Dawn Editorials 14th September 2025

Palestinian state?

WHILE Benjamin Netanyahu is the architect of the genocide in Gaza and continues to sow chaos across the Middle East, we must ‘appreciate’ his ‘honesty’ regarding one issue: consistent opposition to a Palestinian state.

Recently, he reiterated his resolve to prevent the implementation of the two-state solution when he said that he intended to “fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state”. He was speaking at an event to sign off on the so-called E1 settlement near occupied Jerusalem. Yet the vast majority of the international community rightly believes that there should indeed be a Palestinian state. A resolution at the UN General Assembly on Friday calling for the ‘revival’ of the two-state solution was endorsed by 142 countries.

Despite the global majority’s support for a Palestinian state, Israeli extremists are doing all they can to prevent this goal. For example, Israel’s finance minister has said that “there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise”. This is a regurgitation of the genocidal Zionist myth that Palestine, at the time of the Nakba, was a “land without a people”.

The fact is that the Palestinians are a historical reality, and have lived on this land for centuries, much before Zionist settlers started colonising their land. It is the very existence of the Palestinians that Israel is trying to erase through the genocide in Gaza, and the colonial land grabs in the occupied West Bank.

While the UNGA vote is a moral victory for the Palestinians, Israel has said in unambiguous terms that it will oppose a Palestinian state. And with staunch US support, Israel’s sinister designs to forever block a contiguous and viable Palestinian state are succeeding. It is Israel’s xenophobic attitude that has sparked two intifadas in the past, as well the ongoing genocide and it is the major obstruction to peace in the Middle East.

What the extremists in Israel intend to do is clear: create ‘Greater Israel’ — a Zionist empire fuelled by racist ideology, and extremist religious thought, that intends to devour several Arab states. The Israeli aggression against Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran and now Qatar — the list is expanding — is proof of Tel Aviv’s terrifying intentions.

If the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, and further aggression against regional states are to be halted, Arab and Muslim countries need to put up a united front. Moreover, as the UNGA resolution demands, the international community needs to give an outline of “tangible, time-bound, and irreversible steps” for a Palestinian state.

Where the resolution calls for the end of Hamas rule in Gaza, once Israel ends the genocide and the conditions for such an exercise are created, the Palestinian people must decide through elections who is to rule them.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2025

Renewing the past

THERE seems to be much to celebrate on the heritage and culture front in Punjab, where experts have been at work preserving and digitising heritage documents and have plans to further explore archaeological sites. Firstly, the Walled City of Lahore Authority appears to have achieved great success in preserving thousands of archival documents, glass plates, negatives and photographs after discovering a long-abandoned cache in the Kharak Singh Haveli, part of Lahore Fort’s historic Akbari Mahal Complex. The WCLA, which took over the fort in August 2023, had assembled a team of 12 archivists and historians, supported by local colleges, to oversee the preservation of the historical records after stumbling upon them by accident during a clean-up and restoration drive. “What began as a rescue operation soon evolved into one of Punjab’s most ambitious archival projects,” reads a news report about the effort published in this paper. Two years from when the project began, more than 20,000 documents, 10,000 photographs and 4,500 glass plates have been cleaned, stabilised and catalogued. