as a society in which every word we utter, every action we take, is being scrutinised, recorded and judged by the deep state.
Fear, wrote retired Gen Stanley McChrystal, “pushes us into ideological bunkers”. “What begins as anxiety turns into resentment,” he said, “Resentment hardens into hatred. Hatred strips away our ability to see others as people. The result is a society riven by suspicion and hostility.” Gen McChrystal wrote this in America’s present context. In our case too, there is a need to shake the conscience of those who rule by fear. Let’s say what needs to be said. Otherwise, the arbitrary architects of disorder will win the race to the bottom of the precipice.
Indeed, his advice is sound: “When our leaders abandon character, it does more than set a poor example. It accelerates decay. It tells people that principles are optional, that decency is weakness, that rules are for fools. It fosters a culture of fear, where hesitation replaces confidence, cynicism replaces trust, and self-preservation replaces the courage to stand for what is right. When those at the top abandon the standards that hold society together, the rest of us, knowingly or not, follow suit. And when enough people do, the foundation doesn’t just erode. It crumbles. …
“The strength of our character is not defined by the absence of fear but our ability to face it, to rise above it and to live, and lead, with integrity. It is in these moments that we show the true measure of our resolve. Fear is not a force to be defeated by force alone, but by the steady adherence to rules that govern both our actions and our hearts. In this, we will find not just a defence against fear, but also the foundation of our strength.”
I sincerely hope that this sane advice by an American general will be heeded by our generals too. Leadership by insult and intimidation is a bad strategy. No leader has the licence to demonise those who dare to differ. This is the dilemma that we face in present-day Pakistan. Let’s do what needs to be done.
If 2024 has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected. The ‘year of elections’ had decisively mixed results for democracy. But despite the disparate outcomes, there was a common point the people expressed: disaffection and a hunger for change. The mandate was stolen from the people on Feb 8 last year. The will of the people was disregarded. A coalition of failed politicians was imposed by the establishment and the deep state. The current dispensation is a puppet regime that lacks legitimacy and can never earn the trust of the people.
The democratic façades and hybrid rules, which emerged from the national polls of 2002, 2008, 2013 and 2018, have now been replaced by an autocratic oligarchy. The Constitution was not only trampled upon but also mutilated through crudely passed amendments. Due process is blatantly disregarded. The citizens continue to groan under the weight of oppression. The movers and shakers can either persist with this shambolic display of impunity and disregard genuine democracy or admit their folly and correct course by ensuring that a free and fair election is conducted by an independent and impartial election commission so that power is transferred to the genuine representatives of the people. Political stability and legitimacy are the foremost need of the hour.
The next big challenge is Balochistan. Late Mir Ghous Baksh Bizenjo was a wise Baloch leader. He said: “You cannot create brotherhood by means of bayonets, butchery, death and destruction. You cannot create a united nation by force.” The use of force and the issue of enforced disappearances has alienated the Baloch youth. Mahrang Baloch and her other young female compatriots have captured the imagination of the Baloch sub-nation. The writ of the state has eroded. The Baloch nationalist parties have lost relevance in the current environment. Akhtar Mengal and his party BNP-M are striving to regain some political space over the issue of the ill-advised incarceration of Baloch women, led by Mahrang Baloch. A multiparty conference issued the Lakpass Declaration after a futile attempt to enter Quetta during a 20-day sit-in in the Mastung-Sariab tunnel, rejected the ‘hard state’ policy and demanded the release of all political prisoners, including female activists, leaders and workers. The state responded by extending the preventive detention of Mahrang and other female activists.
This stalemate must end. A policy of compassion and empathy is needed. The state must act as a benign arbiter in the matter of the irritants that have caused such alienation amongst the Baloch people. The saner elements within the Baloch leadership understand the imperative of remaining within the federation and of not getting duped by the so-called ‘independent Balochistan’ slogan. Their strength and future prosperity are linked with Pakistan, and not the hostile and ambitious external forces that are vying for the mineral-rich province. However, the minerals and mines belong to the province. The federal government must ensure provincial autonomy. The Baloch need a healing touch, which should be initiated by the federal government.
There is an antidote to fear: the rule of law. “We should never forget the Constitution wasn’t written to restrain citizens’ behaviour. It was written to restrain the government’s behaviour,” said US Senator Rand Paul. Pakistan’s current internal security and cohesion challenges can only be addressed by adherence to the constitutional norms of liberal democracy, the rule of law, fair administration of justice and good governance. The state must mend its behaviour to gain the trust of the citizens.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1906678/rule-by-fear
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Gaza And Ai Warfare
Asad Baig
April 26, 2025
IN the early hours of a night in Gaza last October, an entire family was erased by what the Israeli military referred to as a ‘precision strike’. There was no warning, or any other elements of conventional warfare. Just an algorithm, part of an AI-driven system called Lavender, scanning metadata, flagging the location as a threat, and triggering death from the sky. Investigations have since revealed that Lavender flagged over 37,000 Palestinians for potential targeting, often with little to no human verification, a substantial number of which were non-combatants. But that didn’t stop the system from working in a cold, brutal, and ‘efficient’ manner.
Welcome to the future of warfare currently being beta-tested in Gaza, where battle decisions are processed by codes and cold logic, and are no longer weighed by conscience or law.
Israel has long touted its military as among the most advanced in the world, and with artificial intelligence (AI) now integrated into its architecture of occupation, it has taken a lead that should terrify us all. From AI-powered surveillance towers and facial recognition checkpoints in the West Bank, to autonomous drones and predictive kill lists in Gaza, the Israeli military has embraced AI more as an executioner than a support tool.
The Lavender system, according to testimonies from Israeli intelligence officers, would identify suspected Hamas operatives using pattern recognition, facial data and digital footprints. Once flagged, the individual’s home could be bombed within minutes, often when children and relatives were most likely to be present. In many cases, there was no requirement to validate whether the flagged person was actively engaged in combat or posed any imminent threat. The decision to strike was rubber-stamped by junior officers relying on the system’s ‘high success rate’ rather than actual intelligence.
Israel’s AI militarisation is deeply intertwined with the global tech industry. The irony is that big tech companies that boast about ethical AI principles are, in parallel, fuelling some of the most sophisticated systems of digital apartheid and mechanised killing on the planet. Amazon Web Services and Google, for instance, are jointly involved in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government, which provides the backbone for data processing and AI operations. These companies claim the project excludes military applications, yet whistleblowers and experts have raised serious doubts, pointing to the blurred lines between civilian and military data in a heavily securitised state.
Gaza, by design, has become the perfect test lab. A densely populated, besieged strip of land where two million Palestinians including children live under permanent surveillance and recurring bombardment, and their movements, conversations and clicks are harvested by a regime that has turned them into data points. Israel’s experimentation with AI-based warfare is far more structural than incidental. The occupied, blockaded territory offers an unregulated environment to deploy technologies that would raise a living hell if tested on civilians anywhere else in the world.
The results are devastating. AI-driven targeting has contributed to one of the highest civilian death tolls in modern conflict. Entire residential buildings are flattened on the basis of ‘data patterns’. The Israeli military frames these as surgical strikes, but the body count and eyewitness accounts tell another story. The cold, clinical language of AI allows the Israeli military to mask the violence as objective. We are told that algorithms aren’t political, but they are trained on data shaped by occupation, bias, and years of dehumanisation. In Gaza, this prejudice appears to have been actively automated by AI.
One can safely assume that accountability has collapsed when a machine recommends a target and a human merely clicks ‘confirm’. Where does the responsibility lie? The developers who built it, the officer who trusts it, the tech company that profited from it, or the government that funds it? No one is held to account in the current legal vacuum.
International law is just as unprepared, maybe even rendered obsolete. The Geneva Conventions and other frameworks governing the laws of war were built around human decisions, proportionality, and accountability. But what happens when war is waged by machines making probabilistic guesses? There is no binding international treaty on Lethal Autonomous Weapons System, ironically abbreviated as ‘LAWS’. However, the UN secretary general has called for the conclusion of a legally binding instrument by 2026, aiming to prohibit LAWS that operate without meaningful human oversight.
