PEOPLE’S MANIFESTO

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN

Progressive Youth Forum

My young friends,

I look forward to you as the real makers of Pakistan, do not be

exploited and do not be misled. Create amongst yourselves complete

unity and solidarity. Set an example of what youth can do.

It is only with united effort and faith in our destiny that we shall be

able to translate the Pakistan of our dreams into reality.

(Mohammad Ali Jinnah)

(اقبال)

Beloved People,

Progressive Youth Forum (PYF) is a youth led social-democratic political forum with

representation from all over Pakistan. We, the Youth, signify a constituency of common

identity which compels us into a collective struggle for a better future. The forum serves as a

nursery for nurturing a politically conscious youth capable of questioning the legitimacy of

socio-economic and political status quo within the broader framework of equality. PYF

moves beyond party mandates and ideological affiliations, reconfiguring a synthesis of

socialist ideals with other schools of thought to consolidate democratic struggles for holistic

nation-building processes. It’s high time that we established a civic infrastructure capable of

realizing what demos (people) and kratos (power) had set out to achieve.

The People’s Manifesto we present is the outcome of several consultations, dialogues and

engagements with youth from all over Pakistan to encapsulate peoples’ aspirations of our

democratic governance. Its strategic scope is not limited as a conventional electoral promise-

package, but it also lays out governance strategy for implementation articulated within the

recommendations based on rigorous research. It comes with a package of one national and

four provincial charters articulating political demands of the nation across provincial

settings and governance arrangements reckoning post-devolution setting.

We recognize and appreciate the support of our district and provincial councils in realizing

this effort. We are especially grateful to the members of our Central Cabinet including Sidra

Saeed, Sana Ejaz, Tariq Afghan, Faizan Hassan, Fahad Malik, Sumaira Ishfaq, Ayaz Sheikh,

Arslan Barijo and Dileep Doshi for the discursive engagements, reviews and inputs.

Particularly, Khadija Ali for political correctness; Abdullah Dayo for critical insights; and

Salma Jabeen for the leadership and perseverance.

Finally, PYF is the culmination of Quaid’s urge for the youth to rise to the occasion by

rejuvenating its political character and recast its relevance to democratic processes beyond

prejudice against any segment, party or institution. Our purpose is to recognize and

understand the wrongs of our history to correct its course and set it in the right direction.

We invite the dynamism of youth to forge an informed polity which has the faith and the

ability to help Pakistan shine on the globe.

In true spirit of democratic governance, let WE THE PEOPLE decide the future of our

nation!

Ali Jillani

PYF Pakistan

Country Context

Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the fifth largest population on the planet with 213.6 million

people,1 is a sovereign state situated in a geo-strategic location at the junction of middle East

and central Asia. Bereft of Quaid’s dream for a welfare state, social development has been

off the mark with 22.4 million Out of School Children,2 56.3% Out of Pocket Expenditure in

health,3 and 29.5% population living below poverty line.4 Exclusionist policy patterns

marginalizing governance has led to country ranking at 147th out of 188 in Human

Development Index5 and 143rd out of 144th in Global Gender Gap Index.6 Moreover,

marginalization of key strategic sectors has led to funding diversions away from social

development into defence and debt servicing as a budgetary norm - the former allocated

21.5% and the latter 32% of the national budget for fiscal year 2017/18.7

With a GDP of $279 billion (2017 est.),8 Pakistan is categorized as a lower middle-income

country. Economic stability has been a constant uphill battle with public debts and liabilities

escalating up to 74% of GDP.9 The country is ranked at 171 out of 188 countries in terms of

GDP per capita (PPP) of $5,400 (2017 est.)10 while unemployment stands at 6% without

factoring in statistics from informal economy which employs almost 70% of the country’s

workforce.11 Gini index estimates 30.7% inequality with disparities as wide as the income

share held by the lowest 10% is 4% against that of the top 10% at 26% (2013 est.)12 in

Pakistan.

In hindsight, political institutions in their formative years - mainly adapted from colonial

rump - were barely able to withstand extraconstitutional maneuvers13 in the absence of a

strong nation-building consciousness. This resulted in successive instability of civilian

governments during teething years, and Coup D’etat one after the other in 1958, 1977 and

1999, crippling country prospects in socio-economic and political sphere with implications

long into its future. The pattern was further sustained through political proxies and status-

quo representatives, beguiling under democratic pretexts, which led to perennially naïve

democratic structures. This is evident of the country rankings at 110th in Democracy Index14

and 20th among Failed States rankings in 2018.15 Restrictive narratives designed to propel

irrelevance have further curbed the evolution of political consciousness creating absentia of

populace from democratic processes.

The Story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals,

struggling to survive in the face of great odds and difficulties.i

Amid international isolationism, national calamities and social fragmentation,

democratization of state and social institutions is the moral and political imperative. It is

essential that we promote political education and discourse to bring forth analysis to

adequately influence policy mandates for a just, peaceful and prosperous Pakistan.

i M.A. Jinnah, Address to the people in Chittagong, March 23, 1948

The People of Pakistan present their demands to be recognized across party manifestos

and implemented as policy priorities.

Electoral

For conduct of free and fair elections:

1. The caretaker government needs to ensure free and fair elections with informed

voting process.

2. Electoral process should be democratized disavowing non-democratic narratives to

influence the process.

3. Protection of educated candidates, especially from smaller constituencies, should

be ensured to rid them of persecution by feudal and political actors.

4. Political parties should entrust candidates based on merit rather than patronage

and wealth.

5. Each party should ensure at least 20% seats for young candidates.

Democratic Governance

To realize Quaid’s dream of a democratic state, welfare economy and a pluralist

society, we must ensure:

1. Institutionalization of political education for youth to raise the bar on peoples’

participation across democratic processes.

2. Policy focus, inclusive governance and equitable financing across geographic

areas - especially marginalized segments like FATA, AJK and GB to strengthen

state-citizen relationship.

3. Reinstating public faith in government institutions should be the foremost

priority towards result-based governance and efficiency. This should be achieved

through strong state narrative on accountability with transparency at heart of

public institutional functioning.

4. Policy and decision-making processes should involve public input and that

should be taken as a key determinant of a policy being in public interest or

otherwise.

5. Induction to public sector must be democratized with a focus on best possible

candidates for positions solely based on merit - disavowing political and

bureaucratic patronage.

