There are no consequences for this abuse of state power. Indeed, it increasingly appears that the lead-up to a protest, and not the protest itself, is where the real political battle is fought. And all this is playing out at the moment on television screens and social media, as the PTI prepares for its Sept 27 march on Islamabad to demand its jailed founder’s release. The machinery of the state has kicked into action all over the country, armed with the usual pretexts of ‘prevention of violence’ and ‘protection of public infrastructure and property’.

The actions taken to thwart the march appear to be many. At least 155, perhaps more, preventive detention orders have been issued under the MPO; lists have been drawn up of PTI leaders and workers for further ‘preventive arrests’; police personnel’s leaves have been cancelled; containers and roadblocks are being prepared; restrictions have been placed on rallies and public gatherings; and Section 144 has been implemented in Punjab, with plans of a broader rollout soon.

Authorities undoubtedly have a responsibility to maintain order, and reasonable measures to discharge that responsibility are legitimate. But half a dozen overlapping instruments, deployed against a political party’s leadership and rank and file, cannot be considered reasonable by any stretch. Sadly, such actions only give the impression that even calls for protest are considered a thought crime in our society.

The heavy-handedness with which the government has been curtailing the opposition’s ability to exercise its lawful political rights should not be overlooked. Every democracy allows its citizens to express their will in different ways, including through peaceful public protests. That the government can and will prosecute political leaders and workers who actually break the law is not in dispute; the state has every right to respond firmly when violent protest tactics are employed deliberately.

However, the point is that deterrents already exist and do not require the pre-emptive detention of people who have broken no law. Past protests may have turned violent, but that history cannot be used as a justification to arbitrarily suspend constitutional rights for those who have caused no offence.

It is time to stop treating dissent as a security threat and allow the public a peaceful outlet to air its grievances. The consequences of not ceding that space gracefully will only grow more severe with time. A government confident in its own legitimacy does not need to criminalise the mere anticipation of a protest. Ours, evidently, is not that confident.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2026

The escalation began in mid-July, when the Houthis formally declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting Saudi-flagged shipping, after Yemeni government forces attacked a flight from Iran at Sana’a airport. The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognised government since 2014. The violence subsided after the warring sides reached an internationally brokered ceasefire in 2022, but flared up again after the July incident when the militia broke the truce, declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea and began attacking Saudi vessels. Its ultimate aim is to drive Saudi Arabia out of Yemen and take full control of the territory.

This latest escalation has widened the conflict in West Asia, even as America’s war with Iran grinds on with no end in sight. With the fighting now threatening Saudi Arabia directly, will the kingdom invoke the alliance’s mutual defence clause — the one that treats an attack on one member as an attack on all members? The danger of a wider conflagration engulfing the entire region carries serious implications for the rest of the world.

The Houthis, who already hold much of Yemen, have seized a strategic island in a lightning offensive against government forces, giving them complete control of Bab al-Mandeb — the key marine chokepoint through which 12 per cent of the world’s trade passes. They now control 90 per cent of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline. The Houthi leadership says it is not seeking to block all commercial shipping in the Red Sea, only Saudi-linked vessels.

But the heightening tension is likely to keep other ships away. With the Strait of Hormuz virtually blocked, the situation is explosive. Global energy markets, already reeling from the six-month conflict between US-Israel and Iran, are bracing for further shock.

Saudi Arabia, which had stayed out of the Iran war, now risks being drawn into a wider conflict.

These actions by a militia widely seen as aligned with Iran have opened a new front in the conflict. They have coincided with a drone attack, apparently launched from Iraq by allegedly another Iran-linked militia, that forced temporary closure of the East-West oil pipeline crossing Saudi Arabia. Together, the attacks have disrupted Saudi oil exports. It is widely accepted that Iran backs the Houthis, though the group also operates independently of Tehran. The attacks on Saudi Arabia are certainly not in Iran’s interest while it is engaged in an existential war with the US — the fallout is already visible.

Saudi Arabia, which had so far kept itself out of the Iran war, is now in danger of being drawn into a wider regional conflict. Although Iran has distanced itself from the attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure by the two militias, the incidents have heightened tensions between Riyadh and Tehran. Following the attacks, talks between Iran and the Gulf states aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz were postponed. It would have been the first meeting between Iran and the main GCC member states in two years; the meeting, to be held in Oman, was part of an effort to find a regional solution allowing free passage through the critical waterway. The latest flare-up has thwarted that effort.

