A welcome step for Pakistani students

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.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has made an urgent appeal that the world cannot afford to ignore. Speaking at a ministerial meeting on Jerusalem in Amman, he called on Arab and Islamic countries to unite in defence of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the rights of the Palestinian people. His words carry weight because the situation on the ground demands nothing less than a serious response. For years, Israel has pushed forward with settlement expansion, annexation efforts and the forced displacement of Palestinians. These actions are not minor administrative matters. They are direct violations of international law and multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. Yet the international community continues to watch from the sidelines, offering statements of concern without any real consequences. This silence is not neutral. It is complicity. Al-Aqsa Mosque holds deep religious and historical significance for Muslims across the world. Any attempt to alter its status or restrict access to worshippers is an attack not just on a building, but on the dignity and faith of over a billion people. Dar is right to demand unrestricted access to Jerusalem’s holy sites and to warn that continued violations could inflame tensions far beyond the region. Gaza remains a humanitarian catastrophe. Even after a ceasefire, millions of Palestinians face hunger, displacement and constant insecurity. A ceasefire on paper means little if people cannot eat, find shelter or live without fear. The world celebrated the ceasefire as a diplomatic win, but celebration cannot replace action. Promises must be followed by real relief and real accountability. Pakistan has consistently stood by Palestine, and this position deserves respect. The demand for an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, is not a radical idea. It is a long-standing international consensus that keeps getting delayed by powerful nations unwilling to pressure Israel. The new mechanism agreed upon in Amman to document Israeli violations at holy sites is a welcome step. But documentation alone changes nothing if the world refuses to act on the evidence. Muslim countries must move beyond statements and coordinate real diplomatic pressure. The people of Palestine have waited long enough for justice. The world’s continued hesitation to hold Israel accountable is not just a policy failure. It is a moral failure that history will not judge kindly.

Thousands of students are paying the price for a system that should have protected them. The Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training has once again exposed how badly the Higher Education Commission has handled degree verification and attestation for students of the University of South Asia Lahore, NICE Karachi and PIMSET campuses. Nearly 37,000 young people remain caught in a bureaucratic mess that is not of their making. This situation demands urgent action, not more excuses. The numbers alone tell a troubling story. Over 6,000 students from USA Lahore, more than five thousand from NICE and close to twenty five thousand from PIMSET campuses have been left waiting for degrees that should confirm years of hard work. Only a fraction of these students have received clearance so far. Meanwhile, HEC officials keep offering vague claims of progress instead of solid facts. Senator Masroor Ahsan was right to press officials for real figures instead of general statements. When lawmakers cannot get straight answers, ordinary students stand even less chance. The most troubling part of this episode is the state of the so called online attestation system. HEC claimed the process had gone fully online, yet officials could not say how many students from these specific institutions had actually benefited. This is not a technical detail. It is a matter of trust. A digital system that cannot show basic figures for the very students it claims to serve is not truly functional. Real students are suffering because of this failure. One student said his complaint had remained stuck as in progress since June, without any verification letter or clearance certificate. Another said the portal did not even show his attestation status despite completing the process multiple times. These are not isolated glitches. They reflect a system that was launched without proper testing or planning. Minute Mirror strongly condemns this prolonged delay and the lack of transparency shown by HEC in handling these cases. Students have already lost valuable time waiting for degrees needed for jobs, higher studies and other opportunities. The commission must move beyond promises and deliver a functioning, transparent and fully online verification system without further delay. The Senate committee has given HEC 15 days to submit detailed reports on NICE and PIMSET. This deadline must be treated seriously.

