Balochistan needs more than promises of dialogue

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.

The Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production has exposed a governance failure that Pakistan cannot afford to ignore. The Export Processing Zones Authority has been running without a permanent chairman for an extended period. This is not a minor administrative gap. It is a warning sign of how casually the government treats institutions that are meant to drive industrial growth and attract investment. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla was right to raise alarm during the committee session. Leadership vacuums do not just delay paperwork. They shake investor confidence, stall strategic decisions, and put Pakistan at risk of falling short on commitments made under the IMF Extended Fund Facility. The phase-out of incentives and restrictions on EPZ sales to the domestic market are not small technical details. They are conditions tied directly to Pakistan’s economic credibility on the world stage. The situation around the draft Automotive and Auto Parts Manufacturing Policy 2026-31 tells a similar story. The policy has admirable goals. It wants to promote New Energy Vehicles, increase domestic value addition, and boost exports. But good intentions are not enough. Local manufacturers are being squeezed by high tariffs on raw materials and steep duties that put them at a serious disadvantage. Without resolving these operational bottlenecks first, the policy risks becoming another document full of promises that never translate into results on the ground. The government must understand that ambition without execution is meaningless. If domestic producers cannot compete because of avoidable cost disadvantages, foreign competitors will fill the gap while Pakistan’s own industry falls further behind. It is encouraging that the committee has directed stakeholders to submit formal grievances and scheduled a follow-up session with the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industries and Production. But scheduling meetings is not the same as solving problems. The government must move quickly to appoint permanent leadership at the EPZ Authority and address the structural issues raised by industry representatives. The country does not have the luxury of time. Every delay chips away at investor confidence and puts the country’s IMF compliance and international trade credibility further at risk. The government must take stock of this situation now, before it becomes yet another missed opportunity for industrial growth.

Two tribal elders lost their lives on Sunday in Lower South Waziristan. Gunmen shot Haji Gul and Malik Badshah while they travelled from Gul Kach to Zarmilan. Both men belonged to the Suleman Khel tribe. Police say the attackers escaped after the shooting. This is not an isolated case. It is part of a pattern that the state cannot keep ignoring. Tribal elders play a special role in this region. They settle disputes through jirgas. They stop small conflicts from becoming big ones. They keep peace between families and tribes. When someone kills these elders, they are not just killing individuals. They are killing the peace process itself. The list of victims keeps growing. In May, militants killed Malik Tariq Wazir in a bomb blast in Wana. He was a respected elder of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe. He had already survived an abduction in December 2024. He came back and kept working for peace. Then a bomb ended his life near a busy market. In June, gunmen killed two sons of another elder, Malik Jamil Wazir, in the same area. These killings send a clear message. Anyone who works for peace in Waziristan becomes a target. Over the past 18 months, Lower South Waziristan has seen more targeted killings, bomb attacks, kidnappings and extortion. Attacks on police and security forces have also increased. The people who suffer the most are ordinary tribesmen and the elders who try to protect them. Meanwhile, security forces report success in Balochistan. Under Operation Rad-ul-Fitna-3, forces killed 15 militants in areas including Mastung, Bolan, Washuk, Awaran, Sibi, Khuzdar, Harnai and Noshki. They also recovered weapons and ammunition. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi praised the forces for these operations. These operations matter. They weaken militant networks. But military action alone cannot solve the deeper problem. The government needs a two-part plan. First, it must continue operations against armed militants. Second, and just as important, it must protect the peace-loving elders and common citizens who become easy targets. Right now, the second part is missing. Elders like Malik Tariq Wazir and Malik Jamil Wazir did not carry weapons. They carried influence and trust. That made them vulnerable, not safe. Security forces should extend protection to tribal jirga members, especially those who have received threats. Police in Waziristan need better resources to investigate these killings quickly and to make arrests, not just launch preliminary cases that go nowhere. Local communities need faster response times when gunmen attack. Elders who mediate disputes deserve the same level of security attention as government officials, because they are doing work that keeps the state’s own peace efforts alive. Killing militants is one battle. Protecting the elders and common people who choose peace over violence in Waziristan is another. The government must treat both as equally urgent. If peace-loving voices keep dying in silence, fewer people will dare to raise those voices at all.