As the fighting spreads, Saudi Arabia finds itself on the front line. In the latest turn, the kingdom reportedly sought American military help, only to be turned down by President Donald Trump, who said the Houthis had assured him they did not want to expand the conflict. The development has given an intriguing twist to the conflict. Trump’s response is said to be driven by his frustration with the kingdom for failing to actively support his war against Iran.

America and Israel have carried out missile strikes against the Houthis in the past over their support for the Palestinian resistance. But there is also the question of whether US intervention in the Saudi-Houthi conflict will help stabilise a situation for which Washington is itself responsible. The growing tension between Iran and Saudi Ara­bia will only serve the US agenda in the region.

So far, Saudi Arabia has not formally invoked the Makkah defence alliance clause, which would require Pakistan and Turkiye to come to its def­ence if it is attacked. But consultations are under way as the conflict spreads. Diplomatic efforts to halt the Houthis’ escalatory moves are still continuing. Reportedly, Pakistan’s military chief and the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan both spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pakistan is also believed to have conveyed a Saudi message urging Iran to rein in the Houthis, and reminded Tehran of Islamabad’s own pact commitment to Riyadh.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recently said that unprovoked aggression against the kingdom, or a spillover into it, would make the pact operational — “there should be no doubt about that”. Earlier, in April 2026, Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry announced that a Pakistani military contingent had arrived at King Abdulaziz Air Base, with fighter and support aircraft, under a bilateral defence pact signed in September 2025. Following Khawaja Asif’s remarks, however, the Foreign Office spokesperson said, “I don’t think we should be discussing this topic in the context of its operationalisation”.

The situation remains dangerous for both Pakistan and the larger region, and the widening conflict could suck in even those countries that have kept out of the Iran war and have been trying to help broker a negotiated end to it. Pakistan needs to tread a more cautious path in a conflict that could prove disastrous for the country. It’s a perilous escalation that needs to be resolved through negotiations rather than war.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

X: @hidhussain

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2026

Since 2017, including the current year’s allocation, spending on garbage collection and street sweeping is estimated to exceed Rs190bn, with an estimated Rs160-170bn spent in the name of Karachi alone. No other initiative has received such generous provincial financing over the past decade — not the BRT Red Line, the BRT Yellow Line, the K-IV water supply project, the Safe City project, Karachi’s road network, not even the Right Bank Outfall Drain, which is critical to rural Sindh’s economy.

When the EIU measures liveability, environmental quality is only one of five major criteria, with cleanliness forming a sub-component. However, on Numbeo’s global pollution index, Karachi continues to rank as one of the world’s most polluted cities with a pollution index score of 89.5/100. This index evaluates air quality, drinking water availability, garbage disposal, cleanliness, water pollution, noise and light pollution, green spaces, and overall comfort. Across all these metrics, garbage disposal has remained the poorest performer despite billions being spent by the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) under the chief minister’s chairmanship.

In 2016, the Sindh government took over the mu­­nicipal functions of garbage collection and stre­­et sweeping — previously managed by the KMC and union councils — and outsourced them to foreign firms. The contracts covered door-to-door collection, sweeping of streets, lanes, medians, footpaths and open spaces, transportation to transfer stations and landfills, provision of bins and compactors, deployment of sanitary workers, and GPS-based monitoring. Initially introduced across Karachi’s districts, the outsourcing model was later extended to Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana.

The city’s dismal ranking on the liveability and pollution indexes reflects a crisis of governance more than a shortage of funds.

The system was designed around a simple principle: garbage should not remain on the ground. Mini-trucks were to collect waste door to door and from designated bins, feed it into compactors at district collection centres, and ensure its transportation to landfill sites the same day. Uncollected areas, roadside garbage, failure to deploy prescri­bed staff or machinery, and other performance lap­­­­ses attracted financial penalties. Vehicles were to be GPS-tracked, while manual sweeping supplemented mechanical cleaning. A command-and-control system linked to the SSWMB headquarters was to monitor fleet movements; an independent firm was to verify the contractors’ performan­ce; and complaints were to be resolved within eight hours.

Going by these performance indicators — and an estimated public-sector price tag approaching Rs170bn for the city over the period — Karachi should have become one of the cleanest cities in the region during the past decade.

Yet the reality across much of the city is different. Open plots continue to serve as informal garbage dumps. Door-to-door collection remains patchy or is altogether absent in many localities. Waste continues to accumulate along the roads, open spaces and drains. Elected representatives themselves frequently complain about inadequate responsiveness by solid-waste contractors. Karachi continues to be ranked as one of the dirtiest cities all these 10 years.

A review of these contracts against the ground realities over the past decade suggests that strict enforcement of the built-in penalty clauses should have driven non-compliant contractors into bankruptcy. The obvious question is: how have contractors been able to operate with such visible gaps between contractual obligations and conditions on the ground?

