Minutes after watching BBC and CNN updating the world about the progress of the climate summit in Paris where nearly 200 nations adopted a global pact to fight climate change, I set off for the office. The moment I stepped out, stinking water gushing out of a choked gutter greeted me. Only a few metres away, the driver of a neighbour was busy hose-washing the Mercedes Kompressor of a resident of the area. Apparently, he had already washed the Land Cruiser of another resident. These cars obviously don’t belong to ordinary folk. The proud owners clearly belong to the upper echelons of society, many of whom would be shining stars of the development sector or advocates of environmental protection. As I neared the office after a few minutes, similar scenes stared me in the face, with the car-wash water flooding out of driveways of upscale villas and meandering the street — a stark reminder that even the federal capital is devoid of any water management and conservation strategy. Such scenes stand in sharp contrast to our ministers, officials and icons from the development sector; they travel around the globe and give lofty speeches, but the situation on the ground reflects little of these pontifications on climate change and the need to contain further damage through lasting strategies. Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid, for instance, told the UN secretary-general on the sidelines of the Paris conference that Pakistan, as part of the G-77 plus China was pushing rich countries to provide finance and technology, as well as other help to build the capacity of developing countries to cope with the dangerous impacts of climate change. At the same time, the group was also pressing rich nations to radically cut carbon emissions to slow down climate change and reduce the intensity of its impacts on social and economic sectors, particularly water, agriculture, energy and health. Hamid was quoted by the media as saying that “failure is no option as far as the Paris climate...

One year later, it seems that the dastardly attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar finally provided the trigger that the country had badly needed all these years to forcefully take on all those who had been challenging the writ of the state of Pakistan. It also brought about a visible change in the state’s views on counter-terrorism and extremism. The massacre galvanized the civilian and military leadership into reviewing the security paradigm that had been pursued until then. The result was Prime Minister’s 20-point counter-terrorism program – the National Action Plan (NAP). This convergence became visible at the APS commemoration event, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief Raheel Sharif were both present, along with key members of the federal cabinet, PTI chief Imran Khan, provincial chief ministers and several foreign dignitaries. The NAP – effectively the country’s first formal counter-terror framework – included the creation of speedy trial military courts, measures to end all private militias, activation and reinforcement of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), rigorous enforcement of existing laws against sectarian hate speech, extremism, minority rights and immediate madrassa reforms. These steps became part of the 21stAmendment to the Constitution, passed unanimously by the parliament on January 6, 2015. The Peshawar attack generated an unprecedented momentum. After a very long time, Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar and opposition legislators such as Aitzaz Ahsan began a conversation that centered on critical themes like peace through rule of law, respect for diversity, rejection of hate speech and respect for others through a rights-based narrative embedded in the constitution. As a consequence, by November this year, the Interior Ministry sealed 102 seminaries for fanning extremism or sponsoring terrorism. It also froze over Rs 1 billion worth of funds sitting in 126 accounts of proscribed militant groups. As many...

Is Pakistan safer?  One year on, one can most probably argue that the dastardly Army Public School (APS), Peshawar attack on December 2014 finally provided the trigger that the country had badly needed all these years to forcefully take on all those who had been challenging the writ of the state of Pakistan. It also brought about a visible change in the ruling elites’ views on counter-terrorism and extremism. The massacre galvanized the civilian and military leadership into reviewing the security paradigm pursued until then. The result was Prime Minister’s 20-point counter-terrorism (CT) National Action Plan (NAP) announced in December 2014. This convergence became visible also at the main APS commemoration event which was attended by all major stakeholders- P.M Nawaz Sharif, along with key members of the cabinet, army chief General Raheel Sharif, PTI chief Imran Khan, several provincial chief ministers and foreign dignitaries. The NAP - effectively the first formal counter-terror framework -provided for the creation of speedy trial military courts, called for measures to end all private militias, activation and reinforcement of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), recommended rigorous enforcement of existing laws against sectarian hate speech, extremism, minority rights and recommended immediate madrassa (seminaries) reforms. All these steps became part of the 21st amendment to the Constitution when the parliament passed it unanimously on January 6, 2015. The Peshawar assault generated an unprecedented momentum; After a very long time, Chaudhary Nisar, the interior minister, and many opposition legislators such as Aitzaz Ahsan began a conversation that centered on critical themes like peace through rule of law, respect for diversity, rejection of hate speech and respect for others through a rights based narrative embedded in the constitution. As a consequence, until November, the interior ministry sealed 102 seminaries for fanning extremism or...