6. Accountability, a central underpinning to efficient governance, should mean zero

tolerance on embezzlement, corruption and fraudulent attitudes and practices.

7. Accountability bodies like auditor general, FBR and NAB should be depoliticized

with operational autonomy to leverage institutional efficiency and eradicate

corruption.

8. Issues of shirking democratic spaces needs to be resolved and the overall

environment for democratic dialogue needs to be enhanced with active

involvement of civil society.

9. While there is no compromise on national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the

causality between security initiatives and human rights’ abuse should be delinked

and State institutions should be held accountable for it.

10. Democratization of individual and collective psyche - system psyche in particular -

should be encouraged to rise above as a collective responsible civic infrastructure.

Decoloniality

Despite the country’s independence from Colonial powers, colonialityii is sustained

through modern infrastructure and globalization. Decolonial discourse16 has established

that coloniality continues to manifest itself through popular culture, social functioning,

institutional mechanisms and economic structures of the ex-colonies. This requires a re-

visioning of our perception of freedom to identify, understand and address the

influences of colonial-capitalist framework from our state and social edifices. The

following manifest instruments of control in Pakistan and require a politically conscious

redress.

1. Classified educational system was used as a structural ploy to create the divide

between rulers and the ruled and needs to be rearranged to ensure equality of

educational outcomes for everyone. This should be achieved through

universalization of education followed by upgradation of public infrastructure to

international standards through effective governance and strong political will.

2. Monopolized distribution of land among puppets of the Raj - those who facilitated

the governance arrangement as intermediaries and revenue collectors - was a key

colonial tactic sustaining feudalism. Land ownership continues to have a strong

bearing on power relations determining socio-political status even to this day in

Pakistan. Many of the chieftains and feudal lords, a lineage of political elite today,

have had a history of subjugation of their people and their land. Land reforms is a

key policy imperative to break the nexus of power and political lineage, address

inequality, and ensure food security for the poorest in Pakistan.

3. Organization of capital was structured to pave way for concentration of capital in

Europe, sustained through neo-liberal frameworks and international economic

governance in the modern times. Manipulative trade rules and restrictive trade

agreements marginalize nation-states against corporations, leading to trade-

mispricing and kick-backs worth millions of dollars like in recent Reko diq case.

Pakistan needs to uphold labor and environmental standards ahead of investor

ii An interrelation of the practices and legacies of European colonialism in social functioning in our so

called free societies.

interests in trade negotiations to raise the bar on minimum wages, decent

employment and environmental protection.

4. Hierarchization of cultural identities was used to establish supremacist

configurations in the social order to fuel clash of civilizations. The pattern

undermined peaceful coexistence among cultural alterities and continues to debase

equal civil and political rights for minority communities in Pakistan. Various tactics

have been deployed to sustain the power relations since from politicization of

religion to institutionalization of religious monopoly, among others. Colonial origins

of such devices need to be unveiled in policy and social practice to ensure inclusive

governance and cohesive social development. Counternarratives focusing on inter

and intra-cultural harmony should be backed by strong political will to address

issues central to peace & security and our strategic survival.

5. Restrictive judicial structures continue to be inaccessible for the common populace,

especially legal diction. This needs to be resolved through effective judicial reforms

to ensure that both policy conceptualization and compliance have democratic assent

of the common public.

Law & Order

Pakistan has a rich political economy of conflict despite just 70 years into existence,

mainly due to the geo-strategics and a beguiled foreign policy. Other than the arch-

rivalry with the neighbouring India, the country has centred the stage during US-USSR

clash in the late 20th century and US’s War on Terror recently. Absence of a coherent

rehabilitation strategy for Mujahideen after the Soviet war resulted in the creation of

Taliban after 9/11 and massive incidence of terrorism thereon. For Pakistan, locally it

meant a fabricated society torn between radical Islamists and otherized citizensiii, where

the former repudiates democratic orientation of the state. Regionally, it was exploited by

Saudi and Iran through their proxies causing a cultural apocalyptic through sectarian

violence on Pakistani soil. Globally, the country was pushed into international isolation

partly also due to incoherent foreign policy compounded by inefficient diplomacy. The

turmoil has resulted in massive setbacks to lives, infrastructure and economy, measuring

direct losses of 80,000 lives and US $118 billion just in War on Terror.17 Dubbed as a

terrorist state, the country has fallen to the bottom 1% of non-violence scale and bottom

1% of political stability index.18 Faced with existential threats due to extremist forces, it is

high time that we forever set our course straight to resolve the issue.

1. Foreign policy should be democratized and peoples’ elected representatives

should be empowered to determine our national interests.

iii Who were framed as those expelled from Islam

2. The delineation of enemies of the state into good and bad Taliban must be

condemned in policy and social practice.

3. Fundamentalist narratives should be curbed backing it with strong political will

and disciplinary governance.

4. Politico-religious forces should to be regulated to prioritize national interests

ahead of sectarian loyalties.

5. Hate speech needs to be condemned in policy and practice to rebuild narratives

on appreciation and celebration of cultural diversity.

6. The rich residue of Sufi wisdom should be used as an effective counter-narrative

against fundamentalist precepts in the society.

7. Concrete rehabilitation strategy should be put in place for those interested in

social reintegration and peace-building.

8. The government needs to enact sensitization campaigns to encourage intra and

interfaith harmony for cohesive social outcomes.

9. Constitutional guarantees and privileges must be awarded to all as equal citizens

to avoid exclusion and provinciality.

Welfare over Security

Bereft of Quaid’s dream of a welfare state, the country is dubbed as a security state due

to its fanatic spending in defensive requirements. Existential threats from within and

outside superimposed the narrative of bombs over bread, specially reckoning India’s

maniac spending in strategic weaponry. Stockholm International Peace Research

Institute (SIPRI) confirms that Pakistan spent 3.5% of its GDP compared to India’s 2.5%

on military in 2017.19 SIPRI also persists that the figures are mere approximations of the

spending and the actual figures might be much more. Nonetheless, size of the country

GDPs is a critical determinant as India’s 2.5% equates US $63.9 billion compared to

Pakistan’s 3.5% equating US $10.7 billion in actual value. Such a huge disparity clearly

presses the need for revisiting our approach to strategic warfare amid fast-changing

fronts;

1. Country priorities must pace up with the globalization dynamic to attune policy

processes to stay internationally competitive.

