KARACHI: The screening of a documentary — Democracy in Debt: Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines — by journalist Beena Sarwar at the T2F on Saturday evening, was followed by an interesting panel discussion with the journalist herself along with economist Dr Kaiser Bengali in conversation with filmmaker Aisha Gazdar regarding Pakistan’s current economic situation.

Speaking about her experience during the shooting of the documentary, Beena Sarwar said that she was seen by the Sri Lankans as a foreigner though she herself didn’t feel that way herself.

“Yes, I’m not Sri Lankan but I am also a part of this region,” she pointed out. “There is something that binds us all together,” she said.

About some difficulties that she faced there, she said that many families didn’t want their women on camera.

Economist Kaiser Bengali critical of govt’s decision to give farmland to foreign countries to grow food for them or their animals

Dr Kaiser Bengali said it is a very compelling film that also evokes empathy. “It also carries a historic perspective,” he said, adding that he visited Sri Lanka often though only to attend conferences.

He said that when civil war broke in Sri Lanka some years ago, he wondered about the people of the country since he had found them to be very polite in demeanour. “I wondered how such polite people can fight,” He smiled. “There was a leftist insurgency, which was violently put down,” he added.

When Aisha Gazdar asked how he could draw parallels between Sri Lanka and Pakistan as the latter had also been on the brink of default, Dr Bengali said that Sri Lanka depended a lot on tourism but the Covid-19 pandemic took away their tourism. “You don’t put all your eggs in one basket. They had to borrow heavily to carry on,” he said.

Dr Bengali also pointed that Sri Lanka has a high literacy but not a high technocracy. “As a result they don’t have an industrial sector,” he said.

Ms Sarwar then reminded that Sri Lanka will be holding elections next month. “They have their presidential elections coming up on September 21,” she said. “When I showed the documentary to a political analyst, he said that all the presidential candidates in Sri Lanka must watch it too,” she added.

Dr Bengali spoke about Pakistan’s subdued democracy and the military dictators. “No diplomatic leader can sit comfortably here,” he said.

Coming back to the economy of both Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Dr Bengali said: “At the end of the day, they had food. Iran has also survived because of their agriculture through sanctions. Pakistan, too, depends on agriculture. But here the government is signing deals with other countries to change that as well.”

“For example, we have signed an agreement with a Saudi Arabian company to grow fodder on a huge part of our land. Now, if we give up our agriculture land to foreign countries like this to grow food for them or their animals, where are we to grow our food,” Dr Bengali asked.

About Pakistan going to the International Monetary Fund to borrow, he said that even they don’t give loans like that. “The IMF also knows that they won’t get back what it lends unless Pakistan makes some changes. Therefore, it pushes Pakistan to make deals with other countries,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2024