Petrol levy is killing the commoner

Some people are calling it a tragedy on a par with the Peshawar Army Public School. The death of 14 newborn babies in a fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) is a heartbreaking tragedy. These babies had just entered the world and were among the most vulnerable members of society. Their deaths raise serious questions about the safety of public hospitals and the responsibility of those entrusted with protecting patients. The National Assembly’s health committee has rightly questioned the initial claim that an old air conditioner caused the fire. The committee says there is no conclusive evidence so far to establish where the fire began. Other possibilities, including faulty electrical wiring and problems with the oxygen supply system, are now being investigated. Finding the real cause is important. However, the larger question is why a fire in a hospital nursery was allowed to become so deadly. Hospitals must be among the safest places in society. A newborn ward should have the highest level of fire protection, emergency planning and trained staff. This tragedy must not end with another inquiry and a few temporary suspensions. If negligence, poor management or failure to follow safety rules is found, those responsible must face strict action. Accountability should not stop with junior employees. Senior hospital officials and government authorities must also be investigated if they failed to ensure proper safety arrangements. There is an urgent need for practical reforms. Every major public and private hospital should undergo regular independent fire and electrical safety inspections. Fire alarms, smoke detectors, emergency exits and firefighting equipment must be checked regularly and kept in working condition. Hospitals should conduct frequent emergency drills so that doctors, nurses and other staff know exactly what to do during a fire. Special attention must be given to areas containing oxygen pipelines, electrical equipment and highly vulnerable patients. Old buildings should not be used for critical wards unless they meet modern safety standards. Where possible, newborns and intensive-care patients should be shifted to safer and better-equipped facilities. The government should also make the results of hospital safety audits public. This will increase transparency and encourage institutions to take safety rules seriously. Most importantly, safety standards must be enforced before a tragedy happens, not after innocent lives are lost. A fair investigation, strict accountability and strong safety reforms are the minimum that these innocent victims deserve. Pakistan cannot afford to wait for another tragedy before learning the same lesson again.

Thousands of people gathered on the streets of Washington this week. They came with Palestinian flags. They came with banners. They came with one clear demand. They want Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested the moment he sets foot in the United States. This demand is not extreme. It is based on law. The International Criminal Court has already issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu. Judges at the court found reasonable grounds to believe he bears responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Countries that respect international law are expected to act on such warrants. The United States chose not to. President Donald Trump made his position clear before Netanyahu even landed. He said Netanyahu would not be arrested on American soil. He defended Israel’s actions in the region without hesitation. This sends a troubling message. It tells the world that some leaders are above the law, as long as they have powerful friends. The protesters deserve credit. They did not stay silent. They stood outside in the summer heat and said what many people around the world are thinking. Gaza has suffered enormous destruction. Tens of thousands of civilians have died. Homes, hospitals and schools have been reduced to rubble. Ordinary people watching this unfold have every right to demand accountability from the man who led that campaign. It is worth noting that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has taken a braver stance than the federal government. He has said his city will look into enforcing the ICC warrant if Netanyahu travels there in September for the United Nations General Assembly. This is what leadership looks like. It is a reminder that not every American official is willing to look away. Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump this week was billed as a discussion of regional strategy after their joint military action against Iran. But the real story outside the White House gates was the crowd demanding justice. Their voices should not be dismissed as noise. They represent a growing global frustration with double standards in how international law is applied. The world should stands with those who believe no leader, however powerful his allies, should be shielded from accountability. The protesters in Washington were not the problem this week. The problem was the decision to protect a man wanted by the world’s highest court.

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 Supreme Court has given a landmark ruling on women’s rights. It has declared that a woman’s right to seek khula, or judicial divorce, is a constitutional right. The court said that violence against a woman for exercising this right is an attack on the Constitution itself. A three member bench dismissed the jail petition of convict Waseem Abbas and upheld his death sentence. Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar wrote the four page detailed judgment. The court said women are fully protected under Articles 9, 14 and 25 of the Constitution, which guarantee their security, dignity and equal rights. It said anyone who uses violence against a woman seeking khula will face the full force of the law, and called the killing of a woman for exercising her legal right an act of brutality and open defiance of the law. The court also ruled that a person involved in a cold blooded and planned murder does not deserve any concession. It clarified that the testimony of relatives cannot be automatically rejected in cases that happen inside a home. Forensic evidence, including a match between bullet casings and the weapon linked to the crime, gave conclusive proof against the accused. The court found no flaw in the lower courts’ decisions. According to the case record, Waseem Abbas shot and killed his former wife, Shehnaz Bibi, on October 11, 2020, about 48 hours after she obtained a khula decree from a family court. A trial court had sentenced him to death, and the Lahore High Court upheld that sentence. This judgment sends a strong message and gives justice in this one case. But the law alone cannot protect every woman in Shehnaz Bibi’s position. Many women never even reach the court, because they fear exactly this kind of violence at home. A verdict can punish a killer after the fact, but it cannot undo the loss of a life. To truly protect women, society itself needs to change how it views a woman’s right to leave a marriage. Courts can deliver justice, but only a shift in mindset, at home, in communities, and among families, can prevent the next Shehnaz Bibi.

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.

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.