2. Foreign policy should prioritize social, economic and diplomatic fronts rather

than conventional warfare.

3. Consistent foreign policy processes should be followed by diplomatic efficiency

to avoid international isolation.

4. National interests must shift to compete our rivals in social development by

uplifting education, health and life standards of our people.

5. Policy and social practice should be sensitized to implement the moral and

political imperative of bread and books over bombs.

6. Defence-debt nexus must be delinked to create the fiscal space for addressing

public-debt issue to help us rise on the economic front.

7. Soft power should be used as a strategic tactic to consolidate international

movement on Kashmir issue.

Social development

If we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and

solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor.

(Mohammad Ali Jinnah)

The abysmal outlook of social development reflects an exercise in contrast from Quaid’s

ambitions of a prosperous, pro-poor Pakistan. Lack of political will, inequitable

financing, inefficient governance and a weak civic infrastructure epitomize the im-

potentiating factors for human development. Shrinking democratic structures for civil

society have left little room for robust accountability to question budgetary diversions

away from social development.

a) Educationiv

The advancement of educational outcomes continues to be an uphill battle with 58%

literacy rate against the MDGs target of 88% by 2015.20 Financing for education is still

short of the targeted 4% of GDP by 201821 and the country is 2nd worst in the world with

24 million children out of school.22 Raptures grow deeper as we are ranked 125th out of

130 in Education and Skills development23 and worst in the world with our dismal

Higher Education.24 The country requires fundamental reforms in educational

governance to even get closer to the ambitious expectations for education outlined in

goal 04 of the SDGs framework:

1. National perception of education must shift from employability to emancipation

dislocating it from the capitalist framework.

2. Educational budget needs to be increased with a special focus on incentivising

public sector to improve the overall quality of educational standards.

3. Universal access to education should be ensured followed by effective governance

reforms focusing all tiers of access i.e. availability, attainability and affordability

with quality as an overarching principle.

iv The subject has been devolved to provinces after 18th amendment. National charter covers a generic

perspective while specific recommendations are covered in provincial charters reckoning differing

governance arrangements for each.

4. Post 18th amendment, the regulatory bodies must focus on quality assurance and

enhancement measures for transformative educational outcomes.

5. Educational curricula must be revised to include constitutional education and

human rights as a compulsory discipline and exclude anti-women practices,

fundamentalist narratives and cultural hierarchization.

6. Special and Technical & Vocational education needs to be improved in line with

international best practices.

7. Education ought to foster creativity and not kill it. It must facilitate the growth of

politically conscious citizens and not just the cogs to serve the capitalist machine.

b) Healthv

Marginalization of health despite being a strategic sector, compounded by lack of health-

seeking behaviour among people underpins dismal health outcomes in Pakistan. Public

expenditure on health remains at 0.76% of GDP - much lower than WHO’s benchmark of

6% of GDP for life saving services.25 Consequently, very high out-of-pocket

expenditures, currently at 56.3% of the total expenditure on health, reinforce the absurd

logic of only those that afford can seek healthcare privately. Such a situation

marginalizes the poorest, forcing their diversion to private sector either for better quality

or as a last resort, while putting them at odds with many other aspects of social

wellbeing. IMF patronized privatizations (or its offshoots like public-private

partnerships) should not be seen as relieving the state of its obligation to provide

essential services. Public-private partnerships have a limited strategic scope and focus on

enhancing service delivery standards as opposed to institutional reforms for overall

governance strengthening and therefore cannot be reckoned as a sustainable solution.

Access to equitable and quality healthcare would be central to meet country

commitments to goal 3 of the SDGs.

1. Health should be recognized as a fundamental human right in the constitution

and the state should be obligated to ensure its provision so the citizens get the

healthcare they need, not the one they can afford!

2. Universal healthcare coverage, enshrined in SDG 3.8, is a strategic target where

political will and resources should be directed for multiple gains; increased

financing in healthcare could help reduce out-of-pocket expenditure resulting in

reduced poverty, lessened inequities and improved per capita spending on other

aspects of wellbeing including education and standard of living.

v The subject has been devolved to provinces after 18th amendment. National charter covers a generic

perspective while specific recommendations are covered in provincial charters reckoning differing

governance arrangements for each.

3. Universal access to healthcare services should be ensured with special measures

for the most marginalized. This should include a redress of different social

determinants affecting access to adequate healthcare services.

4. Health systems governance needs to be improved to facilitate access to equitable

and quality healthcare by addressing all three aspects of access; availability,

attainability and affordability.

5. Public-private partnerships are temporary solutions and must have a clearly

articulated exit-strategy. The government should ensure upscale strategy for such

initiatives building on the best practices to ensure sustainable reforms.

6. Cultural reservations around family planning should be clarified through

sensitization campaigns highlighting socio-economic and political aspects of the

issue.

7. Family planning narrative should be strengthened backed by strong political will

to effectively address barriers to its implementation.

8. The efficiency and outreach of nutrition program should be broadened,

particularly in remote areas, with a special focus on Federally administered

territories, to enhance health standards.

9. The government should ensure provision of safe drinking water and sanitation

facilities by strategizing protection of water reservoirs. Water scarcity requires

proactive policy and efficient governance to ensure peoples’ access to clean

drinking water.

10. Post-devolution protocols contain various ambiguities over departmental

mandates and require inclusive consultative processes to ensure smooth

decentralization and operations at the provincial level.

c) Standard of Living

Standard of living, measured in terms of real income per capita, access to essential

services and poverty rate,vi approximates the quality of life available to people of a

specific socio-economic class or a geographic area.26 One measure of Standard of Living

is the United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) that covers life expectancy at

birth, education and income per capita where the country stands at 147th out of 188

countries in 2017.27 Amid acute poverty and inequality traps, there is little hope that

poverty alleviation strategies offer for the people deprived of basic human, physical and

productive assets and restricted access to essential services.28 World Bank concluded that

the country’s safety net programs are fragmented; have a limited coverage of

approximately 2-3% against a poverty rate above 25%; and, the implementation and

evaluation capacities are inefficient across institutional set-ups.29 This is compounded by

vi Along with measurement of gross domestic product, gross national income, political and cultural

freedom, environmental conditions, safety and security.

ad-hoc poverty alleviation programing to satisfy international donors,30 clearly

indicative of the lack of political will for poverty eradication in Pakistan. It is also

indicative of the allocations of PRK. 121 billion to BISP, 2.1 billion to social protection, 6

billion to Bait-ul-Maal, and, 2 billion for Pakistan Poverty Fund - accumulating only 2.5%

of the overall budget for 2017/18.31 The situation urges the need for pro-poor growth

policies to be consistent, cross-cutting across strategic sectors, and, regulated by effective

governance to reach the most marginalized for poverty eradication.

