Where We Stand: Reflections on Governance and Resp…

By Engineer Arshad Hameed Abbasi, International Energy, Climate Change and Water Security Practitioner and Engineer Idrees Abbasi, Former Consultant, World Bank,  and Mr. Amjad Butt, Writer; Secretary General, Murree Literary Council, resident of [address].    There is a particular kind of grief in watching an institution outlive its usefulness while still drawing a salary, still cutting ribbons, still issuing degrees that mean less each year they are printed. That is where Pakistan’s higher education system stands today, and it is time someone said so plainly: the paradigm has already shifted, quietly, without anyone in Islamabad’s marble offices noticing. It shifted on YouTube, on TED, on edX and Udemy and Khan Academy, in a thousand free lecture halls that never asked a single Pakistani student for tuition, a hostel fee, or four years of their life. The only people who have not caught up are the ones still running the old one. There is a particular kind of grief in watching an institution outlive its usefulness while still drawing a salary, still cutting ribbons, still issuing degrees that mean less each year they are printed. That is where Pakistan’s higher education system stands today, and it is time someone said so plainly: the paradigm has already shifted, quietly, without anyone in Islamabad’s marble offices noticing. It shifted on YouTube, on TED, on edX and Udemy and Khan Academy, in a thousand free lecture halls that never asked a single Pakistani student for tuition, a hostel fee, or four years of their life. The only people who have not caught up are the ones still running the old one. For decades, the deal offered to a Pakistani student was simple: surrender your time, your family’s savings, and your twenties to a physical campus, and in exchange receive knowledge you could not get anywhere else. That deal is dead. A seventeen-year-old with a smartphone and a working internet connection can now watch a Nobel laureate explain quantum mechanics, follow a structural engineer walk through a seismic design calculation line by line, or sit in on a Stanford lecture on macroeconomics — all free, all on demand, all taught by people who are, in most cases, simply better at their subject than the men and women drawing a professor’s salary in the classroom down the road. The tragedy is not that this content exists. The tragedy is that almost no one in a position of authority ever told the students it was there. For decades, the deal offered to a Pakistani student was simple: surrender your time, your family’s savings, and your twenties to a physical campus, and in exchange receive knowledge you could not get anywhere else. That deal is dead. A seventeen-year-old with a smartphone and a working internet connection can now watch a Nobel laureate explain quantum mechanics, follow a structural engineer walk through a seismic design calculation line by line, or sit in on a Stanford lecture on macroeconomics — all free, all on demand, all taught by people who are, in most cases, simply better at their subject than the men and women drawing a professor’s salary in the classroom down the road. The tragedy is not that this content exists. The tragedy is that almost no one in a position of authority ever told the students it was there. Ask yourself honestly: when was the last time a Vice Chancellor stood in front of a first-year class and said, “Before you trust anything I teach you, go watch the version of this lecture that MIT put online for free, and come back and tell me if I taught it better”? It has not happened, and it will not happen, because the entire architecture of Pakistani higher education depends on students not asking that question. It depends on the fiction that a degree is the same thing as an education, that a seat in a lecture hall for four years is the same thing as understanding, and that an institution’s worth can be measured in acres of campus rather than in what a graduate can actually do when the exam is over and the job begins.Ask yourself honestly: when was the last time a Vice Chancellor stood in front of a first-year class and said, “Before you trust anything I teach you, go watch the version of this lecture that MIT put online for free, and come back and tell me if I taught it better”? It has not happened, and it will not happen, because the entire architecture of Pakistani higher education depends on students not asking that question. It depends on the fiction that a degree is the same thing as an education, that a seat in a lecture hall for four years is the same thing as understanding, and that an institution’s worth can be measured in acres of campus rather than in what a graduate can actually do when the exam is over and the job begins. We do not need to guess what an alternative looks like, because the world has already built it. Universities that were once measured by the size of their footprint are now measured by the depth of their content and the reach of their delivery. Institutions like the National University of Singapore have shown that a compact, space-efficient campus married to serious digital delivery outperforms sprawling, underused infrastructure every time. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, students still find themselves inside partially built mega-campuses, sitting in half-used lecture halls, being taught by professors whose most recent research contribution was a maintenance grant, while the actual global classroom — free, current, taught by the best minds alive — sits one browser tab away, untouched, unmentioned, unrecommended by the very people whose job it was to point students toward it.We do not need to guess what an alternative looks like, because the world has already built it. Universities that were once measured by the size of their footprint are now measured by the depth of their content and the reach of their delivery.

A rise of anti immigration policies have been emerging rapidly across North America and Europe, especially in the United Kingdom and USA. The blue collar politicians and white people living there have expressed their concerns over these often labeled “illegal” immigrants causing crime and stealing the jobs of the “rightful” citizens. If looked closely upon, this is not about illegal immigration, rather it is a form of racism against the blacks, the Indians and rather anyone who is not white.   The United Kingdom had colonized a great part of the world which included the Indian subcontinent and a vast part of Africa along with other European colonizers whom they wanted to “civilize” as for them they were a “savage” race. This colonization resulted in thousands of black and Indian families migrating to Europe, especially the upper class who ought to receive English education and work in the British government.   This seems like a normal history dilemma where colonization led to great migrations and mixing, which the Europeans have now mayhaps forgotten. All over the UK, many rallies of white people have emerged in which they protested against immigration- however they in reality spread their similar racist views. These citizens may not realize the extent to which immigrants aided in growing the economy. If kicked out, the economy will collapse and suffer tremendously.   In recent years these anti immigration policies have caused major hurdles for students all over Asia, South America and Africa who are ambitious enough to study in the ivy leagues and settle abroad- however their visas being rejected have deteriorated their ambitions otherwise. This is being seen as a great disadvantage all over the world especially for the students who are forced into putting a hold on their education.   No more than the student, this poses a great threat to the Western countries themselves. Without the hands and minds of these students who are the future workforce who help stabilize and grow the economy, the countries will often suffer. Unlike most nations, Germany is seen as offering free education to these immigrants which has definitely bore the result making Germany one of the most powerful economies despite the restrictions imposed on them (after world war II).   The other side of this argument initiates from the government of respective countries like Pakistan whom the students and workers emigrate from- their government stating that they are much needed to support their own respective economies. Nevertheless, the great amount of corruption, instability and discrimination are the reasons in the first place for workers to emigrate seeking better secure jobs abroad. It is hard to revive the patriotic heart of civilians when the governments do not work in favour of them.   “France for the French” was said by Jean-Marie Le Pen since the immigrants are apparently threatening the French identity. The same french is spoken in 20 African countries who were forcefully colonized and turned into slaves, the countries who had their own languages (hundreds of them), cultures and identities. So it often seems extremely hypocritical to hear statements such as these.   Consequently, the immigrants framed as criminals are the result of centuries old racist ideologies. They pose no threat but the threat of looking different, which is again ironically hypocritical since white race is a minority in the world. Hence, even in the ripe year of 2026 racism thrives and the rest of the world suffers. Comments like “Immigration is not an opportunity. It is a tragedy.” ( by Marine Le Pen) are made openly without facing any backlash- instead receive grave support. Mayhaps immigration can stop once the British return the koh-e-noor, jewels and trillions of dollars worth of resources stolen from the sub continent.

