EXPLOITATION BY BANKS: Commercial banks have self-assumed autonomy from the regulator, it seems. They have started freezing accounts under the cover of credit blocking of clients’ accounts and denying clearing services under self-determined customer due diligence (CDD) review; a law the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has copied from elsewhere. The banks have started exploiting their 30-year-old accounts of clients and organisations registered under the relevant regulations. The complaints sent to bank chief executive officers and the SBP department concerned fall on deaf ears.

Ali Ashraf Khan
Karachi

HYDERABAD CRIMES: There has been a media spotlight on the recent spike in street crimes in Karachi, but a similar spike in Hyderabad has largely been ignored by the national media. In the city’s Pretabad area, a shopkeeper was gunned down brutally after he was robbed of whatever he had in his possession at the time. A doctor coming back from his private clinic was robbed and injured by muggers in the same area. The government needs to think of effective solutions to reduce crimes.

Mazhar Yousuf Ansari
Hyderabad

BALOCHISTAN HEALTHCARE: Among the many issues faced by people in Balochistan, the lack of health facilities is the most severe, especially in the rural areas. Zainab Baloch, a teenage girl and an intelligent student from Mand, lost her life when she was being transferred to Karachi for medical treatment. According to her family, Zainab had fever and was taken to a local hospital where no doctor was available. The shortage of proper health facilities and non-availability of doctors at government hospitals are routine affairs in the province. The government needs to set the house in order. Apart from making health facilities available, it should also launch a crackdown against ‘ghost doctors’ who remain absent from duties.

Ameer Sajidi
Hub

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2023