Category: World News

40 per cent Inflation drains the festive spirit of Ramadan, Holi and Lenten in Pakistan. The festival-time woes of Pakistan’s religious minorities go to underscore the larger, indeed systemic, discrimination and neglect, and wilful violence that the state condones by its bad governance … Dr Sakariya Kareem

Pakistan’s religious minorities are among the worst sufferers of the current economic slowdown that has compounded their existing discrimination and gruelling poverty, multiple human rights bodies, both domestic and global have complained.

The crises have hit the poor among Muslims and minorities alike. The struggle for their next meal renders irrelevant their ritual fasting during the ongoing Ramadan month for the Muslim majority and the Lenten Fast for the Catholics who form a minority. The two festivals coincide.

Holi, the festival of the minority Hindus was impacted by violence at several places in Sindh where most of them live. Islamist youths disrupted the festivities that include splashing of colour among the revellers. The provincial government denied incidents of violence after incidents, captured on cell phones went viral on social media.

A report by the United Catholic Association (UCA) said none of the 10 Catholic families in a slum in Lahore city was observing the Lenten fast when Sister Rubi Munir visited them. “Most poor are not even sure about the second meal of the day,” she said.

“Thousands of poor Catholics across Pakistan are unable to observe their Lent traditions of abstention and day-long fasting as they struggle to survive amid severe inflation in a country hit by an economic crisis. “Poor people have hardly anything to eat. How can you expect them to fast for the entire day,” she asked.

Catholics in the Muslim-majority nation traditionally spend the whole day without food and drink from dawn to dusk for a month during the Lent period. They break the fast by eating in the evening just as Muslims do during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began on March 23 this year, the UCA said.

An economic crisis means less food for the poor. Sister Munir, usually tries to convince them to send their children to Sunday school. “However, this week she is spreading the word about free wheat flour that is being made available at government distribution points during the holy month of Ramadan in inflation-hit Pakistan.

A political and constitutional crisis has gripped the country since last April after former prime minister, Imran Khan, was ousted by a no-confidence vote. Pakistan desperately awaits the much-delayed loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would revive the stalled $6.5 billion bailout program for the cash-strapped, nuclear-armed country of 220 million people.

This February, the annual inflation on food shot up to more than 40 per cent. The higher taxes and fuel costs meant poor families like that of Kanwal Rashid, a Catholic, need to find extra work. “It is difficult to stand in long queues. It’s a painful process,” the UCA quoted her as saying.

The festival-time woes of Pakistan’s religious minorities go to underscore the larger, indeed systemic, discrimination and neglect, and wilful violence that the state condones through its bad governance.

In Lahore last week (end-March 2023), the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) issued the “Human Rights Observer 2023”, an annual factsheet which covers five key issues impacting religious minorities, i.e. 1) discrimination in the education system, 2) Prevalence of forced faith conversions, 3) Abuse of blasphemy laws, 4) Establishment of the National Commission for Minorities, and 5) Jail remissions for minority prisoners.

CSJ’s factsheet shows the increasing religious content in curriculum and textbooks and several perennial and new challenges in the education system during 2022.

The factsheet informs that at least 171 persons had been accused under the blasphemy laws, out of these over 65% of cases surfaced in Punjab province, followed by 19% in Sindh.

The highest number of victims (88) were Muslims, followed by 75 Ahmadis, four Christians, and two Hindus, while the religious identity of the two accused could not be ascertained. Four accused were extra-judicially killed, two in Punjab and one each in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2022, which brings the number of extra-judicial killings of the accused to 88 persons in total during the period from 1987 to 2022.

At least 2120 persons had been accused of committing blasphemy between 1987 and 2022. The trend witnessed an increase in the aggregate abuse of blasphemy laws in Punjab in the past 36 years, above 75%. However, 52% of the accused belonged to minorities despite their small ratio (3.52%) in the population of Pakistan.

Pakistan is facing a major economic crisis triggered by a series of corrupt and failed governments, military coups, rising international debts, no major exports, and major class divide. The country has reportedly doubled its debt roughly every five years over the last 25-year period. Prices are going up and the government has failed to provide basic amenities like gas and power. The Jang newspaper reported that the people were wondering how to keep the fast and how to break it … A special report by Dr Sakariya Kareem

Karachi was shrouded under a gas load-shedding in the month of Ramadan. The citizens couldn’t prepare Sahrī due to the gas shutdown and low supply, and the pakoras and samosas were left raw even in Iftar. The Jang reported that the people were wondering how to keep the fast and how to break it. 

A 40-year-old man died and several others were wounded in a stampede during the distribution of free government flour in Charsadda.  According to sources, a stampede had broken out during the distribution of free government flour in the market of Charsadda, injuring several people. 