1. Multi-sectoral social protection framework should be strategized and

implemented backed by serious political will for poverty eradication.

2. Universal easy access to essential services, especially health and education, should

be ensured for strategic gains in raising the overall standard of living.

3. BISP’s outreach and sufficiency is constrained i.e. only 55 million people across

Pakistan allocating only Rs. 806 per person in a quarter. Poverty eradication

initiatives need to be extensive reaching the poorest with sufficient allocations for

beneficiaries.

4. BISP’s M&E component must be reformed to address corruption through efficient

protocols and financing to ensure that the meager allocations reach the needy.

5. The orientation of such programs should be converted from charity to

development approach focusing on micro-finance, micro-credit and employability

training and avenues to lift people out of poverty.

6. Recreational avenues should be ensured for local communities to decrease psycho-

social toxicity and extremist elements.

7. Subsidized inter-city transportation schemes should be introduced ensuring

efficient control over transporters.

8. Energy crisis should be addressed through hydro-electric dams, wind and solar

energy plants, with special emphasis on green energy initiatives.

9. Equitable access to natural gas should to be ensured to meet provincial needs as a

priority.

10. Indigenous and marginalized segments of the society should be mainstreamed

across development initiatives to further social cohesion.

Gender Equality

In Pakistan, a host of factors have contributed to dismal gender indicators which have

persisted through decades of exclusion entrenched in patriarchal fundamentalisms. The

exclusionist patterns impede women’s access to information, services and participation

across social, economic and political spheres of social functioning evident of country

ranking at second-worst in the world (143rd out of 144) on Global Gender Gap index32

and 130th on Gender Inequality Index.33 Further, lack of knowledge of constitutional

guarantees amongst women, curbed access to justice, feminization of poverty, reduced

access and control over resources, mal-governance, institutionalized discrimination and

violence against women have kept them far behind. Gender based violence is estimated

at 10,000 reported cases of domestic violence per year34 while a combined 64,777 cases of

sexual violence, honor crimes, burning cases, domestic violence, suicide and kidnapping

between 2004-2016 in Pakistan.35 This is worsened by several regressive legislative

precedents and organized opposition to gender equality initiatives mainly by

fundamentalist and populist forces epitomizing patriarchal status-quo. Post-devolution,

despite the passage of various laws pertaining to women’s rights, the progress has been

uneven across provinces while implementation remains a wide-spread challenge.

1. Gender equality, recognized as a cross-cutting theme in the SDGs, both in policy

and practice, should be seen as means and an end towards the foundation of a

socially just and democratic society.

2. Development Indicators must measure the extent and effectiveness of enforceable

legislation, gender-just policies, fiscal allocations, institutional measures and

outcome-focused actions for women and girls, as per country commitment to the

Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA).36

3. Mainstream political representation for women should be emphasized to avoid

their constituency being prone to puppeteering tactics regulated by quota systems.

4. Proactive policy action followed by serious political should be mobilized to

emphasize and enhance quality, not just the quantity, of women across political

processes.

5. Gender equality initiatives need to be emphasized both in policy and social

practice in education, health and economic activity.

6. Violence against women should be dealt with strong punitive actions and social

condemnation. Anti-women practices like Early/Forced marriages and honor

killings need to be penalized and condemned across all provinces.

7. Women’s access to and control over resources needs to be improved, specially

women’s ownership of property.

Economic Stability

With a GDP of $279 billion (2017 est.),37 and in terms of Purchasing Power Parity at

$1.060 trillion (2017 est.),38 Pakistan is recognized as a lower middle-income country.vii

The Country has tremendous economic potential as reflective of Price Water Cooper

House’s report projecting Pakistan to emerge as the 20th largest economy by 2030 and

16th largest by 2050.39 Pakistan Economic Survey 2016/17 boasted a GDP growth rate of

5.3% from 4.2% last year, income per capita growth of 6.4% from 1.1% last year, reduced

inflation at 4.09%, reduced fiscal deficits to 4.2% from 4.6% last year, and the GDP

vii World Bank classifications

volume to have crossed $300 billion mark. The survey recorded a growth of 3.5% in

agriculture sector from 0.3% last year, 5.98% in services sector from 5.70% last year,

while industrial sector growth rate declined to 5% compared to 5.8% last year. It further

reported a boost in Foreign direct investment flows rising to $1.733 billion for fiscal year

2016/17.40

On the flipside, however, State Bank data shows Pakistan’s total debt and liabilities to

have reached 74% of the GDP (est. 2017),41 posing serious threats for the country

confronted with challenges of high government debt burden, weak economic

infrastructure, and increasing political instability. World Bank report hails warning signs

for Pakistan in the wake of increasing fiscal deficitsviii at 2.6% of GDP, decline in exports

of 1.2% against the rise of 14.2% in imports - further increasing account deficits, rising

inflation at 4.8% (April 2017 est.), and declining investment rates, indicative of the deep

growing raptures in the country’s economic landscape. Such contradictions are mainly

due to our peculiarly strange measurement of economic growth,ix not in line with the

international standards.42

The situation urges fundamental reforms in economic governance focusing on

diversification of economy, enhanced fiscal and revenue generation systems, coherent

policies to enhance public debt management, and efficient institutional mechanisms to

leverage micro and macroeconomic stability. It requires a holistic approach to strategize

reforms focused on short-term crisis management followed by medium and long-term

solutions for sustainable economic growth.

a) Diversification of economic potential

Pakistan has a rich and diverse economic profile comprised of three main sectors

including Agriculture, Industrial and Services sector. The country needs to ensure policy

coherence across sectors to ensure uniform, consistent and sustained growth across its

diverse sectors.

i. Agricultural Sector

Despite tremendous prospects with 21% share in the GDP, 44% of the labor force and

78% of the country’s export (directly or indirectly through food, textile and leather),43 the

industrial sector has recently been marginalized in governmental priorities resulting in

constant decline. One of the major deterrents is water stress resultant of water scarcity,

low user charges and limited storage potential which has resulted in agricultural

productivity remaining way lower than international benchmarks on crop yields per

viii Contradicting both in figures and claims to Pakistan Economic Survey. ix Input Output tables for GDP haven’t been updated for last 26 years. GDP is reported at factor cost

as opposed to the international norm of reporting at market price resulting in disparate data sets and

analysis.

hectare and per cubic meter of water.44 The other issue is that current agricultural

subsidies are inadequate, with their concentration on specific crops at the expense of

diversification; insufficient for not reaching out the small farmers;45 and patronized by

political affiliations. The sector’s tremendous potential could be unlocked by redirecting

political will to enact fundamental reforms in agricultural governance.

