Any lessons learned from PIMS fire?

Rising oil prices are becoming a global emergency, and the blame lies squarely on the actions of the United States, Israel, and their Gulf allies for initiating this ugly war. Crude oil prices are rising fast, and ordinary people everywhere will pay the price. This week, global oil benchmarks jumped to their highest levels in nearly two months. Some cargoes are now trading close to one hundred ten dollars a barrel. Dated Brent, the price used for most of the world’s oil, touched one hundred five dollars and seventy cents on Thursday. This is not a small change. When oil becomes expensive, everything else becomes expensive too. Transport costs rise. Food prices rise. Electricity bills rise. Factories pay more to run machines. Poor countries suffer the most because they cannot absorb these shocks. Rich countries feel the pain too, but developing nations face hunger, inflation, and unemployment on a much larger scale. The real question people should ask is simple. Why is this happening now. The answer points directly at the ongoing confrontation between the United States, Israel, and Iran. Tensions between these sides have pushed the region toward war. Gulf partners aligned with Washington have allowed this dangerous situation to continue instead of pushing for peace. Their silence and their support for aggressive policies have made the crisis worse. The world cannot afford this. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important routes for oil shipments. Roughly one fifth of the world’s oil passes through this narrow waterway. Threats to this route create fear across markets, and fear pushes prices higher even before real disruption happens. Kazakhstan’s export terminal on the Black Sea was also hit by drone attacks, cutting the country’s oil output nearly in half. This shows how connected today’s conflicts have become. War in one region shakes markets everywhere. The solution is not complicated. The fighting must stop. The Strait of Hormuz must remain open and safe for all shipping. Iran has suffered heavy losses from sanctions and military pressure, and fair compensation should be part of any lasting settlement. World leaders often speak about protecting the global economy. Now is the time to prove it. The United States, Israel, and their Gulf partners hold real power to de-escalate this crisis. They must choose diplomacy over confrontation, before ordinary families across the world are forced to pay for a war they did not start.

The meeting between Kuwait’s Defence Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Saleem Al-Sabah and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir at General Headquarters is a positive development for both Pakistan and Kuwait. At a time when the Middle East and South Asia face serious security challenges, closer cooperation between friendly countries can help promote peace and stability. Pakistan and Kuwait have enjoyed warm and brotherly relations for many years. Their relationship is based on mutual respect, shared interests and strong people-to-people links. The latest talks show a desire to take this relationship further, particularly in the field of defence and security. Pakistan has a professional and experienced armed forces, with valuable expertise in different areas of defence. Kuwait, meanwhile, is an important country in the Gulf region. Greater military cooperation can help both countries learn from each other and improve their ability to deal with modern security challenges. The discussions at GHQ focused on regional developments and ways to strengthen institutional links between the armed forces of the two countries. Such regular dialogue is important because security challenges do not remain limited to one country. Terrorism, regional conflicts and other threats often require cooperation and the sharing of experience. The Kuwaiti delegation’s appreciation of the professionalism and capabilities of the Pakistan Armed Forces is also encouraging. Pakistan’s military has played an important role in supporting peace and security, both within the country and through international peacekeeping efforts. However, defence cooperation should always have a larger purpose: peace. Stronger relations between Pakistan and Kuwait can contribute to stability, better understanding and closer coordination in the wider region. The commitment expressed by both sides to build a stronger and lasting defence partnership deserves appreciation. Pakistan and Kuwait should continue to expand cooperation through dialogue, joint training and the exchange of professional experience. Their historic friendship can become an even stronger partnership, benefiting not only the two countries but also contributing to peace and stability across the region.