A resident of Surjani town living in a rented house with his young wife and two infant daughters was forced by the rising inflation and unemployment to attempt suicide. He was the sole earning member of the family. The man and three family members attempted suicide by consuming a poisonous substance. Unfortunately, according to a report in Dawn, the situation took his two-year-old daughter’s life. Similar heart-wrenching incidents are happening in different areas of cash-strapped Pakistan. Last month, a labourer in Punjab’s Narowal along with two children, committed suicide by jumping into a canal. In another incident, a man in Muzaffargarh reeling under inflationary pressure committed suicide along with his four-year-old daughter. 

Meanwhile, the Pakistani currency sank to a record low on March 20, 2023 closing at PKR 284.03 as against the US Dollar, according to data made public by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The latest decline in the value of the Pakistani currency amounts to a depreciation of Rs 2.32 or 0.82 per cent from the previous week.  When compared with the Indian currency, the Pakistan rupee appears to be over three times weaker. As on March 21, 1 INR = 3.407116 PKR. This means that it would cost over 3 PKR for a customer to buy a commodity worth 1 INR. The record low for the Pakistani rupee coincides with the country facing delay in securing critical funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Pakistan is facing a major economic crisis triggered by a series of corrupt and failed governments, military coups, rising international debts, no major exports, and major class divide. The country has reportedly doubled its debt roughly every five years over the last 25-year period.

Debt-laden Pakistan’s decision to curb trade deficit by restricting imports has been causing losses to its economy and rapidly evolving it into a bigger crisis of rising unemployment, according to a March 19 report published in The Dawn.

According to eminent economist Hafiz A Pasha, the quantity of unemployed people in the country is likely to rise by over 2 to 8 million by the end of 2022-23. Pasha observed that the unemployment rate will approach 10 percent ‘probably for the first time.’

An increasing number of enterprises are either scaling down operations or closing production mainly for scarcity of imported raw materials. Dozens of businesses have served notices of production suspension. Restriction on imports of raw materials to improve the trade balance amounts to cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face, reported The Dawn newspaper.

Among other hardest hit are those affected by the shortage of X-ray films. Even a soap maker observed that his factory had been shut down for months and the banks were not clearing his letter of credit for oil that was used as a natural perfume in very small quantities.

Ghandhara Tyre & Rubber Company Limited (earlier known as General Tyre and Rubber Company) has notified a series of non-production days (NPDs) for March 2023 because of the ongoing economic crisis and diminished demand.

Foreign exchange shortages and component supply problems have been choking the local automobile industry. As a result, car sales slumped last month due to reduced production and demand. The latest information from Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) shows that carmakers (association members only) collectively sold only 5,762 vehicles in February 2023, marking a month-over-month (MoM) slump of 47% but a year-over-year (YoY) decline of 73%.

The local currency instability and tax hikes forced the car industry to raise prices. Various major carmakers including Kia, Peugeot, Toyota, Haval, etc. increased the prices of their vehicles by considerable margins. With these developments becoming frequent, the auto industry’s prospects in Pakistan appear rather unpromising. Households across Pakistan have been battered by a rising inflation rate, which in February was the highest in the last fifty years.

Already reeling under a crippling debt crisis, the South Asian nation suffered from a devastating flood last year which left huge swathes of farmlands submerged, leading to a severe food scarcity. Things are so bad, said Burhan, an electrician in Islamabad, the capital, that he is grateful if his six children manage even one meal a day. The inflation has risen so high in the last few months that I am left scrambling to manage either my rent or pay my utility bills, the 45-year-old told Al Jazeera. 

On the eve of Ramadan, Burhan was despairing. He depends on state-subsidised flour. Even that has become more expensive. A 20-kilo flour bag which was earlier available for PKR 600 (US $2.10) now costs PKR 1,100 (US $3.90), he said. His work is contingent on construction projects, which have declined along with the broader economy. He sold off his car. It was not sufficient. He had to take his three children out of private schools and send them to government schools which cost less. He is now worried about how to meet his children’s expectations in the lead-up to Eid al-Fitr. I will be happy if I can put something on the table every evening, he said. He can no longer buy new clothes for any of my children.

Sajid Amin, who works at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, a research agency in Islamabad, said the persistent “political chaos” in the country was also reducing the government’s capacity to respond to the crisis. What we had earlier was political instability but it has now turned into chaos, Amin said. The government, he said, is unable to keep food prices in check.

The worst condition of Pakistan’s economic crisis during Ramadan can be seen in the inflation hitting an all-time high, causing prices of essential commodities to skyrocket such as food and clothing, cooking fuel making it difficult for the common people to afford the expenses during the holy month. Moreover, power outages have made it difficult for people to fast and perform religious obligations.