Arshad Nadeem will make a comeback 

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.

Iran has told Pakistan that it is ready to talk with the United States again. This is good news. It gives hope that a long and dangerous conflict may finally move toward peace. According to reports, Iran wants the talks to happen step by step. The first step would be about the Strait of Hormuz. The next step would be about frozen Iranian money. The last step would be about the nuclear programme. Iran has also made it clear that it will not accept any plan to build a new route through the Strait of Hormuz. This waterway is too important for the world’s oil trade, and Iran sees any move to bypass it as a threat to its own control. Pakistan has a chance to play an important role here. Pakistan already helped bring Iran and America together once. That happened in Islamabad on June 17, 2026, when both sides signed an understanding. It led to a rare direct meeting between Iranian and American officials in Switzerland. Qatar also helped by hosting a round of talks in Doha. But that effort did not last. Talks broke down. Tensions turned into military conflict. Both sides blamed each other. Yet the fact that Iran is now willing to talk again shows that diplomacy is not dead. It shows that even after war, countries can choose peace over more fighting. The world should support this new chance for talks. War brings only loss. Diplomacy, even when it is slow and difficult, is always the better path. But support for talks does not mean forgetting the past. The United States must be honest about what happened last time. It broke the Islamabad memorandum once. This is not a small matter. When a country breaks a signed agreement, it becomes harder for others to trust it again. Iran has every right to ask why it should believe American promises this time. If Washington wants Iran to return to the table in good faith, it must do more than talk. It must offer strong and clear guarantees. These guarantees should be written down. They should be backed by other countries, including Pakistan and Qatar, who can act as witnesses. Words alone are not enough after a broken promise. Actions and guarantees are what will rebuild trust. Pakistan is in a good position to help here. It has earned the trust of both Iran and America through its past role. It should use this position to make sure this second chance is not wasted, and to make sure that Iran gets the guarantees it needs before it agrees to sit down again.

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.

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye marks a serious step forward for regional security. The pact, signed on August 7, brings together three important Muslim majority countries under one collective defence framework. An attack on one member will now be treated as an attack on all three, a principle similar to what NATO countries follow among themselves. This is a significant moment for Pakistan’s foreign and defence policy. This newspaper understands that not every detail of a defence agreement can or should be made public. Military planning, operational details, and certain sensitive mechanisms between armed forces must remain confidential. No serious defence pact anywhere in the world publishes its full operational playbook, and Pakistan should not be expected to do so either. Some secrecy is necessary and reasonable when national security is involved. That said, this does not mean the public should be kept in the dark about everything. Broad information, such as who the pact covers, what kind of coordination it involves, and what its larger goals are, should be shared openly with citizens. Pakistanis have a right to understand the basic shape of agreements that affect the country’s security and foreign relations, even if the fine print stays classified. It is encouraging that information about this agreement is now steadily emerging. Türkiye’s Defence Ministry has spoken publicly about the new coordination mechanisms, joint military exercises, and plans for closer defence industry cooperation. Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, has also come forward to clarify the scope of the agreement. This kind of openness, even in limited form, is a good omen. It shows that the state is willing to explain its major decisions to the public rather than leaving citizens to guess or rely on rumours.

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.