1. Governmental protection should safeguard local communities’ right to land as

opposed to corporate lobbies by disavowing hegemonic patterns.

2. Provision of conducive agro-environment for small landowners should be ensured

by offering access to adequate subsidies focused on diverse agricultural products.

3. Wide range agricultural subsidies and credit schemes for small landowners is a

strategic input with the prospects of raising the standard of lives and poverty

alleviation of the most marginalized.

4. Hegemonic patterns in water distribution need to be addressed to ensure

availability of water for small landowners.

5. Biotechnology should be combined with indigenous expertise to excel in organic

farming, low-cost irrigation techniques and livestock production.

6. Interlinkages and technical support should be provided to agro-processing

industries for enhanced quality of production.

7. Sensitized policy action should focus on conservation of finite resources and

sustainable use of marine and sea life.

ii. Industrial Sector

Pakistan has a versatile industrial sector comprised of textile, sugar, telecom,

automobile, sports, tourism, cement, fertilizer and leather industries, among others. Yet,

our industry is on a constant decline dropping from a growth rate of 6.8% in 2016 to

6.1% in 2017 mainly attributed to various structural bottlenecks in sectoral governance.

Constituting a little over one fifth of the GDP, the sector has undergone a downward

stride, especially in textile exports which accounted for almost 59% of the total exports in

2015.46 A host of factors have contributed to such decline including incoherent industrial

policies, inadequate investments, inefficient industrial research and development,

insufficient technical skills, corruption and law & order.47 In the absence of a consistent

industrial growth strategy, most of the financing for the sector has focused on haphazard

infrastructural upgradation focusing very little on developing human capital matching

international standards.48 Moreover, absence of an effective regulatory mechanism for

private sector, pushed through liberalization and de-regularization conditions imbedded

across trade agreements, has also adversely affected small industries and labor class

alike. Even though Pakistan enjoys preferential access to EU markets through GSP+

status that benefitted over a billion dollar in 2015 alone, the country hasn’t been able to

distribute profits to the lowest tier and thereby ensure upgradation of production

infrastructure or raise the standard of living for its labor class.

1. Informed coherent policies, equitable financing and quality enhancement should

be directed to improve industrial governance.

2. Technical and technological standard should be upgraded for shifting the focus

from production of raw material to finished good, especially for the international

market.

3. Creation of new wealth through installment and upgradation of industrial

facilities, investment in production infrastructure and rejuvenation of indigenous

enterprise should be prioritized.

4. Conducive business environment should be ensured for Small and Medium Size

Enterprises (SMEs) through technical and technological support.

5. Census of Manufacturing Industries (CMI) and Large Scale Manufacturing Index

(LSM) are outdated and should be updated without delay.

6. Local handicrafts need to be promoted by linking the artisans with the market

directly to ensure maximum share of profits.

7. Regulatory mechanisms and institutions should be strengthened ensure industrial

compliance with labor and environmental standards, as per country commitments

against international frameworks.

8. Labor rights should be prioritized as the foremost obligation to ensure registered

jobs and benefits, minimum wages, social protection schemes and safe working

conditions.

9. Pro-labor policy action, backed by serious political will, should be mobilized to

protect the rights of labor in the informal economy, home-based workers and

bonded labor.

iii. Services Sector

Services sector has shined as the most significant and reliant sector for Pakistan’s growth

recording a GDP share of 59% in 201649 with an expected growth rate of 5.6% in 2017.50

However, reckoning our demographic profile there is a lot to be done to secure a life of

dignity for our future generations. This requires transformative focus on quality

educational outcomes both in general and technical education institutes to sustain and

further leverage the sector’s growth. Vision 2025’s aspirations of developing the country

into a knowledge-economy can only be realized if the outlined reforms in curriculum,

pedagogy, technology, assessment and overall governance of educational landscape are

enacted in spirit.51 The ambitions of investing in skill development, innovation and

technology need to be translated into consistent financing for producing skilled and

qualified workforce capable of competing in the international market. Our training

institutes ought to serve as efficient nurseries in that regard where regulatory bodies like

NAVTTC play an instrumental role in enhancing qualitative learning outcomes. Besides,

provincial TEVTAs need to play an active role in enhancing academia-industrial linkages

for job placements, market surveys to enact relevant traits, and, enhanced R&D to keep

abreast of the fast-changing technical education dynamic with the emergence of CPEC

projects. This needs to be clubbed with creation of more jobs within and facilitation for

placements outside the country to get the decisive advantage on our competitors

through our increasing youth bulge reaching 63% of the population.

1. Our vision of economic growth needs to identify and dovetail synergetic ties

across sectors to ensure uniform growth strategy across sectors.

2. Educational infrastructure needs to be enhanced focused on qualitative gains in

skill upgradation.

3. Academia-industrial linkages and sharing of strategic expertise should be

institutionalized to pace up with market demands.

4. Institutionalization and upgradation of new skills should be strategized to

smoothly adapt to rampant market shift.

5. Research and Development should focus on innovation and a robust marketing

strategy to showcase significant interventions.

6. Entrepreneurship schemes need to be improved for training and business

opportunities for talented youngsters.