Climate change is no longer solely an environmental concern, it has become one of the defining economic and trade challenges of the twenty-first century. Around the world, governments are increasingly using market-based mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while maintaining industrial competitiveness and economic growth. Among these mechanisms, the Emissions Trading System (ETS) has emerged as one of the most effective policy instruments. According to the World Bank’s State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2026, there are now 87 carbon pricing instruments operating globally, including emissions trading systems and carbon taxes, covering nearly 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. These instruments generated over US$107 billion in public revenues in 2025, demonstrating that carbon pricing has evolved from an environmental policy into an important pillar of economic and fiscal governance. In the case of Pakistan, one that is most vulnerable to climate change, the discourse & discussion on emissions trading has become increasingly pertinent. While Pakistan contributes less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it remains among the nation’s most severely affected by climate-induced disasters. The catastrophic floods of 2022 alone caused economic losses estimated at more than US$30 billion, highlighting the enormous economic costs of climate vulnerability. As Pakistan seeks to achieve sustainable economic growth while fulfilling its commitments under the Paris Agreement, an Emissions Trading System offers an opportunity to integrate climate action with industrial competitiveness, investment promotion, and long-term economic resilience. An Emissions Trading System, commonly referred to as a cap-and-trade mechanism, establishes a limit on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that regulated industries are permitted to emit. Within this overall cap, companies receive or purchase emission allowances that authorize them to emit a specified quantity of carbon dioxide or its equivalent. Firms that reduce their emissions below their allocated limits can sell their unused allowances to companies that exceed their emission caps. This market-based approach creates a financial incentive for industries to invest in cleaner technologies, improve energy efficiency, and reduce emissions while allowing businesses the flexibility to determine the most cost-effective compliance strategy. The success of emissions trading systems across the world demonstrates the growing importance of carbon markets in modern economic management. The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), launched in 2005, remains the world’s largest multinational carbon market and has significantly reduced emissions from power generation, manufacturing, and aviation. China now operates the world’s largest ETS by emissions covered, initially focusing on the power sector and gradually expanding to additional industries. South Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, and several states in the United States and Canada have also established operational emissions trading systems tailored to their economic structures. Collectively, jurisdictions accounting for almost two-thirds of global GDP have either implemented or are actively developing direct carbon pricing mechanisms, signalling that carbon markets are rapidly becoming mainstream economic policy rather than experimental environmental initiatives. Across South Asia, governments are increasingly recognising carbon markets as instruments of economic competitiveness rather than solely environmental regulation. India has initiated the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) while expanding its long-standing Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) programme to improve industrial energy efficiency. Bangladesh is developing the institutional and regulatory foundations needed to participate in voluntary carbon markets and future compliance mechanisms. Together, these developments indicate a gradual regional shift towards integrating climate policy with industrial development, trade competitiveness, and sustainable economic growth. Pakistan has also begun laying the foundations for a future carbon market, although the country remains at an early stage of development. The National Climate Change Policy, Pakistan’s updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and the National Adaptation Plan recognise the importance of market-based mechanisms for reducing emissions. The Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, together with development partners including the World Bank, GIZ, UNDP, and the Asian Development Bank, has initiated policy dialogue and capacity-building initiatives aimed at strengthening Pakistan’s carbon market readiness. At the provincial level, Punjab has emerged as the frontrunner in preparing for emissions trading. With technical support from GIZ, the Environment Protection and Climate Change Department and the Planning and Development Board have initiated collaborative efforts to develop the institutional architecture necessary for an Emissions Trading System. These initiatives include the development of emissions inventories, digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems, the Green Credit Initiative, and the strengthening of Punjab’s Climate Watch platform to improve emissions monitoring and support evidence-based climate decision-making. Although