Rehiring retired officials is a curse

Exports rose sharply in July 2026, and this is genuinely good news. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, exports reached 2.939 billion dollars in July, up from 2.242 billion dollars in June. That is a 31 percent increase in just one month. Compared with July last year, exports grew by over 9 percent. This is a strong start to the new fiscal year, and it deserves credit. Much of this growth appears to come from sectors Pakistan knows well, including textiles, food products, leather goods, sports equipment, surgical instruments, and IT services. Government efforts to support exporters and improve industrial production seem to be paying off. But one good month does not make a trend. Pakistan has seen export numbers rise before, only to fall back a few months later. The real question is whether this growth can be sustained through the rest of the fiscal year. A single strong month should not be treated as proof that the country’s export problems are solved. The economy needs exports to grow consistently, not occasionally. The country still runs a large trade deficit, and one good month does very little to fix that. What Pakistan needs is month after month of rising export figures, not a single spike followed by stagnation. This will not happen on its own. It requires stable energy prices, a predictable exchange rate, and continued government support for exporters. It also requires our exporters to sell more products to more countries, instead of depending on the same limited markets. The government should treat this month’s numbers as a starting point, not a finish line. Pakistan does not need one strong export month. It needs many more of them, back to back, for this to actually mean something for the economy.

Pakistan and China are entering a new phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, known as CPEC 2.0. This time, the focus is shifting from big government-funded projects to stronger business-to-business ties. This change is a smart and necessary move, but only if Pakistan can actually deliver on it. For years, CPEC meant huge Chinese loans for roads, power plants and infrastructure. Nearly 30 billion dollars went into these projects. They helped fix Pakistan’s energy crisis, but they also added heavy debt. Now, China wants a different kind of partnership, one based on trade, manufacturing and private companies working together instead of government-to-government deals. This shift makes sense. Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal rightly pointed out that Pakistan’s biggest problem is not a lack of ideas but a lack of exports. China buys goods worth 2.6 trillion dollars every year from around the world, yet Pakistan sells it barely 3 billion dollars worth of products. That gap shows how much room there is to grow, if Pakistan gets its act together. The plan to focus on manufacturing, agriculture, robotics and automation is encouraging. Bringing in small and medium businesses from both countries could create real jobs and real growth, not just concrete and steel. This is the direction Pakistan should have taken years ago. But good intentions are not enough. Pakistan has often struggled to make its industries competitive enough to compete internationally. Poor production standards, red tape and inconsistent policies have held back exporters for decades. Simply announcing a new phase of cooperation will not fix these problems overnight. China, too, seems more cautious this time. It has not yet committed to financing the long-delayed ML-1 railway project, a sign that Beijing wants to see business results before pouring in more money. CPEC 2.0 offers Pakistan a real chance to fix its economy through trade and industry rather than loans. But turning this vision into results will require discipline, consistency and follow-through, qualities that have often been missing in Pakistan’s economic planning.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has told all ministries to meet their deadlines under the privatisation programme. This push for speed and coordination is the right instinct. Pakistan cannot afford more delays in selling off loss making state enterprises. The government has listed 27 public sector organisations for privatisation in three phases. Officials briefed the prime minister on progress at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi airports. They also updated him on the sale of IESCO, FESCO and GEPCO. Expressions of Interest have already been invited for all three power companies. FESCO submissions close on August 7. GEPCO closes on August 21. IESCO closes on September 7, 2026. International investors are showing interest and roadshows are continuing. This pace is encouraging but Pakistan has been here before. The privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines dragged on for years through failed bids, legal challenges and political hesitation. That delay cost the national exchequer billions in continued losses. It also damaged investor confidence in Pakistan’s ability to complete a sale once it starts one. The government must not let IESCO, FESCO and GEPCO suffer the same fate. Speed alone is not enough. Every step of this process must remain transparent. Bidding criteria, investor qualifications and final sale terms should be made public and open to scrutiny. Citizens deserve to know that state assets are being sold at fair value, not handed over through backroom deals. The prime minister was right to direct that ZTBL continue serving farmers after privatisation. Agriculture remains central to Pakistan’s economy and food security. Any new owner must be bound by clear conditions to protect farmer access to credit. The economy needs the discipline that privatisation brings. But the PIA experience proves that half measures and delays only deepen losses. The government must finish what it starts, openly and on schedule.

