Need for due process

The Combined Competitive Examination 2024 was meant to open doors for young Sindh residents seeking government careers. Instead, it has become a symbol of broken trust. Out of more than 4,300 candidates who sat the exam, only 70 passed. This low number alone raised serious doubts. When detailed marks sheets came out, those doubts turned into anger. Candidates found strange errors in their results. A single 100-mark paper in criminology appeared as two papers worth 200 marks. A similar problem showed up in environmental science. These are not small clerical slips. They point to deeper flaws in how the Sindh Public Service Commission handled this process. The protests that followed are justified. Students did not just complain online. They organised sit-ins. They held rallies. They formed the Movement for Restoration of Meritocracy. Their demands are simple and fair. They want the exam cancelled. They want a fresh test conducted properly. They want an independent inquiry into how the SPSC has handled recruitment over the past five years. The legal battle adds another layer of concern. The Sindh High Court suspended the results and asked the SPSC to produce full records. That was a reasonable step toward accountability. But the Federal Constitutional Court later suspended those orders, allowing interviews for the 70 successful candidates to continue. This leaves thousands of young people without answers while the process moves forward around them. This newspaper believes the SPSC owes these candidates transparency, not silence. A spokesperson refusing to comment while the matter sits in court is not good enough. Public institutions exist to serve citizens fairly. When thousands of young people spend years preparing for an exam, they deserve a system they can trust. Sindh’s youth are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for merit to be respected. The government and the SPSC must treat this seriously. An independent judicial inquiry would help restore public confidence. Anything less will only deepen the belief that government jobs go to the connected, not the capable. Young people who play by the rules deserve a system that does the same.

Pakistan and the United States have signed a new five-year agreement on higher education. The deal will run from 2026-27 to 2031-32. It brings back the Fulbright programme along with other important scholarships. This is good news for Pakistani students. The agreement covers Fulbright Master’s and PhD programmes. It also includes the Visiting Scholar Programme, the Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Programme, and the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship. The plan aims to send 66 Pakistani PhD scholars to the United States over five years. Many more students can benefit from the other programmes too. This move deserves praise. Pakistan needs skilled people in every field. Science, technology, medicine, and education all need trained experts. When young Pakistanis study abroad, they learn new ideas and skills. If they return home, they can use this knowledge to help the country grow. The financial details show serious commitment. The Higher Education Commission will give at least $4.54 million every year. The total cost over five years will reach Rs6.48 billion. Selection will be based on merit only. There will be no quotas based on region or group. This is a fair approach and should be welcomed by everyone. However, appreciation alone is not enough. Pakistan must think beyond sending students abroad. The real test comes when these scholars return home. Sadly, many highly qualified Pakistanis struggle to find good jobs in their own country. Some end up doing work far below their qualification level. Others simply move abroad again because Pakistan does not offer them proper opportunities. This must change. The government should create clear career paths for returning scholars. Universities need more research funding and modern laboratories. Industries should be encouraged to hire local PhD holders instead of relying only on foreign consultants. Without such steps, the country risks losing its best minds all over again. The government should also expand this kind of agreement with other countries. More scholarships mean more opportunities for Pakistani youth. But every scholarship should come with a plan for what happens after graduation. Pakistan has invested in this agreement with hope. That hope will only turn into real progress if the country welcomes its scholars back with real jobs, real research support, and real respect for their hard-earned qualifications.

The government says it closed the financial year with a primary budget surplus of around Rs3.6 trillion. This is the third year in a row that the government has managed this feat. On paper, this looks like good news. It shows fiscal discipline and helps Pakistan meet its IMF targets. But a closer look tells a different story, one that ordinary citizens are living through every day. The surplus was not built on stronger tax collection. The Federal Board of Revenue actually missed its target by nearly Rs1 trillion. Instead, the government leaned heavily on the petroleum levy. Collections from this single source jumped by 28 per cent and crossed Rs1.567 trillion. This levy is charged at Rs80 per litre on petrol and diesel. It hits every citizen directly, from the farmer running a tube well to the daily wage worker commuting to a factory. This is the real problem. A government struggling to widen its tax net is instead squeezing more money out of fuel prices. Every rupee added to the petroleum levy pushes up transport costs. It raises the price of food, medicine and almost everything else that must be moved from one place to another. This is exactly why inflation continues to bite ordinary households, even as officials celebrate a fiscal surplus in press releases. The government now plans to collect Rs1.7 trillion through this levy in the current year. That means more pressure on fuel prices is coming. A surplus achieved through petroleum taxes instead of genuine reform is not a lasting solution. It only shifts the burden onto people who are already struggling with high prices. Pakistan does not need more levies. It needs real tax reform that brings undertaxed sectors into the net, so ordinary citizens are not made to carry the weight of fiscal discipline alone.

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.

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.

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.