CUT OFF AND TRAPPED: WHEN A STATE GOES TOO FAR
There is something deeply painful about watching a country turn its own roads into barriers against its own people. A bridge that once carried families, students, patients, traders…
The Public Purview
Dr Zafar Khan Safdar
THE TAX IN EVERY LITRE
Today, September 22, 2026, petrol in Pakistan costs Rs393.75 per litre and high speed diesel costs Rs422.08. Petrol has risen by Rs4.61 in the…
THE NOWHERE GENERATION
Pakistan’s young people are facing a future with opportunities shrinking at both ends. There is not enough space for them to build a life…
THE SUBSIDY IS THE INSULT
There is something deeply insulting about a government taking money from people with one hand and returning a fraction of it with the other,…
WE GROW THE FOOD. WE IMPORT THE FOOD
Pakistan is a country of farms, crops, livestock and millions of farmers, yet its food import bill is moving in the opposite direction from…
THEIR FIRST HOME WAS A BURNING ROOM
At 6:45 yesterday morning, sixteen newborns lay inside the nursery of PIMS Hospital in Islamabad. They could not walk, cry for help or escape.…
We knew the water was coming
A flood is often described as an act of nature. The water rises, roads disappear, houses collapse and governments rush to distribute relief. Then…
FROM DEFENCE TO DEVELOPMENT: THE MAKKAH MOMENT
On August 7, 2026, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkiye signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in the holy city, declaring that…
PAKISTAN: SEVENTY-NINE YEARS INTO THE DREAM
Pakistan turns 79 this August, carrying with it a history of extraordinary achievement, painful contradiction and an unfinished national promise. The green and white…
LOAD SHEDDING OF THE SOUL
The greatest crisis facing Pakistan may not be inflation, terrorism, or failing public services. It is that we no longer seem surprised by any…