these initiatives do not yet constitute a formal ETS, they represent important building blocks for a future provincial pilot that could eventually inform the development of a national emissions trading framework. Despite these encouraging developments, Pakistan faces several institutional and technical challenges before an operational ETS can be introduced. Reliable emissions inventories remain incomplete across many industrial sectors, while comprehensive Monitoring, Reporting and Verification systems are still evolving. Institutional responsibilities for climate policy, industrial regulation, energy management, and environmental protection remain fragmented across multiple federal and provincial agencies, requiring stronger coordination. Furthermore, many industries and institutions have limited experience with greenhouse gas accounting, carbon pricing & reporting, emissions verification that highlight the need for substantial technical capacity building. Nevertheless the opportunities created by ETS are significant, not only due to environmental benefits but formulates holistic markets that contribute to the world economy. Carbon market revenues have already crossed the threshold of almost US$30 billion in 2016 to over US$107 billion in 2025, representing the rapid and robust growth of climate finance and green investments worldwide. The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) signals a new era where carbon compliance is becoming integral to international trade. Although Pakistan’s textile exports are not yet covered, global buyers increasingly demand transparent emissions reporting and low-carbon production. Developing an Emissions Trading System (ETS) and robust Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems will help Pakistani industries strengthen compliance and safeguard export competitiveness. Pakistan stands at a crossroads in its climate and economic development. With an estimated greenhouse gas emissions of around 500 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) per year, of which

By Engineer Arshad H Abbasi, ahabasi@gmail.com, edited by Engineer Musa Arshad H Abbasi I write this from Islamabad, not as a diplomat or a historian, but as someone who spends his working life measuring rivers, glaciers, and energy systems — and who has spent the last year watching the instruments of my own profession become instruments of geopolitics instead. I am a water, energy and climate professional, not an expert in international relations. But you do not need a doctorate in strategic studies to feel what it means to live in a capital that sits within reach of two active fronts at once, and to watch a third, farther away, threaten the fuel that keeps my own country’s lights on. To the east, the Indus itself has become a weapon in a dispute I once only studied on paper. Since April 23, 2025, one day after the Pahalgam attack killed 26 people in Jammu and Kashmir, India has held the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, and as recently as July 3, 2026, New Delhi reaffirmed the suspension will continue until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably” ends cross-border terrorism. Pakistan calls any interruption of that water an act of war. I measure river flows for a living, and I can tell you that a treaty which survived two wars and decades of hostility between 1960 and 2025 was never really about engineering — it was about restraint. Watching that restraint erode between two nuclear-armed neighbors, over a river that irrigates the fields I grew up walking beside, is not an abstraction to me. It is personal. To the west, the war that began on February 28, 2026 between the United States, Israel, and Iran has turned the Strait of Hormuz — the channel that once carried roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and a fifth of its LNG — into a contested chokepoint. Iranian forces have mined and attacked shipping there on and off for months; a ceasefire and a June memorandum of understanding collapsed in July when Iran resumed strikes on vessels it deemed noncompliant. Even now, in mid-August, Tehran and Oman are still negotiating the terms under which the strait might fully reopen. Every Pakistani household that has watched fuel prices swing this year has felt that war, even though it is being fought a thousand miles from here. And Pakistan’s own western border is no longer a metaphor for instability — it is an active one. Since February 2026, Pakistan and Afghanistan have fought what both sides’ own defense ministries have called open war along the 1893 Durand Line, with Pakistani airstrikes on Nangarhar and Kabul, an Afghan cross-border offensive, and casualty claims running into the hundreds on each side before Qatar- and Turkey-mediated pauses briefly held. I know these are not the only fires burning on this continent, and an honest accounting has to look past South Asia. In Southeast Asia, a century-old dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over the ancient temples of Preah Vihear and Ta Muen Thom erupted twice in 2025 — first in July, then again in December — leaving at least 101 people dead and forcing more than half a million civilians from their homes before a fragile ceasefire, signed December 27, brought an uneasy calm. In East Asia, the map is a thicket of overlapping claims: China and Taiwan over the island’s sovereignty itself; China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea; China and