A court in New Delhi has sentenced former AAP leader Tahir Hussain to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Delhi riots. Four other men received the same sentence. This case has been one of the most talked about legal battles to come out of the violence that shook northeast Delhi five years ago. On the surface, this looks like justice being served for a man who lost his life. But many observers, particularly within India’s Muslim community and civil rights groups, view this case with deep unease. Tahir Hussain was a Muslim municipal councillor, and his conviction fits into a wider and troubling pattern many have documented since Narendra Modi’s government came to power. Critics argue that Muslims accused in the 2020 riots have often faced harsher and faster prosecution than Hindu individuals accused of similar or worse violence during the same unrest, where investigations have moved slowly or produced few convictions. Rights groups have long raised concerns about India’s use of anti-terror laws, preventive detention, and prolonged pretrial custody against Muslim activists, students, and political figures since 2019. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both documented what they describe as a shrinking space for religious minorities to seek justice fairly in India today. Hussain’s supporters argue that he was targeted because of his political visibility and religious identity, not purely because of evidence. This does not mean the court’s findings should be dismissed outright. A judge examined evidence over several years, and Ankit Sharma’s family deserves acknowledgment of their loss. But the broader climate around India’s justice system, especially in communally charged cases, deserves scrutiny. When convictions consistently fall along religious lines, the question of whether the process was truly even-handed becomes impossible to ignore.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has given a clear warning. Heavy monsoon rains, thunderstorms and strong winds will hit most of the country from July 24 to July 28. Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir are all on the forecast list. This is not a small warning. It is a signal that the country needs to prepare now, not after the flooding starts. The pattern is familiar. Every monsoon season, cities like Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Hyderabad and Sukkur face urban flooding when drains fail to handle the water. Every year, weak buildings, electric poles and trees fall in strong winds. Every year, people in the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir face landslides and flash floods on slippery roads. These are not surprises anymore. They are known risks, and known risks can be managed if the response starts early. This time, the warning has come with enough notice. Provincial governments and disaster authorities have reportedly been placed on alert, and rescue teams and drainage machinery are said to be on standby. This is a good start. But standby is not the same as action. Drains in major cities need to be cleared before the rain falls, not after water is already standing in the streets. Weak buildings and old electric poles in flood-prone areas need urgent inspection now. Ordinary citizens also have a role to play. Farmers should secure their crops and move livestock to safer ground. Families living near canals, rivers and low-lying areas should keep emergency supplies ready and know their nearest safe shelter. Tourists heading to Gilgit-Baltistan, Hunza, Skardu or Neelum Valley should check road conditions before travelling and avoid unnecessary risks during heavy rain. We cannot control the weather. But it can control how ready it is when the weather turns dangerous. The five days ahead will test how well lessons from past floods have actually been learned. 

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is right to celebrate Pakistan’s progress at the Indus Robotics and Autonomous Systems Expo 2026. Local drones, simulators and autonomous platforms on display are genuine achievements, and the government deserves credit for organising this event. Such expos give young innovators a stage, and they should happen far more often. One expo a year is not enough for a country trying to catch up in robotics and artificial intelligence. But an honest look tells us something the speeches often skip. Pakistan’s technology sector has largely grown because of private effort, not government funding. Young software engineers, startup founders, freelancers and university students have kept this sector alive, often without meaningful state support. Many built their skills through free online courses, self-funded projects and sheer persistence, not through government grants or well-funded labs. When government share of support has been minimal, it is unfair for credit to travel only upward. The youth of this country deserve real recognition, not just polite mentions in a prime ministerial address. If Pakistan genuinely wants technological independence, praise alone will not build it. Research budgets remain thin. Universities struggle with outdated labs and low funding, a problem raised repeatedly by academics themselves. Local innovators frequently move abroad, not because they lack patriotism, but because opportunities and funding are stronger elsewhere. Indigenous drone and simulator production is encouraging, but it cannot substitute for a broader national investment in research, education and startups. The government’s job now is to convert one successful expo into a lasting system. That means consistent funding for research institutions, easier access to capital for young tech entrepreneurs, and closer partnerships between universities and defence industries. It means holding such expos regularly, not as one-off showcases, but as part of a serious innovation calendar.