The answer lies in two major contract and statutory violations by the provincial administration itself. First, the Sindh government has failed to hire an independent consulting firm for third-party verification since 2017, effectively granting contractors a decade-long exemption from performance audits. Second, the government has bypassed Section 14(3) of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Act, 2021, which states: “The executive directors of the board shall be appointed by the chief minister either from cadre service officers working under the control of government having relevant professional qualification and experience or from private sector through a competitive process possessing the requisite qualifications and experience of the post.”

Despite managing contracts valued at Rs30-40bn, a key oversight position, such as director mo­­nito­ring and evaluation, has been filled by an of­­f­icer from the Benazir Income Support Prog­ram­­me. Compounding the issue is the lack of parliame­nt­a­­ry oversight. Reports from the Auditor General of Pakistan from 2018 through 2025 have repeatedly highlighted losses of billions of rupees by the SSWMB due to payments made without third-par­­ty verification, uncollected penalties, in­­ade­quate staffing, and overpayments. Yet, no effective corrective action has been taken all these years.

The State of Governance in Pakistan, 2023, based on a nationwide household survey by TDEA/ Fafen, found 65 per cent of Karachi respondents to be dissatisfied with garbage disposal services, while another 22pc had no service available in their locality. So, 87pc of Karachi households surveyed were either dissatisfied with garbage disposal or had no service — a remarkable outcome after years of outsourcing and billions of rupees spent on solid-waste management.

After chairing the board for seven years, starting in 2014, the chief minister transferred the steering committee to the local government minister in 2021, and operational supervision was handed to the mayor of Karachi in 2024. However, meaningful coordination with elected town chairmen and union councils to hold contractors accountable remains absent. In fact, despite their poor performance, SSWMB contractors were rewarded with a 42pc increase in payment, raising their annual bill from Rs28.3bn in 2024-25 to Rs40.3bn in 2025-26.

Like many of Karachi’s challenges, the real bottleneck has not been the shortage of funds for the Sindh government, but poor governance and lack of accountability. With the country’s economic engine ranking among the lowest on the liveability index and among the highest on the pollution index, all our aspirations for the country’s progress will remain a pipe dream.

The writer is former federal secretary, caretaker provincial minister and currently chairman, Policy Research and Advisory Council.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2026

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly, otherwise divided along bitter party lines, on Tuesday unanimously demanded through a resolution that the federal government immediately stop the practice of increasing petroleum prices on a daily basis, saying that no new shipment or import of petrol arrives in the country every day to justify it.

The resolution, tabled by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Muhammad Owais, said that daily fluctuations in international oil prices should not be passed on to consumers on a daily basis, as Pakistan did not import petrol daily.

The resolution said that the continuous increase in petrol prices was fuelling inflation and the common man was facing severe hardship.

It said, “This House demands that the federal government immediately stop the daily increase in petroleum product prices,” adding that no new shipment or import of petrol arrived in Pakistan on a daily basis to justify passing on daily fluctuations in international prices.

The resolution demanded that stability be brought to petroleum prices to provide relief to the public and that the practice of daily price hikes be ended forthwith.

This was the second adopted resolution related to petroleum products in the current session of the assembly.

Speaking on his resolution, the PTI member also demanded the withdrawal of the Rs100-plus petroleum levy through a unanimously adopted resolution.

Supporting the resolution, Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that people were distressed due to rising petroleum prices and the federal government was charging over Rs100 per litre as a levy, which should be withdrawn.

He asked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), an ally of the federal government, to take up the issue with the Centre to provide relief to the people.

Recalling that the MQM had once quit the PPP-led federal government in 2008 over a one-rupee increase in petrol price, he said the party was now silently enjoying power. “Those who are sitting in the federal cabinet should speak on this issue,” he said.

The senior minister said that the PPP fully supported the resolution and demanded that the federal government abolish the levy and “come to its senses” on petroleum pricing.

He said that MQM-P’s federal representatives should explain why they were not raising their voice against petroleum inflation.

‘PM’s Rs100 subsidy on petrol not sufficient’

Later, speaking to reporters at the Media Corner on the premises of the assembly, provincial government spokesperson Sadia Javed said the federal government’s plan to give a Rs100 subsidy on petrol for certain categories was not sufficient and would not benefit the poor.

She said that the prime minister should improve the FBR’s performance and reduce the Rs125 per litre tax on petrol, as only a direct cut in prices would provide genuine relief.

She argued that petrol was not used only by the elite but also by goods transport, and unless transport costs came down, food prices would not fall.