Meanwhile, Israel enjoys near-total impunity. While the US provides billions in military aid, Big Tech players namely Amazon, Google and Microsoft, quietly support the development and deployment of AI tools used in the occupation. These companies face virtually no consequences for their role. While the US has introduced some export controls on advanced computing chips and certain AI models, these measures fall short of regulating the kinds of dual-use technologies currently enabling military operations in Gaza. There are no effective penalties for companies that supply infrastructure later used in targeted surveillance or algorithmic warfare. Regulatory bodies continue to promote ethical AI frameworks in theory, but remain silent when it comes to enforcement, especially when violations are cloaked in national security or foreign policy interests.
Unsurprisingly, this silence is profitable for all parties involved. As Israeli firms market their AI tools as ‘battle-tested’, they gain traction with other governments eager to adopt similar tactics. As a result, we are witnessing what could be the globalisation of algorithmic warfare, with Palestinians as the first subjects.
And so the question is no longer just moral. What does it mean for the future of humanity when machines are trained to kill with impunity and algorithmic ‘prediction’ becomes a justifiable case for annihilation? The militarisation of AI does not just threaten Palestinians, it threatens us all. Once the machines are allowed to decide who lives or dies, the rest of the world is only ever a few datasets away from becoming the next battlefield. The systems being perfected over Gaza today could soon be deployed in migrant camps, urban protests, or across other war zones. And if the world continues to watch in silence, the militarisation of AI is bound to be industrialised.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1906679/gaza-and-ai-warfare
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India Must Buy
Rafia Zakaria
April 26, 2025
WHILE the tragic attack in Pahalgam and escalation of tensions between Pakistan and India may have increased the prospects of war between the two countries, New Delhi is already fighting an arguably bigger war with potentially dire consequences.
This past month, India has been hit by 10 per cent tariffs on goods it ships to the US. The US is India’s largest trading partner, with exports to it accounting for 18pc of India’s manufacturing output. The trade deficit between the two is $45.7 billion.
As seen during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit, President Donald Trump is irked by this and unwilling to give India breaks in the tariff war he has unleashed on much of the world. Since then, the initial tariffs have come into effect, with possibly more to follow, bringing the total up to 26pc if India fails to strike a deal that is to America’s liking by July.
So when the Vances showed up in India this week, all jaunty with their children in tow, Trump’s right-hand man knew he had to deliver for his boss in D.C. This week, Trump’s trade team — far less belligerent than when the tariffs were first announced — has been eager to boast of how the world is coming to America, begging for reprieve.
“South Korea is very close to a deal,” one headline read, adding that the Trump team was delighted by how the South Koreans had brought their A-game and were ready to move into specifics. Speaking to the press after meeting the Norwegian prime minister, Trump and his chief economic adviser Scott Bessent reiterated this. Another headline announced that things were similarly “close” with Japan.
Close, of course, is not done, and all the president’s men are eager to deliver the ‘first’ complete deal, J.D. Vance chief among them. The veiled threats that the Trump administration is passing off as diplomacy were everywhere. As announced at the Trump-Modi meeting in February, there was pressure to get India to purchase US Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter planes as part of India’s efforts to modernise its air fleet. This ‘deal’ sounds good in theory but presents problems for Modi’s domestic initiatives.
First, it has been reported that the F-35 fighter jet may not necessarily be a better deal than the SU Stealth 37 fighters, which Russia has proposed could be produced within India. This aligns with Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative aimed at creating more domestic jobs. The F-35 costs $80 million per unit, without full technology transfer, driving up maintenance costs. Aligning with the Trump administration’s aim to have more manufacturing jobs in the US, these would not be produced in India.
Second, concerns have been raised regarding the effectiveness of the F-35 as a fighter aircraft, including by the Congress party in India. It has also been noted that, before becoming best buddies with Trump, Tesla CEO and czar of the much-feared ‘Department of Government Efficiency’, Elon Musk, called the F-35 “junk”. In the drone age, manned fighter jets like the F-35 are, in Musk’s view, obsolete.
Of course, Vance could not mention that on his Indian trip. Vance welcomed the idea of India buying energy from the US. The push, again, was for India to stop buying Russian or Gulf oil and, instead, import it from the US, meaning shipping it halfway across the globe. To do this, India would also have to reconfigure its refineries. Even as Vance glibly called the agreement a ‘win-win’ for both countries, many would see this as a superpower bullying a trade partner into submission.