the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal and reefs across the South China Sea; and Japan and its neighbors over a scattering of other contested waters that keep regional navies on constant alert. Indonesia and Malaysia, too, carry an unresolved history — the armed 1960s Konfrontasi and a maritime boundary dispute over the oil-rich Ambalat block in the Sulawesi Sea that periodically flares even between otherwise friendly neighbors. And running beneath all of it is the oldest fault line of all: the decades-long conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, still reshaping alliances and battlefields from Gaza to Lebanon to Yemen, where Houthi strikes on Saudi infrastructure continue even this month. Set against all of that, look at Central Asia — building transit corridors instead of trench lines, settling water and border disputes through negotiation rather than force, and courting the same investors that war has driven away from South Asia, the Gulf, and the South China Sea. Even the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process next door, however unfinished — initialed in Washington in August 2025, still unsigned a year later over Armenia’s constitutional language — has produced something rarer than victory: an actual framework both sides keep returning to, rather than abandoning for the battlefield. While I want to avoid romanticizing Central Asia to those who know the region far better than I do, it stands as a compelling model for peace. The region offers a practical demonstration that Asian states can prioritize economic integration over territorial reflexes—a choice that others, from Islamabad to Phnom Penh to Manila, have yet to make. The Ledger of Conflict: A Continent Still at War With Itself It is worth setting all of this down in one place, because scattered across a dozen news cycles it is easy to lose the scale of it. India–Pakistan, Kashmir and the Indus Waters Treaty. Held in abeyance since April 23, 2025; reaffirmed as of July 2026 to remain suspended until Pakistan “irrevocably” ends cross-border terrorism, in a dispute that touches the water security of more than 300 million people and involves two nuclear-armed states that have already fought a war in 2025. Iran, Israel, and the United States. War since February 28, 2026, with Iranian attacks on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a corridor carrying roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and a fifth of its LNG — still unresolved as Tehran and Oman negotiate terms for reopening it, even this month. Pakistan–Afghanistan, the Durand Line. Open war since February 2026 between two governments that have never

Pakistan observed World Hepatitis Day on 28 July in Islamabad with a renewed national commitment to eliminating Hepatitis C and strengthening public health interventions through coordinated action, innovation, and community engagement. Under the Prime Minister’s National Programme for the Elimination of Hepatitis C Infection, the Government of Pakistan has launched free screening, free diagnostic testing, and free treatment for Hepatitis C patients across the country. The initiative represents a major public health intervention aimed at reducing the country’s exceptionally high burden of the disease and ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent patients from receiving timely diagnosis and life-saving treatment. The ceremony was attended by the Federal Minister for Health, Syed Mustafa Kamal; the Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Professor Ahsan Iqbal; the WHO Country Representative, Dr. Luo Dapeng; the Federal Secretary for Health, Muhammad Aslam Ghori; Professor Dr. Saeed Akhtar, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (PKLI&RC); the Chief Executive Officer of Dr. Akbar Niazi Teaching Hospital, Islamabad, Yasir Khan Niazi; Dr. Huma Qureshi; and Dr. Hassan Mahmood, Country Head of Integral Global. International delegates, representatives of national and international organizations, and leading health experts were also present. The event was organized by the Project Management Unit of the Prime Minister’s National Programme for the Elimination of Hepatitis C Infection under the leadership and supervision of Project Director Dr. Zia Dawar, in collaboration with Dr. Akbar Niazi Teaching Hospital, Islamabad, and Integral Global. The gathering provided an important platform to assess progress, discuss future strategies, and reaffirm Pakistan’s determination to achieve Hepatitis C elimination through evidence-based policies, strong partnerships, and effective implementation mechanisms. Hepatitis C remains a major public health concern worldwide, but the scale of the challenge is particularly serious in Pakistan. A large number of infected individuals remain unaware of their condition because the disease may progress silently for years without producing obvious symptoms. Limited access to screening, delayed diagnosis, unsafe medical practices, inadequate awareness, and the high cost of treatment have historically prevented many patients from seeking timely care. The introduction of free screening, testing, and treatment under the Prime Minister’s National Programme therefore marks a significant shift in Pakistan’s response. It recognizes that Hepatitis C cannot be eliminated merely by treating patients who reach hospitals at an advanced stage. Instead, a comprehensive national strategy is required to identify undiagnosed cases, provide confirmatory testing, ensure immediate access to treatment, prevent new infections, and maintain effective monitoring and surveillance systems. Addressing the gathering, Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal stated that Pakistan carries one of the highest burdens of Hepatitis C patients in the world. He warned that the disease continues to threaten millions of lives and places immense pressure on families, communities, and the national healthcare system. He emphasized that the government could not remain indifferent to a health crisis of such magnitude and had therefore launched a nationwide programme providing free screening, free testing, and free treatment to eligible patients. Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal highlighted the need to integrate public health priorities into Pakistan’s broader national development agenda. He emphasized that a healthy population is the foundation of economic growth, social stability, productivity, and sustainable development. Illness not only affects individuals and families but also reduces workforce participation, increases household expenditure, and places additional pressure on national resources. Professor Ahsan Iqbal noted that investment in disease prevention and healthcare accessibility should not be viewed merely as an expenditure. Rather, it is a long-term investment in Pakistan’s human capital and future prosperity. He stressed that the elimination of communicable diseases such as Hepatitis C requires continuity of policy, effective planning, measurable targets, institutional coordination, and transparent implementation. The presence of international health partners at the event reflected the global importance of Pakistan’s hepatitis elimination agenda. WHO Country Representative Dr. Luo Dapeng appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to advance Hepatitis C elimination and reiterated the importance of sustained political commitment, strong surveillance, effective prevention, reliable data, public awareness, and universal access to treatment. He emphasized that international cooperation, technical expertise, and knowledge-sharing remain essential for strengthening national healthcare responses. Pakistan’s success in controlling Hepatitis C would not only protect millions of its citizens but would also contribute significantly to regional and global disease-elimination targets. Addressing the gathering online, Professor Dr. Saeed Akhtar emphasized that eliminating Hepatitis C requires more than treating individuals after they become seriously ill. He stressed the importance of prevention, widespread screening, early diagnosis, safe medical practices, public awareness, and timely access to effective treatment. Professor Dr. Saeed Akhtar observed that Pakistan possesses the medical knowledge and therapeutic tools necessary to control the disease. However, success will depend on sustained political commitment, effective implementation, and close cooperation among the federal and provincial governments, healthcare institutions, development partners, and local communities. Reliable data will enable policymakers to understand where infections are concentrated, which populations remain underserved, and whether screening and treatment programmes are producing the desired results. Without accurate monitoring, even well-funded programmes may struggle to measure their impact or address gaps in implementation. The participation of international delegates and eminent health professionals demonstrated the growing recognition of Pakistan’s hepatitis elimination efforts on the global health platform. Their engagement provided an opportunity to exchange knowledge, examine successful international models, and identify practical solutions for overcoming the challenges that continue to hinder progress. World Hepatitis Day serves as a reminder that Hepatitis C is preventable, diagnosable, and treatable. Its elimination is achievable when governments, healthcare professionals, communities, development partners, and international organizations work together with a shared vision and sustained commitment. Pakistan’s journey towards eliminating Hepatitis C is not merely a medical campaign. It is a national commitment to protecting lives, reducing health inequalities, preventing avoidable suffering, and ensuring that no individual is denied treatment because of poverty or limited access to healthcare. The Islamabad event conveyed a clear and powerful message; Hepatitis C elimination is possible through leadership, collaboration, public awareness, and sustained action. The

In the autumn of 2005, the earth rose in wrath against the ancient hills of Kashmir. On the eighth day of October, a violent convulsion of 7.6 magnitude tore through the region, its epicentre lying a mere 19 kms northeast of Muzaffarabad. The tremor was felt far beyond Pakistan’s borders, reverberating through Afghanistan and Tajikistan, across the valleys of India, and even into the remote expanses of Xinjiang. It proved one of the deadliest natural disasters of that decade, claiming thousands of lives and reducing entire villages to rubble. For months the ground refused to rest; careful records later counted no fewer than 497 aftershocks between October and the following March. During such uncertainty a sobering lesson emerged; buildings erected with care and strength stood firm against the repeated tremors, while those raised hastily or without conscience crumbled into dust and