Ms Javed also lashed out at Federal Minister Mustafa Kamal, terming him “extremely ill-mannered” for cursing politics, and said that if he hated politics so much he should quit politics and resign from his ministry.

She questioned why he had not resigned over the deaths of children at PIMS Hospital.

Adjournment motion

During proceedings, an adjournment motion by MQM-P MPA Amir Siddiqui regarding the sale of narcotics under flyovers and bridges was rejected by a member of the Panel of Chairmen, Dr Sikandar Shoro, after opposition from the government.

Mr Siddiqui said that drugs were being sold openly under flyovers and bridges.

He said that the menace was also affecting educational institutions, including schools and colleges.

PPP MPA Heer Soho opposed the motion, saying an adjournment motion had to relate to a recent occurrence and the motion did not meet the criteria.

Education Minister said the assembly’s standing committee on home had already taken up the issue and action was being taken in this regard. “Let the result come,” he said.

Excise Minister Mukesh Chawala also opposed the adjournment motion, saying that the house had already debated the issue at length and the government was working to contain the menace.

The chair said that the motion was not maintainable and ruled it out of order.

Question Hour

Earlier, during the Question Hour, Women Development Minister Shaheena Sher Ali said that complaint centres were functioning at the divisional level across the province and offices were also set up in every district. “Five to 15 complaints were received daily, and prompt action was taken on them,” she added.

The minister said that women were being imparted training through a revolving fund and two day-care centres were functioning in Karachi with a prescribed age limit for admission. “Awareness is being created about helpline 1094,” she added.

Replying to a question, she said there was no day-care centre inside the Sindh Assembly, but one was functioning near the Karachi Press Club.

Dr Sikandar Shoro, who was presiding over the sitting as a member of the Panel of Chairmen, observed that the assembly should also have a day-care centre.

The minister said that the department would establish one if space was provided.

Several other items on the assembly business agenda, including three other resolutions and as many private motions of the opposition members, did not come up as the house was adjourned immediately after the unanimous passage of the resolution against the petroleum levy.

The house was later adjourned till Friday.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2026

ISLAMABAD:While Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has been facing a “tough time” in Lahore, Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan on Tuesday suggested that protocol should not be accorded to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif during his visits to KP.

She was speaking to media persons outside Adiala jail after, once again, she was not allowed to meet her brother in violation of the Isla­mabad High Court’s (IHC) orders.

Advocate Awais Younas Chau­dhry, who submits lists of leaders and lawyers to the jail administration seeking permission to meet Imran Khan, told Dawn that his sisters and six lawyers reached outside Adiala jail but were not allowed to meet the PTI founder.

“The sisters waited there even after 6:30pm, but they were not informed about the approval of the meeting. The IHC has ordered that meetings of the family and lawyers with Imran Khan be arranged on Tuesdays and meetings of party leaders on Thursdays, but the court orders are being violated,” he said.

Ms Khan, while talking to media persons, claimed that the ruling elite was scared and was preparing to flee the country.

When asked about the IHC’s orders that roads should not be blocked during protests, she said: “You will see that the government will itself close the roads. After that, IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar should call the government and ask it to open the roads,” she suggested.

Replying to a question, Ms Khan said she would suggest that Justice Sarfraz Dogar summon her if she was committing contempt of court.

Another sister of Imran Khan, Dr Uzma Khan, said the judges had insulted the whole country, but the media was asking whether the sisters had disgraced the judiciary.

Replying to a question, Aleema Khan said the constitutional court had been established unconstitutionally.

“We were not aware of their names, but due to social media, now we know them very well. Justice Baqar Najafi sent Nawaz Sharif abroad on a Rs50 stamp paper and forgot to ask why he was not returning. Now he has been worrying that Imran Khan should not come out of jail,” she added.

She said the constitutional court had been established to undermine the Supreme Court (SC) and that its aim was to keep Imran Khan in jail.

“It is necessary for the SC to ensure its survival and integrity,” she suggested.

She said she had suggested to Sohail Afridi that he make two demands: first, that Imran Khan be shifted to Shifa International Hospital, as those who had put him in jail were allegedly involved in attempts to kill him; and second, that Justice Dogar should start hearing Imran Khan’s bail applications.

When asked about the KP chief minister having a “tough time” in Lahore, she said that, in response, the KP government should not accord protocol to Nawaz Sharif during his visits to the province.

FCC decision

Meanwhile, PTI Central Infor­m­ation Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram rejected the Federal Cons­titutional Court’s (FCC) decision to summon from the SC the record of the case concerning PTI founder Imran Khan’s transfer to a hospital, calling the move a blatant manifestation of how the top court had been deliberately weakened and rendered virtually ineffective throu­gh the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments.