Reading between the lines of the Vance visit shows how far apart the two countries are. Vance aimed to leverage his ‘Indianness’ — the silent, smiling Usha and children ready for photo ops — to rush a deal that would make him a favourite with his boss. The Indians, for their part, thought they could use what many have portrayed as their inside connection to the Trump administration — the Indian-American second lady — as a way to wriggle out of tariffs and the forced purchase of planes they perhaps don’t need and oil they cannot easily refine.
However, not even the crisis sparked by the terror attack was enough to soften Vance’s hard sell. Trump’s boys care only about pleasing Trump — India, to Vance, is not the enchanted native land of his beloved but simply an opportunity to curry favour and become the top dog among Trump’s band of deal-hunters. The tension between India and Pakistan is unfortunate, but follows the usual playbook.
India’s trade war with the US, however, seems to augur only uncertainty and depression for an otherwise burgeoning Indian economy.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1906677/india-must-buy
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Studying Humanities
Neda Mulji
April 26, 2025
TRADITIONALLY, developed societies have solved their problems and progressed through a partnership between universities and industry, through research and thought leadership emerging from universities, and through professional training provided at universities. Many of these universities have cracked the most complex societal issues through a robust curriculum in humanities which shapes the mindset, deeper thinking patterns and provides a framework of inquiry and communication.
In fact, formal education began 5,000 years ago with questions grounded in the humanities such as the meaning of life, the importance of being a good human being, the impact of our experiences, etc.
For many decades in Pakistan, we have largely focused on medical and technical education. Out of our 220 functioning universities, 176 provide medical education while 174 offer programmes in technology, including IT. Comparatively, there are only 28 universities offering Bachelor’s programmes in humanities, 22 offering Master’s programmes and only six offering PhDs. While many more may still have humanities departments, their teaching is limited to Islamic Studies, Pakistan Studies and English.
Humanities education is not just about acquiring knowledge, it’s also about developing skills, perspective, values and tolerance that are essential for real-world problem solving. Humanities graduates have an understanding of human nature, culture, are able to think critically, communicate effectively and rise to the challenges of a demanding world.
A report by Oxford University’s Humanitarian Division that studied the careers of 9,000 humanities graduates who entered the job market between 2000 and 2019, states that the skills and experience of these graduates transformed their work life through strategic thinking, resilience, responsiveness to change and teamwork.
Recently, the HEC has shown signs of recognising that the humanities can lead to progress in society. An initiative in this direction has been the establishment of a pure humanities university (Institute of Art and Design) in Islamabad. The need of the hour is to make similar strides in other parts of the country.
Currently, only 11 per cent of our population aged between 17 and 23 are enrolled in higher education institutes. Universities offering medicine, technology and even business studies do not have the capacity to absorb the massive demand of our fast-growing young population. So where do they go and what shall they learn to establish a future for themselves? New career pathways can open up for humanities students if they have a strong base in philosophy, history, literature, education, art and culture.
Humanities education is also critical as a foundation for science and technology — the application of knowledge rests on developing patterns of thinking that enable inquiry into the big questions, critical analyses and logical reasoning. Humanities not only contribute to other disciplines, they also have direct economic value through progress in research, media, publishing and entrepreneurship. They promote cohesion in society by creating partnerships across various disciplines, besides raising the level of necessary intellectual curiosity, making way for collective decision-making and robust social and public policy.
Developed societies have traditionally cultivated ‘think tanks’ through humanities education, created public-private partnerships and advanced knowledge by analysing factors that lead to growth and success. Think tanks have been sorely lacking in our society, leaving us with a vacuum where decision-making becomes the domain of a few limited groups. More than ever before, we need firm grounding in humanities to navigate the challenges of AI.
Humanities graduates can engage in critical discourse on the impact of technology, on leveraging the benefits of AI in our cash-strapped and digitally constrained economy. They can compare the strengths and failures of economies, study human experience and events to communicate their relevance for the future.
In Pakistan we have undervalued the teaching of humanities and, besides limiting self-expression and the demise of regional languages, it has led to the dumbing down of thought processes that can only be acquired through a development of ideas shaped by humanities subjects. Our top universities have recognised the need and filled the vacuum by offering courses in humanities alongside chosen specialisations.
Humanities represents that uncharted territory that can benefit many of our students looking for alternative pathways for potential careers where possibilities remain open. Our young, working population has much to offer and it’s time to start fuelling their growth.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1906676/studying-humanities
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