7. Dignity must be placed ahead of profitability; labor standards should rise hand in

hand with employability prospects to ensure the life of dignity for laborers,

especially in the informal sector.

b) Fiscal and revenue generation

Government of Pakistan recorded a tax revenue shortfall of Rs. 260 billion for fiscal year

2016/17. IMF’s selected issue paper suggests that unlocking Pakistan’s tax potential

could mean doubling its collection, currently at a tax-to-GDP ratio of 11%, and thereby

enhancing the much-emphasized fiscal space for social development. The estimations

suggest a tax revenue gap of 11% despite its improved tax effortx to 0.49 in 2015, the

country is still significantly behind comparator developing countries’ average of 0.64

due to its weak revenue generation systems that typify significant barriers to growth

prospects. Despite growth prospects in tax-to-GDP ratio of 14.5% by 2020, the paper

delineates shrunken taxation base, massive exemptions, low compliance in the informal

economy, underreporting of formal income and intergovernmental fragmentation in tax

administration as key determinants characterizing the country’s weak revenue

generation system.52 Recent reforms by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) including the

elimination of tax concessions and exemptions granted through the Statutory Regulatory

Orders (SROs), differential taxation to reward compliance and penalize non-compliance,

x The ratio between actual revenue and tax capacity

rationalizing custom tariffs, integrating National Tax Number (NTN) with

Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) database,xi and a policy directive for all

government vendors to ensure tax compliance,53 must be sustained through consistent

backing of political will.

The other important aspect is non-tax revenues where the government recorded a

shortfall of Rs. 58 billion for fiscal year 2016/17. The shortfall mainly increased due to the

non-reimbursement of Coalition Support Fund grant by United States. However,

notwithstanding the macro-economic aspect due to the geo-strategics involved, the

country still needs to put in a lot of effort to enhance its non-tax revenues from domestic

sources by enacting efficient regulation of mark-up collection and royalties.

1. Monetary and fiscal policy framework should be revamped with a reformative

scope to widen and deepen taxation nets.

2. It should also ensure curbing tax evasive corridors and cutting down patronized

exemptions.

3. Progressive taxation model, proven as the most efficient socially just redistributive

policy measure,54 should be implemented to decrease wealth and income gaps for

inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

4. Private sector regulation framework must be enacted to ensure its contribution

back into the community under CSR as an obligation, and not a benevolence.

5. Private sector’s contribution must be mobilized under articulated development

framework to address the shrinking Official Development Assistance (ODA)

funds issue, in compliance with Addis Ababa Action Agenda’s (AAAA)

recommendations of economic self-reliance for social development.55

c) Public debt Management

State Bank of Pakistan reported country’s total debt and liabilities to have escalated up to

Rupees 27 trillion (est. 2017) which is 74.7% of the GDP. The external debt, almost 37% of

the total debt and liabilities, stood at about Rupees 9.8 trillion which is 27.3% of the GDP.

56 Debt servicing and foreign loan repayment swallowed Rupees 1.64 trillion consuming

32.3% of the national budget for 2017/18.57 Public Service Development Program, with an

outlay of 1 trillion in the budget, focused largely on Infrastructure allocating 411 billion

(8% of the total budget), CPEC 180 billion (3.5% of the total budget) and Power sector

401 billion (7.9% of the total budget)58 leaving peanuts for human development in health,

education and social protection. Under the patronage of International Monetary Fund

(IMF), fiscal consolidation and austerity measures have increased the death traps in

citizens’ way of universal access to Healthcare, quality education and a decent standard

xi Although this requires further improvements as NTN covers 3.6 million people (barely 2 %)

compared to CNIC database covering 150 million (almost 80% of population).

of living. Efficient management of public debt should serve as a key policy

consideration, with a focus on borrowing for production not consumption, to create

enough fiscal space for social development financing. Reduction of budget-deficits is

also a key determinant for debt management, albeit, with a careful consideration that it

doesn’t affect development expenditures in key strategic sectors like Health, Education

and Social protection.

1. Pakistan ought to rethink its debt distress reduction strategy based on its national

interests, not IMF’s SAPs.

2. Foreign exchange reserves must be stabilized by addressing issues of budgetary

deficits and high mark up on debt servicing.

3. Efficient controls on public and private borrowing should be instituted to avoid

the current trend of borrowing from private banks at very high interest rates

reflective of the markups paid against domestic debts in 2017/18.

4. Foreign direct investment should be encouraged but not at the expense of labor

and environment standards; normative conditions must be clearly spelt out across

trade deals.

5. Economic growth is possible along with protection of labor and environmental

standards; to ensure compliance with international normative frameworks these

should not be lost in hindsight.

6. The government must ensure a clear balance between provision of a stable, secure

and predictable business environment for private sector along with protection of

peoples’ interests.

d) Macroeconomic stability

Pakistan’s macro-economic stability has seen a bumpy course throughout its history

engulfed with natural disasters, socio-cultural havocs, flawed economic governance and

political instability. The country’s Balance of Payments (BoP) in international trade has

seen a constant decline since 1985, deteriorated further after 2007 with imports massively

outweighing exports. Imports also increased by 20% mainly due to purchase of capital

goods under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This spike was

accompanied by overall reduction in exports by over 3% (year-to-year comparison),

causing a massive negative tilt in the country’s BoP. The decline in pretty much all the

sectors, except value-added textile, led to a trade deficit of 33.1% in the international

market.59 World Bank reported Pakistan’s official reserves to have fallen to $16.5 billion

in March 2017 from $18.1 billion in June 2016, now equating only 3.6 months of goods

and services.60 The decline is mainly attributed to ‘ineffective, ill-planned’ trade and

investment negotiations by the government, internal political instability, law & order

situation and global oil crises.61

1. Clear visioning of our economic priorities should be combined with uniform

growth strategy across sectors to ensure transformative outcomes.

2. Economic governance should be strengthened by restructuring the entire

institutional framework to match international standards.

3. Economic potential should be diversified to stay competitive amid rampant shifts

in global markets and reduce shocks in the macroeconomic environment.

4. Creation of new wealth paradigms should be strategized to stabilize Rupee in the

global economy and improve our foreign exchange earning capacity.

5. Efficient governance for regulation should be ensured to attract Foreign Direct

Investments over quality assurance not cheap labor.