despair. A parallel drama of sudden upheaval and lingering aftershocks has unfolded more recently, though this time the forces at work have been those of human conflict rather than nature’s blind fury. Late in February 2026, long-simmering tensions between Iran and USA erupted into open warfare, with Israel joining the fray in decisive fashion. Large-scale aerial and missile assaults struck hundreds of targets across Iran, homing in upon military bases, nuclear facilities, and centres of leadership. The loss of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the opening strikes sent shockwaves through the region and beyond. Tehran responded with barrages of missiles and swarms of drones that lit the night skies and struck at targets across several countries. For several weeks in March and April the fighting intensified, leaving thousands dead—most of them in Iran and Lebanon—and threatening to engulf wider circles of involvement involving Hezbollah and other actors. Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, that vital artery of global energy, faced grave peril, and the world watched anxiously as oil supplies trembled on the edge of disruption. A measure of relief arrived around the middle of June when a MOU was concluded between the United States and Iran. The accord promised a halt to major combat operations, the reopening of the strait to peaceful navigation, and the beginning of serious negotiations concerning Iran’s nuclear program. For a brief season hope flickered that reason might yet prevail. Yet by the seventh and eighth of July the ceasefire had fractured. Iranian forces struck at merchant vessels in the Hormuz passage; the United States answered with fresh waves of airstrikes and the reimposition of a naval blockade. Iran, in turn, launched retaliatory attacks upon American and coalition positions in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and elsewhere. As July draws toward its close, the pattern of nocturnal American strikes and Iranian counterblows continues, holding the Gulf in a state of restless tension. Though the principal theatre of war lies distant from our frontiers, its aftershocks have travelled with merciless swiftness to the streets and bazaars of Pakistan. The initial convulsion in global oil markets followed hard upon the early phase of hostilities. Petrol prices in Pakistan surged to an unprecedented four hundred and fifty-eight rupees and forty-one paise per litre on the third of April—a record born of disrupted supplies and fevered speculation. Diesel climbed still higher, touching five hundred and twenty rupees and thirty-five paise. The consequences touched every corner of national life; transporters raised their fares, farmers faced higher costs for machinery and transport, and ordinary households tightened their belts as inflation rippled outward. For a time, as diplomatic channels—including Pakistan’s own quiet mediation efforts—bore fruit and the strait began to function once more, prices eased and a measure of stability returned. Yet the renewed outbreak of fighting in July has shattered that fragile calm. Oil prices have again become uncontrollable, climbing under the pressure of uncertainty and fresh speculation. The government, its options narrowed by heavy reliance on international loans and a vulnerable economy, has found itself compelled to adjust domestic fuel rates almost daily, basing decisions as much upon forecasts of future trouble as upon present realities. Thus, the nation has endured a great initial shock followed by persistent aftershocks, much like the Kashmir earthquake two decades earlier. Each fresh tremor in the Gulf sends another wave through our foreign exchange reserves, our transport sector, and the fragile purchasing power of the common citizen. Industries dependent upon steady fuel supplies have curtailed operations; the cost of everyday commodities has risen in sympathy; and the burden has fallen most heavily upon those least able to bear it. Pakistan’s economy, long accustomed to navigating external storms while standing upon borrowed foundations, feels these disturbances with particular acuity. Even in these challenging times, the dry wit of everyday Pakistanis remains unshaken. One recalls an incident from the days when the Daily Pakistan newspaper was under the ownership of Akbar Bhatti. A reporter rushed into the newsroom one afternoon declaring that Bhatti Sahib’s car had met with an accident. Before concern could fully form, another veteran journalist remarked with a knowing smile that this surely meant salaries would not arrive on time that month. The quip, though light, spoke volumes about the precariousness of life and livelihood when those at the helm encounter misfortune. Pakistan has passed through many such seasons of trial—political upheavals, economic tempests, and natural calamities alike. Each time the nation has gathered its scattered strength, mended what could be mended, and pressed onward. The present difficulties arising from the conflict in the Gulf, with their daily toll upon fuel prices and economic confidence, constitute yet another test of our collective endurance. The strong institutions and resilient spirit of the people have served as anchors in the past; they remain our surest hope today. God willing, this too shall pass, and Pakistan shall emerge from these aftershocks steadier and more united, its foundations reinforced by hardship and its future secured by the unyielding will of its citizens.