World must break its silence on Al-Aqsa and Palestine

The Punjab government has set the new wheat release price at Rs3,800 per maund. This decision raises a serious question. Why is the province paying more now than it paid to its own farmers. Earlier this year, wheat growers across Punjab sold their crop at rates far lower than Rs3,800 per maund. Many farmers struggled to cover their basic costs. Fertiliser, diesel, and labour prices kept rising, but the government did not offer a fair price at harvest time. Now, months later, the same government is buying wheat from PASSCO at Rs4,150 per maund. This is imported wheat, bought at a much higher cost than what local farmers received. This gap sends a troubling message to the farming community. It tells them that growing wheat at home is less valuable than buying it from abroad. A farmer who works through the heat, spends money on seeds and water, and waits months for the harvest ends up earning less than what the state later pays for imported grain. This is not fair, and it is not sustainable. If this pattern continues, farmers may simply lose interest in wheat cultivation. Punjab is the backbone of Pakistan’s wheat production. If growers shift to other crops or leave farming altogether, the country could face a bigger crisis in the coming years. Food security cannot depend on imports alone. The federal and provincial governments must rethink this approach. Farmers need a support price that reflects their real costs and effort, announced before sowing season begins, not after imports have already been arranged. Punjab also needs to invest in storage and procurement systems so that local wheat is bought and stored efficiently, without forcing the province to rely on costlier imported stock. Protecting the price of roti for consumers is important. But that protection should not come at the cost of the farmer who grows the wheat in the first place.

Thousands of students are paying the price for a system that should have protected them. The Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training has once again exposed how badly the Higher Education Commission has handled degree verification and attestation for students of the University of South Asia Lahore, NICE Karachi and PIMSET campuses. Nearly 37,000 young people remain caught in a bureaucratic mess that is not of their making. This situation demands urgent action, not more excuses. The numbers alone tell a troubling story. Over 6,000 students from USA Lahore, more than five thousand from NICE and close to twenty five thousand from PIMSET campuses have been left waiting for degrees that should confirm years of hard work. Only a fraction of these students have received clearance so far. Meanwhile, HEC officials keep offering vague claims of progress instead of solid facts. Senator Masroor Ahsan was right to press officials for real figures instead of general statements. When lawmakers cannot get straight answers, ordinary students stand even less chance. The most troubling part of this episode is the state of the so called online attestation system. HEC claimed the process had gone fully online, yet officials could not say how many students from these specific institutions had actually benefited. This is not a technical detail. It is a matter of trust. A digital system that cannot show basic figures for the very students it claims to serve is not truly functional. Real students are suffering because of this failure. One student said his complaint had remained stuck as in progress since June, without any verification letter or clearance certificate. Another said the portal did not even show his attestation status despite completing the process multiple times. These are not isolated glitches. They reflect a system that was launched without proper testing or planning. Minute Mirror strongly condemns this prolonged delay and the lack of transparency shown by HEC in handling these cases. Students have already lost valuable time waiting for degrees needed for jobs, higher studies and other opportunities. The commission must move beyond promises and deliver a functioning, transparent and fully online verification system without further delay. The Senate committee has given HEC 15 days to submit detailed reports on NICE and PIMSET. This deadline must be treated seriously.

Pakistan has just done something worth celebrating. Standing alongside Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has helped bring to life the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, a pact that puts Pakistan right at the centre of a new chapter in regional security. This is not a small achievement. It is proof that Pakistan’s voice still carries weight where it matters most. For decades, Pakistan has built strong ties with Türkiye and Saudi Arabia separately. Now, those ties have been woven into one formal framework. Under this agreement, an attack on one country will be treated as an attack on all three. That is a serious commitment, and Pakistan’s inclusion in it says a great deal about how the region sees Islamabad’s role today. Some commentators have rushed to compare this pact to NATO or to label it a “Muslim NATO.” That framing misses the point. This is not a bloc built to threaten anyone. It is a defensive arrangement built on trust, shared history, and common interest. The three countries have been careful to describe it as a framework for collective security, deterrence, and regional stability, not as a tool aimed at any single rival. What makes this moment especially encouraging is what each country brings to the table. Pakistan offers a battle-tested military and decades of experience fighting terrorism, skills few nations in the world can match. Saudi Arabia brings economic muscle and political influence across the Muslim world. Türkiye contributes a fast-growing defence industry and modern military technology. Put together, these three strengths complement each other in a way that few alliances manage to achieve. For Pakistan, this is more than a defence pact. It is a diplomatic opportunity. Islamabad already maintains working relationships with Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Iran, China, and the United States. Few countries in the world can claim that kind of reach. This new agreement strengthens Pakistan’s hand further, giving it a bigger seat at the table when regional crises need calm heads and open channels of communication. There is good reason to feel hopeful here. The Middle East and South Asia face real security challenges, from shifting alliances to new military technologies. In this uncertain environment, countries that plan ahead and build partnerships based on trust will be better placed to protect their people and their interests. Pakistan, by joining hands with two important regional powers, has shown exactly that kind of foresight. Of course, agreements on paper only matter if they are followed by real action. The success of this pact will depend on how well Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye coordinate in the years ahead, and how seriously all three governments honour their commitments. But the foundation being laid here is a strong one. Pakistan has long punched above its weight in regional diplomacy. With the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, it has taken another confident step forward, and that is something every Pakistani can take pride in.

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 inflation rate has finally slipped back into single digits, and this is genuinely good news. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has confirmed that annual inflation fell to 9.2 percent in July 2026, down from 11.1 percent in June. After three straight months of double-digit readings in April, May and June, this drop deserves to be welcomed. It signals that the aggressive monetary tightening and stabilisation measures of the past year are finally showing results. Businesses that had been struggling with unpredictable input costs can now plan with slightly more confidence, and policymakers at the State Bank will have room to consider further easing of interest rates. But the government must resist the temptation to treat this number as a victory lap. A single month of improved statistics does not undo years of erosion in ordinary people’s purchasing power. For the average household in Lahore, Karachi or Peshawar, a fall from 11.1 percent to 9.2 percent is not something felt at the kitchen table. Prices of flour, cooking oil, vegetables and electricity remain far above where they stood two or three years ago. The inflation rate measures the pace of increase, not the level of prices, and that distinction matters enormously to families who are still paying inflated rates for basic goods every single day. The government also needs to be honest about how fragile this improvement is. A large part of the drop is due to the base effect, as last year’s high prices make this year’s comparison look better on paper. Energy prices remain volatile, the rupee is still under pressure, and any external shock, whether from global oil markets or domestic tax measures, could push inflation back into double digits within months. Claiming credit now, without acknowledging these risks, would be premature and would mislead the public about how far there is still to go. Real relief will only come when wages catch up with the cumulative price increases of recent years, when utility bills stop consuming a disproportionate share of household income, and when the cost of food staples becomes predictable again. None of that is reflected in a single month’s inflation reading. The government would do better to treat this figure as a modest and welcome data point, not as proof that the economic crisis facing ordinary Pakistanis has passed. Until people actually feel the difference in their monthly budgets, talk of relief remains premature.

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.