The Senate Sub Committee has once again put the Federal Board of Revenue in an uncomfortable spot, and rightly so. FBR has failed to explain what happened to Rs1120 billion worth of tax exempted imports that entered former FATA and PATA regions between 2018 and 2026. That is not a small sum. It is a number large enough to demand answers, not silence. Why has FBR not provided complete records? Why is a manual tracking system still in place for imports worth over a trillion rupees? These are basic questions, yet the Board seems unable or unwilling to answer them. Every day without proper automated verification is a day that opens the door to goods slipping illegally into taxable markets, undercutting honest businesses and draining public revenue. The tobacco sector adds another layer of concern. Major companies like Pakistan Tobacco Company and Philip Morris Pakistan Limited are now under scrutiny, alongside serious cases of cigarette theft and a tax charge sheet against a senior tax official. When 2,828 cigarette cartons worth Rs25 crore go missing from an FBR warehouse, it raises a simple question: who is minding the store? FBR must stop treating Parliament’s demands as optional. Consumption certificates, tax records, and clear Standard Operating Procedures are not favours to be delayed. They are basic obligations of an institution meant to protect national revenue. Senator Saifullah Abro’s Committee deserves credit for pushing this issue repeatedly. But pressure from one Senate committee cannot substitute for real reform inside FBR. The Board must answer, and answer now, before more billions disappear into the gaps of its own negligence.

An eight-member medical board has found that Mir Raza Ali died from a gunshot wound to the back. The board also found several serious injuries on his body from before death. This discovery changes the direction of a case that has drawn wide attention. The report came after a court ordered his grave to be opened at Karachi’s Rehmanial Masjid Graveyard. Doctors found a small entry wound on his upper back. The bullet broke a rib, tore through the heart, and exited from the chest. Doctors also found blood collected under the skin. This shows the injury happened while he was still alive. The doctors found more injuries too. They found bruises on the skull, a broken nose bone, and swelling on the face. There was also a crack running along the back of the skull, filled with dried blood. Marks were found near the throat area as well, though decay in the body made some tests harder to complete. The board has not given a final cause of death yet. Doctors have sent skin, muscle, hair, and bone samples for further testing. This new report turns the case from a missing person search into a suspected murder investigation. The Sindh government deserves credit here. By backing a court-ordered exhumation and a full medical board review, it has given this case a real chance at truth and justice. This kind of careful, science-based approach is exactly what difficult cases like this need. But what we need is a clear and reliable system for postmortem examinations across the board. Every case deserves properly trained doctors, modern lab facilities, and independent oversight from the start. Delays and unclear reports only hurt victims and their families. The Sindh government should build on this case by setting fixed rules for exhumations and postmortems, so families never have to wait years for the truth.

Arshad Nadeem remains one of the finest athletes Pakistan has ever produced, and one disappointing outing in Glasgow cannot erase that fact. His early exit from the Commonwealth Games javelin event has understandably worried fans, but this is a moment for support, not despair. Every great athlete faces setbacks. What matters is how they respond. Former coach Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari has raised a valid point about fitness levels ahead of the Glasgow event. He noted that Nadeem did not appear to have the same intensity he showed during earlier training sessions under his guidance. Bukhari, who worked closely with Nadeem for eight years and helped him reach the Tokyo Olympics, believes physical preparation is the foundation of success in any sport. He also called for regular fitness testing before athletes compete internationally, a suggestion authorities should take seriously. It is worth remembering that Nadeem has already given Pakistan its proudest sporting moment. His gold medal throw of 92.97 metres at the Paris Olympics in 2024 remains a historic achievement that will be remembered for generations. A single poor performance in Glasgow does not undo that legacy. Sport, by nature, involves highs and lows, and no athlete performs at their peak every single time. Bukhari believes Nadeem does not need another extraordinary throw to prove himself. He has already shown the world what he is capable of. What he needs now is to refocus, correct small mistakes and rebuild his mindset. This is completely achievable for an athlete of his caliber. Questions raised about coordination between Nadeem, his current coach Salman Butt and the Athletics Federation of Pakistan deserve honest attention. Stronger cooperation between all parties can only help Nadeem perform better on the international stage. This is the time for Pakistan to stand behind Arshad Nadeem, not criticize him. Defeat is part of every sportsperson’s journey, and true champions are defined by how they bounce back.