Land Reforms

The colonial pattern of land distribution is evident in patronized distribution of state-

owned land. The government 2009 onwards, awarded almost 7 million acres of land

under a 50 or 99-year lease 2009 onwards without taking into consideration caps on land

holdings. Another aspect of the pattern is establishment of military farms on state-

owned land, for which the statistics are inaccurate except in Punjab where military farms

are spread over 50,000 acres.62 Inequitable distribution of land continues to be the single

most dominant factor for widening inequality traps and increasing food insecurity

(currently 48.6% with striking disparities among provinces)63 in Pakistan. Small farmers,

sharecroppers and agricultural workers mostly bear the brunt of land grabbing, with

women and socio-economically disadvantaged disproportionally affected by it. Market-

led agricultural land acquisition, the new phenomenon of ‘land grabbing’, has further

intensified landlessness in rural areas. Small farmers are being forced through

government land acquisition to sell their land at very cheap prices - way lower than

market price. The situation reverberates colonial echoes; a ‘lawful’ deprivation of

ancestral land from the natives to push them off the peripheries. There have been a

number of cases where communities have protested corporate capture of the land in

Gwadar, Tharparkar and Karachi where the government has protected corporate

interests than its peoples’.

Agricultural Census 2010 revealed that 11% big landlords own 45% of the land while the

89% small farmers own 55% of the land. A small portion of these farmers owns less than

12.5 acres while a big majority owns less than 5 acres of the land.64 Despite producing

almost 60% of the food, less than 3% women have ownership of land in their name.65

Although the figures are testimony to a massive hegemony, they still do not capture the

entirety of landlessness in the country. Of the entire workforce, 47% from the rural areas

- mostly involved in agro-economy - are landless tenants (sharecroppers) and

agricultural workers who are seasonal workers or daily wagers - some forced in bonded

labor held hostage for generations. Land reforms, in retrospect, have brought about

different changes but none of substantive impact in restructuring inequitable land

distribution and tied power patterns. A future peace therefore holds high risk of land-

grab unless a truly democratic, pro-people and pro-poor governance arrangement is

enacted for socially just redistributive policy outcomes.66

1. Structural marginalization of the poorest must stop to ensure pro-poor policies

protecting the rights of the most marginalized.

2. Affirmative policy action should be mobilized in favor of small land owners and

farmers to restructure land distribution as a socially just redistributive measure.

3. Various land disputes, pertaining to enforced evacuation and accusation of land of

the locals, against powerful entities must be resolved through equitable justice.

4. Hegemonic patterns in agricultural subsidies must stop to ensure the access of

excluded farmers rather than those with political patronage.

5. National priority for food security should be placed ahead of exports; the country’s

fertile land should ensure in-house food security first and then focus on serving as

a food basket for the region and beyond.

6. Dislodged accountability processes must be backed by political will and efficient

governance to ensure the protection of citizens’ rights.

7. The government must obligate itself to protect the rights of citizens ahead of

multi-nationals and corporate lobbies.

Neo-liberalism - People over Profit

Neo-liberalismxii has historically destabilized democratic processes for advancement of

capitalist outcomes and the process continues in the 21st century. The agency of

globalization has helped forge corporatocracies around the world empowering

multinational corporations to checkmate nation-states through neo-liberal maneuvers.

The pervert logic of marketization of state and social institutions continues to

commoditize values, identities and essence of beings - eroding their difference from

products in origin - to legitimize corporate capturexiii of the collective human

community. It is characterized by privatization of strategic public assets, legislative and

policy interference, and, judicial manipulation, among others.

Scrutinizing the cost of free trade to human societies and environment is of central

concern to PYF’s politics on global macroeconomics. As global citizens, we reject the

Market’s regulation of moral and social codes having successfully subdued Leviathan,xiv

which presses the need of reinventing the State as we observe today. We recognize that

despite their natural outlook, ever surmounting poverty, rising inequalities and

xii Set of economic policies to facilitate transfer of control of economic factors to private entities. xiii Manipulation of national and international public institutions by corporations to prioritize their

interests at the expense of national aspirations and human rights. xiv Hobb’s metaphor for State

declining standards of living are no coincidence but schematized result of structured

power patterns and oppressive neo-liberal morals governing macro-economics. We

condemn oppressive policies structurally imbedded in macro-economic models affecting

the lives of billions around the world. We advocate redistributive justice and structural

reforms in the global economic governing institutes like WTO, IMF and World Bank to

ensure wider dissemination of benefits and equitable growth for poor farmers and

workers around the world.

a) Privatization

Privatization is presented as cure-for-all our national woes of fiscal deficits and debt

distress. In 1988, IMF entered the scene through a Structural Adjustment Facility (SAF)

loan program,xv forcing our governments to privatize key national assets in the name of

debt consolidation and fiscal deficit reduction. The pattern has continued with fake

designs and false promises despite proven failures; privatizations in 1999, highest by

then, backfired with public debts hit a record high of 104.7% of the GDP, poverty

engulfed more than 30% of the population, and, development expenditure hit a low of

3.3%,67 contradicting the claims of deficit reduction. The pattern continues and three of

the major enterprises were lined up for privatization including Pakistan Steel Mills,

Pakistan International Airlines, and Oil and Gas Development Company limited.68

Privatization Commission is also planning privatization of SME Bank, Industrial

Development Bank, Kot Adu Power Company, and, divestmentxvi of Mari Petroleum

Company Limited. The list also included privatization of Telecom industries of Pakistan,

albeit, without specific deadlines.69

1. Neo-liberal models need to be identified, confronted and challenged to prevent

our democracy from being converted into a corporatocracy.

2. The government must resist conditions of privatization of public sector,

deregulation of private sector and shrinking government investments in social

sector, all of which affect the most marginalized in the country.

3. IMF patronaged fiscal consolidation and austerity measures continues to deprive

us of our national assets and the government must revisit its privatization plans.

4. Research institutions recommending privatization of bleeding government

entitiesxvii should stop serving as mouth-pieces for corporate lobbies and bring

forth accurate analysis as a moral imperative.

b) Legislative & Policy influence

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a fine example of economic diplomacy spelling out

xv Negotiated with an interim government xvi The process of selling off subsidiary business interests or investments xvii Pakistan Economy Watch report

a trillion-dollar prospect of a deal. It constitutes the largest FDI in Pakistan’s history with

no historical precedence of such wide-ranging economic and social penetration by a

foreign country. The process, however, is engulfed with concerns despite various

assurances being presented from different factions. Details around financial obligations

and terms of repayment, operational and maintenance costs, tax concessions offered to

the Chinese companies, conditions for liabilities, contingencies bore by Pakistani

government, opportunities for local manufacturers, value of early harvest projects,

conditions around lease of land, and, access to other resources remain contentious issues

as few, if any details have been divulged officially on the actual cost and benefit of the

agreement to the local producers and citizens. The decisions of aid, trade and debt are not

just about revenue and growth; they have implications directly affecting the

government’s capacity to advance human rights. International competitiveness should

not mean a race to the bottom, in labor and environmental standards, offering lower taxes

and cheap labor to attract investments.70

1. Access to information is a democratic hallmark and affirms public confidence in

strategic decisions and must be ensured.