Mr Akram urged the FCC to exercise the utmost restraint and refrain from interfering in matters already pending before the SC, the country’s apex judicial forum.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2026

The Judicial Commission in the Mir Raza murder case continued its proceedings on Tuesday and recorded statements of a police officer, an employee of the deceased and his two investors.

The one-member commission headed by Justice Omar Sial of the Sindh High Court also expressed displeasure over a focal person of the provincial government and police for still not providing the complete record of the case to the commission despite repeated directives.

In his testimony, the manager of the victim’s eatery Wafflix, Shahryar, said that he was working at the Bahadurabad branch for the last two years and reporting to the victim who treated him like a younger brother.

Wafflix manager tells judicial commission parts of his police statements were ‘incorrectly’ attributed to him

Responding to a question of the commission about losses to the business of the deceased, he deposed that the sales had been declining for the past few months and the salaries of the staff were also delayed during the last couple of months, but he did not find the victim worried during his last interactions with him.

He said that the daily sales were around Rs100,000, but they had fallen to Rs75,000 to Rs70,000 during the last two months.

He also said that police had recorded his statements twice and his phone was also seized by the second investigation team on Aug 17, adding that his first statement was written on a paper on Aug 2 and the second testimony was recorded through video.

The witness further submitted that the police had asked questions about the business and the family issues of the victim.

He said the first team had misbehaved with him while SP Qais, who is said to be a part of the second team, had also come down hard on him when he had informed the team that the victim was not using any drugs.

The commission pointed out that he had provided complete details and figures about the business of the deceased to the police, but did not provide the same to the commission, which contradicted his testimonies recorded by the police.

He submitted that the police did not read out such statements to him and some additions were incorrectly attributed to him.

The manager also deposed that the victim along with his business partner Ahmed Bhardey had gone to Hyderabad to attend a party arranged by a catering firm on July 25 and came back on the following day while the victim had taken Rs29,000 from him around midnight of July 27 and left the branch.

He further testified that he had closed the branch on the same night around 3:30am and at around 4:10am Bhardey had asked him regarding Raza’s whereabouts.

He maintained that on July 28, another employee had informed him that a pistol of a security guard of the eatery, kept at the shop, was missing and they came to know through the footage that Raza came to the branch last night after it was closed and took the weapon.

However, he said that as per his knowledge, the victim had never used any weapon and he had no dispute with any vendor, creditor or investor.

At the outset of the hearing, Inspector Muhammad Ali turned up and deposed that he was posted at the investigation section of District South and co-opted by the current police team investigating the case as it was his responsibility to assist the team.

He also said that he was told to file a letter when he had gone to collect the post-mortem report from the hospital and despite submitting the letter, he did not get the report since the officer concerned was said to be out of the city.

Replying to a query of the commission, the police officer further testified that the investigating officer had gone to Hyderabad when he had sought the autopsy report in order to submit it to the investigation team.

Muhammad Hassan Khan Tanoli, who recorded his statement via video link from Australia, said that he and Raza had been friends since school and initially, he had provided Rs500,000 to the victim and he had returned the same within the given period along with some profit.

Thereafter, he also deposed that he had given him Rs7.5 million as he was willing to import containers of chocolates as well as expanding business. The victim had handed over some cheques to him and advised him not to deposit them since he would arrange the money.

The witness further testified that he had contacted Ahmed Bhardey through social media after Raza had gone missing and later also spoke to the father of the victim.

The commission asked him that Mr Bhardey in his statement said that he (Hassan) had demanded the return of the money in question from him. He replied that he had only informed the business partner of the victim that he had provided money or a loan to Raza.

He had admitted that the victim had borrowed such money for Wafflix while Bhardey had claimed that he was not aware of such an investment.

Asad Ali Butt deposed that he had first met the victim in 2016-17 and he had established an outlet in Bahadurabad in 2022 and he had also encouraged people to invest in it.

He also said that he had also made an investment of Rs2.5m with Wafflix and all the transactions were made through the account of his mother.

During the hearing, the counsel for Raza’s family Jibran Nasir informed the commission that the victim’s father, Mir Hussain Ali, had received a phone call last night and the caller had identified himself as a security official of an institution.

The counsel said that the caller had asked Mir Hussain whether he suspected Ahmed Bhardey and Abdullah Bhardey or Asif and his brother Abid as the accused persons. However, he told the caller that the matter was being investigated by the police and therefore, the caller expressed displeasure and disconnected the call, he added.

The lawyer said that he has submitted the screenshots and call recording to the registrar of the commission.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2026