Petrol levy is killing the commoner

Dharmendra Pradhan is gone, and India’s students deserve credit for this outcome. The Cockroach Janta Party earned this win through patience and courage, not through empty slogans. For ten days, young people faced tear gas and batons. They kept coming back. This kind of discipline is rare among protest movements. Many governments wait out public anger, hoping crowds will tire and go home. The CJP did not tire. It stayed at Jantar Mantar until the government had no choice but to listen. The protest also stayed focused. It began with anger over the NEET examination and irregularities that damaged trust in the whole testing system. Instead of losing direction, the movement grew into a wider call for accountability, transparency, and jobs for young Indians. This growth showed maturity, not chaos. Two rounds of talks failed before Pradhan resigned. That failure could have broken the movement. It did not. Protesters held their ground, and a third round never became necessary. The minister chose to step down first. This shows that sustained peaceful pressure still works in a democracy, even when early negotiations collapse. Credit also belongs to CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, who kept the movement organised despite police pressure. His simple words to the crowd, delivered after the resignation, captured the moment better than any long speech could. Rahul Gandhi is right to demand more. An apology from the prime minister and action against those responsible for violence against students would complete this chapter properly. Compensation for affected candidates and withdrawal of cases against protesters must also follow, as promised. Still, this resignation is a genuine victory. Young Indians showed that organised, peaceful protest can force accountability at the highest level. The Cockroach Janta Party deserves full credit for proving that persistence changes outcomes.

The federal government has taken a step that deserves real appreciation. Every government employee in Islamabad will now undergo mandatory hepatitis screening. This is not a small decision. Hepatitis often hides quietly inside the body. Many patients show no clear symptoms until the disease has already caused serious damage. By making screening compulsory, the government is finally choosing prevention over regret. This initiative falls under the Prime Minister’s Hepatitis Programme. The programme carries a massive allocation of Rs67 billion. That is a serious commitment, not just a token gesture. Employees who test positive will get a free PCR test. Those confirmed positive will receive free medicines. This removes the financial fear that often stops people from seeking treatment. Many patients avoid testing simply because they cannot afford it. This programme removes that barrier completely. More than 50,000 screening kits have already been purchased. PCR testing machinery is now installed at the National Institutes of Health. This shows the groundwork has been done properly, not rushed for show. Early detection saves lives. It also saves the healthcare system from handling advanced, costly cases later. But here is where the government must think bigger. Hepatitis is not a problem limited to Islamabad. It affects cities and villages across Pakistan. Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan all carry a heavy hepatitis burden. If mandatory screening works for federal employees in the capital, there is no reason it cannot work everywhere else.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has told all ministries to meet their deadlines under the privatisation programme. This push for speed and coordination is the right instinct. Pakistan cannot afford more delays in selling off loss making state enterprises. The government has listed 27 public sector organisations for privatisation in three phases. Officials briefed the prime minister on progress at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi airports. They also updated him on the sale of IESCO, FESCO and GEPCO. Expressions of Interest have already been invited for all three power companies. FESCO submissions close on August 7. GEPCO closes on August 21. IESCO closes on September 7, 2026. International investors are showing interest and roadshows are continuing. This pace is encouraging but Pakistan has been here before. The privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines dragged on for years through failed bids, legal challenges and political hesitation. That delay cost the national exchequer billions in continued losses. It also damaged investor confidence in Pakistan’s ability to complete a sale once it starts one. The government must not let IESCO, FESCO and GEPCO suffer the same fate. Speed alone is not enough. Every step of this process must remain transparent. Bidding criteria, investor qualifications and final sale terms should be made public and open to scrutiny. Citizens deserve to know that state assets are being sold at fair value, not handed over through backroom deals. The prime minister was right to direct that ZTBL continue serving farmers after privatisation. Agriculture remains central to Pakistan’s economy and food security. Any new owner must be bound by clear conditions to protect farmer access to credit. The economy needs the discipline that privatisation brings. But the PIA experience proves that half measures and delays only deepen losses. The government must finish what it starts, openly and on schedule.

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.

Rivers across the country are rising fast. Heavy monsoon rain, combined with water released from Indian dams upstream, has pushed combined river flows to 454,000 cusecs. The Indus is swelling at Tarbela, Kalabagh and Chashma. The Chenab is already at medium flood level at its main headworks. Officials warn that high flooding may hit the Chenab within hours, and the Jhelum is also expected to rise. Melting glaciers in the north, driven by unusually high temperatures in Skardu, add another layer of danger. The human cost is already visible. At least six people have died in Khyber district and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, including a mother and her two children buried under a landslide in Kotli. In Landi Kotal, floodwaters swept away vehicles and killed three people. Across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, at least 12 people have died and 14 have been injured in the last 24 hours alone, five of them children. These numbers should alarm the nation, but they should not surprise it. Pakistan faces this same tragedy almost every monsoon season. Rivers swell, hillsides collapse, and families in low-lying villages pay the price. The problem is not only the rain. It is the gap between the warnings issued by the Flood Forecasting Division and the action taken on the ground before disaster strikes. Pre-flood safety measures save more lives than any rescue operation after the fact. Families living near rivers and in flood-prone valleys must be relocated before water levels reach danger marks, not after. Local administrations should identify vulnerable settlements in advance and prepare clear evacuation routes. Simple steps such as keeping emergency contact numbers visible in villages, stocking basic supplies, and avoiding travel through known landslide zones during heavy rain can prevent needless deaths. Public awareness campaigns deserve far more attention than they currently receive. Many rural families do not know how to interpret a flood warning or what to do when one is issued. Radio, mobile alerts and community announcements in local languages can close this gap quickly and cheaply. Authorities should not wait for rivers to reach danger levels before informing residents. Warnings must go out the moment forecasts show risk, giving people time to move to safety. The government has shown it can respond once a disaster hits, with rescue teams and heavy machinery deployed to clear roads and relocate residents. But response is not prevention. Pakistan must invest in early warning systems, train local volunteers, and build a culture where communities know exactly what to do before the water arrives.

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.