The suicide bombing at Kabal Police Station in Swat has claimed 17 lives. Seven police officials  and 10 civilians were martyred in this attack. More than 23 injured people are still fighting for their lives in hospitals. We pray for their speedy recovery. This attack was not just on a police station. It was an attack on the peace of an entire community. The people of Swat have already suffered greatly from terrorism in the past. They rebuilt their lives after years of conflict. They deserved better than this bloodshed. Markets closed across Kabal as residents mourned their dead. This attack must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. The bomber used between six and eight kilograms of explosives. Police officers showed real courage. They stopped the bomber from reaching his main target. Their bravery saved many more lives. These officers deserve recognition, not just words of praise. Their families deserve the full compensation that has been promised to them, delivered without delay. The formation of a Joint Investigation Team is a necessary step. Investigators must move quickly and use every modern tool available to find those responsible. But investigation alone is not enough. Pakistan needs a sustained and serious campaign against terrorism, not scattered responses after each tragedy. Chief Minister Muhammad Suhail Khan Afridi used this moment to blame federal security policies. This kind of political point scoring serves no one right now. Terrorism is a threat to the entire country. It cannot be treated as a provincial problem or a political weapon. What Khyber Pakhtunkhwa needs is genuine cooperation between the provincial and federal governments, not finger pointing while bodies are still being buried. The Rs20 billion allocation for police capacity is a welcome move. But money alone will not defeat this threat. Pakistan needs unity among political parties, religious leaders, security forces, and ordinary citizens. Terrorists thrive on division. They exploit political blame games and public distrust. Every time leaders turn a tragedy into a political argument, they hand terrorists a small victory. The victims of Kabal deserve more than condolences. They deserve a state that protects its citizens and brings the guilty to justice without delay. They deserve leaders who put aside politics and work together against a common enemy. Pakistan has defeated terrorism before through unity and sacrifice. It must find that same resolve again. Swat has bled too many times. This must be the last time.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s accusation against India is not new. Pakistan has said for years that India supports terrorism on its soil. What makes his latest remarks important is the second part of his message. He asked Afghanistan’s interim government to stop militants from using Afghan land to attack Pakistan. This appeal deserves more attention than it usually gets, and it deserves a firmer follow-up from Islamabad.  The facts are hard to ignore. Pakistan has lost more than 90,000 lives fighting terrorism. The recent killing of a session judge in Mastung shows the threat has not gone away. Balochistan, the province where Shehbaz spoke, has suffered the most. It is Pakistan’s largest province by land but its smallest by population, and it has paid a heavy price in blood for years. Attacks on judges, security forces and development projects like the Karachi-Chaman highway are not isolated events. They form a pattern, and that pattern often leads back to groups operating from across the Afghan border. This is why Shehbaz’s appeal to Kabul matters more than his repeated claims about India. Pakistan has raised the India accusation for decades, often linked to the wider Kashmir dispute between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. That argument is familiar and, fairly or not, has become background noise in the region. But the Afghanistan question is different. It is about a neighbour Pakistan helped support for years, a neighbour that now hosts groups accused of attacking Pakistani soil. Kind words about good relations are not enough. Kabul needs to show real action against these groups, not just accept diplomatic requests politely and move on. Pakistan’s government also needs to be honest with itself. Blaming outside forces is easy. Building lasting peace in Balochistan requires more than statements at a workshop. It requires trust from local communities, fair development, and consistent follow-through on infrastructure promises like the Karachi-Chaman road. The National Finance Commission Award, which Shehbaz also discussed, must actually deliver Balochistan’s fair share of resources. Without that, the sense of neglect that fuels unrest will not go away, no matter how many speeches are made about foreign conspiracies. The prime minister is not wrong to raise India’s alleged role or to press Afghanistan for cooperation. But blaming others cannot be the whole strategy. Real security in Balochistan will come from addressing local grievances at home just as firmly as Pakistan confronts threats from across its borders.

Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langau escaped an attack on his security squad in Mastung. He praised the police for their quick response. Officers confronted the attackers and forced them to flee before the attack could succeed. Five police personnel were injured in the exchange of fire. Speaking at a press conference in Quetta, the minister said the people of Balochistan have suffered violence for a long time. He urged those hiding in the mountains and carrying weapons to understand that this path leads nowhere. He asked both Baloch and Pashtun communities not to fall for what he called terrorist propaganda. He also asked families to protect their children from this cycle of violence. Langau alleged that terrorists are getting support from India and Afghanistan. He said the government and security forces will keep working to stop terrorism and protect ordinary citizens. This attack raises a question that many people in Balochistan are now asking. For years, we heard about attacks on common citizens, on laborers, on travelers, and on ordinary security checkpoints. Now the attackers are targeting VIPs and even provincial ministers. This shift shows that militants are growing bolder, not weaker. If a home minister’s own security team can come under fire in broad daylight, ordinary citizens have every right to ask why the state’s counter terrorism strategy is not delivering real results. Press conferences and strong statements are not enough. People want to see fewer attacks, not more explanations after each attack. Balochistan has paid a heavy price in blood for many years. Every attack, whether on a common worker or on a top official, adds to that pain. The government must move beyond statements and build a strategy that actually reduces violence on the ground. Until that happens, incidents like Mastung will keep repeating, and the trust between the people and the state will keep weakening.

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.