2. Full text of the agreement must be made public to avoid any conspiracy theorism

around CPEC.

3. Secrecy around terms and conditions implies undue policy influence and there

must be resolved by bringing the negotiations into public assent.

4. The concerns around CPEC should be addressed across provinces to ensure

national unity around the deal carrying tremendous national importance.

c) Judicial manipulation

Judicial manipulation, is another neo-liberal instrument that sans constitutional

guarantees in favour of multinational corporations around the world. Carefully

imbedded across Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), under World Trade Organization

protocols, such instruments help corporations decide the future of nation-states at Wall

Street. Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) - the most lethal weapon in neo-liberal

arsenal - is a system through which investors can sue countries for alleged discriminatory

practices affecting profitability, even in protection of their public interests.xviii

According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) data,

Pakistan is or has been respondent in 09 ISDS cases since 2001.71 The International Center

for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) recently penalized the country with $692

xviii If a government enacted narcotic control in public interest, it could be deemed as such a

discriminatory practice affecting profits.

million in favor of a Turkish company.xix The notorious Reko diqxx case is another

example of atrocious neo-liberal ploys to establish corporate hegemony over the world,

facilitated of course by the inefficiency of our provincial and federal governments. The

company filed the case against the State in international tribunal where the liability has

now been established with the State and the company has tabled a claim of $11.43

billionxxi in recovery.72

1. The government needs to ensure that Bi or multi-lateral trade agreements are

transparent and vetted in-depth to identify such conditions and protect national

interests ahead of profit-seeking tactics.

2. The country must ensure efficient negotiations prioritizing people over profit in

the 6 out of 17 FTAs under negotiations currently.

3. BOI announced national BIT model template to explicate terms and conditions for

such negotiations is yet to be finalized since 2015 and must be expedited.

Climate Change

Marginalized adrift our policy focus, climate change epitomizes one the most dangerous

threats to our strategic survival.73 Ranked as the 7th most vulnerable country to climate

change hazards, Pakistan has lost 10,462 lives and economic losses worth $3.8 billionxxii

struck by 141 extreme weather events including cyclones, storms, floods, Glacial Lake

Outburst Floods (GLOFs) and heatwaves etc. between the period of 1997-2016.74 Further,

increased water-stress could lead to severe losses in agricultural productivity and

intrusion of saline water would mean scarce breeding prospects for fish – both leading to

massive food insecurity for a country that is off the hook in meeting food security

demands of the population.

Another aspect is manmade disasters due environmental degradation seen as a usual

tradeoff for industrial and development projects in Pakistan. The inefficient governance

and failure to enact robust regulation is privy to the lack of political will on climate

change mandate - resulting in several ill-planned trade and investment agreements and

projects which circumvent environmental considerations. Orange Line Train Project,

Port Qasim Coal Power Project, KANUPP 2 and 3, and Thar Coal project are a few

examples where environmental considerations and human rights have been undermined

xix The ex-checker has filed a plea to annul the award but it is less likely in the final verdict of the

arbitrations by end 2018. xx Reko diq is a mining field in Chaghi district of Baluchistan with potentially the 5th largest deposit of

precious metals holding an estimated 1,250 tons of gold and almost 23 million tons of Copper

amounting in trillions of US dollars. xxi The final verdict is only to establish the amount of compensation because Pakistan has challenged

the complicated algorithm used by the company to ascertain damages. xxii In direct costs only

despite several protests from the communities and civil society. The government must

prioritize climate change mandate to redress environmental threats, prevalent air and

water pollution, depleting natural reservoirs and decaying terrestrial ecosystems.

1. The country requires serious political will, efficient governance and equitable

financing to avoid calamities through futuristic planning.

2. Pakistan must ensure that climate change is mainstreamed across planning and

budgetary processes, as required by CPIER of Paris Agreement.

3. Budgetary allocations for climate change must be substantially enhanced; meager

allocations of Rs. 815 million in budget 2017/18 are insufficient for the mandate

which has a huge bearing our strategic survival.

4. Climate justice must be adopted as a policy lens to ensure that protection of

people and environment is an ethical and political imperative.

5. Efficient controls must be enacted to ensure compliance with Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR) to negotiated fair compensations for local communities.

6. The government must prioritize the protection of its communities and citizens’

rights as an obligation ahead of corporate lobbies’ interests.

7. Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) review must not be reduced

to a toothless constitutional instrument and must be utilized effectively for

protection of social and environmental standards.

8. The redressal of water scarcity needs to be strategized and implemented

mobilizing consensus from all corners as a national priority issue.

9. Sensitization campaigns must be directed to raise awareness on environmental

protection and conservation of finite resources.

10. The international community must play its due role in climate change adaptation

in compliance with the principles of equity and Common but Differentiated

Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDRRC) of the Paris Agreement.

NOTES

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8 https://data.worldbank.org/country/pakistan

9 http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/Summary.pdf 10 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html 11 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html

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Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung)

68 https://www.dawn.com/news/1309310

69 https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/176694-2017-The-year-for-privatisation-of-five-entities-

including-PSM 70 Reflections Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2016. The 2030 Agenda – A new start towards global sustainability. Spotlight on Sustainable

Development 2016 https://www.2030spotlight.org/sites/default/files/contentpix/spotlight/pdfs/Agenda-2030_engl_160713_WEB.pdf 71 See: http://investmentpolicyhub.unctad.org/ISDS/CountryCases/160?partyRole=2

72 For more details of the settlement, see: https://www.dawn.com/news/1324727;

https://www.dawn.com/news/1321955; and http://isds.bilaterals.org/?reko-diq-project-balochistan. For a more

detailed account of the geological field, mining deal, initial exploration details and understated value of the

mining yield, see: https://www.dawn.com/news/1158808 and https://www.dawn.com/news/1323673. Details of

the project, as per TCC, can be accessed here: http://www.tethyan.com/the-reko-diq-project/.

73 http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/04/pakistans-big-threat-isnt-terrorism-its-climate-change/ 74 https://germanwatch.org/en/download/20432.pdf