Students in Pakistan have every right to be angry. They followed the rules, sat their exams honestly, and now they face a system that seems slow to answer basic questions. The Cambridge paper leak controversy should have been settled months ago. Instead, students are heading to protest outside the IBCC office in Islamabad because meetings keep getting postponed and answers keep getting delayed. The new forensic report from the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency makes this more urgent, not less. Investigators found no signs that the leaked video files were edited or faked. That is a serious finding. It means the leaks were likely real, even though the report could not say who was behind them. When such evidence exists, students deserve a clear response, not silence before results and vague promises after. Cambridge’s decision to pull out of a key meeting just before results were announced sends the wrong message. It looks like an attempt to avoid difficult questions rather than face them. Postponing accountability until after grades are released only deepens mistrust among students, parents and teachers. The core issue is fairness. Even if leaked material reached only a small number of students, those students may have gained an unfair advantage. Honest students who worked hard without any early access to questions could end up disadvantaged. This is not a small technical matter. It affects university admissions and futures. Schools and education authorities also share blame. Many stayed quiet when the leaks were first reported and only spoke up once public pressure grew. That is not good enough. Cambridge, IBCC and the government must treat this seriously. Students are not asking for favours. They are asking for transparency, fairness and a guarantee that this will not happen again.

Pakistan’s solar energy story is moving in the right direction, and this deserves praise. Federal Minister for Power Awais Leghari has announced that the country’s solar capacity has now reached 38,000 megawatts. This is a major achievement for a country that relied heavily on imported fuel for decades. The minister shared this update at the Battery Storage Flexibility 2026 Conference, where he also laid out an ambitious target. The government wants clean energy to make up 90 percent of Pakistan’s electricity mix by 2035. Right now, clean energy already accounts for 55 percent of total electricity generation in the country. This is a significant number and shows real progress. The government is not stopping at solar power alone. It is also working on battery storage technology, which allows electricity to be stored and used later. Leghari said Pakistan is building its own battery energy storage industry. This includes local engineering work, system integration and battery management software. The Ministry of Industries is preparing a policy to support battery manufacturing inside Pakistan. A National Battery Energy Storage Framework is also being prepared. This framework will set safety standards, define how batteries connect to the power grid and create rules for investment in the sector. A National Steering Committee has already been formed to guide this work, along with technical and regulatory groups. Pilot battery storage projects have been approved for electricity distribution companies as well. These small projects will help the government understand what works before rolling out bigger plans. All of this progress is worth appreciating. Pakistan is being recognised as one of the fastest growing distributed energy markets in the world. But announcements and targets are only the first step. What matters most now is consistent follow through. The government must ensure that policies are implemented on time, that investors get the transparent framework they were promised and that local manufacturing actually takes off. Clean energy growth must also reach ordinary consumers through lower electricity bills, not just headline capacity numbers. Real sustainability means turning these plans into results that last for decades, not just for one conference speech.

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.4 has struck western Colombia. The disaster has taken at least 164 lives. More than 880 people are injured. Over 3,200 people remain missing. These numbers may still rise as rescue teams continue searching through collapsed buildings. Our hearts go out to the people of Colombia. Families have lost loved ones. Homes have turned into rubble. Hospitals meant to save lives have themselves collapsed, forcing doctors to treat patients on the streets. Even a historic cathedral, standing tall since the 1920s, could not survive the shaking earth. This is a moment of deep grief for Colombia and for all of humanity. This tragedy reminds us of another dark chapter closer to home. In October 2005, a massive earthquake struck Azad Jammu and Kashmir and northern Pakistan. That disaster killed over 73,000 people. Entire towns were destroyed within seconds. Schools collapsed while children were still inside. The scars of that day remain fresh in the memories of countless families even today. Nature does not choose its victims. Earthquakes can strike any nation, rich or poor, prepared or unprepared. Yet the scale of destruction often depends on how ready a country is. Colombia’s new government now faces this crisis just days after taking office. Pakistan knows well how difficult such moments can be. The world must treat these repeated disasters as a wake-up call. Governments should invest more in earthquake-resistant buildings. Hospitals and schools must be built to withstand strong tremors. Early warning systems and trained rescue teams can save many lives when disaster strikes. Colombia now needs support from the international community. Rescue equipment, medical aid and financial help can ease the suffering of affected families. Pakistan, having faced similar pain in 2005, understands this need better than most nations. We mourn with Colombia today. We also hope this tragedy pushes every vulnerable nation, including our own, to take earthquake preparedness seriously before the next disaster strikes.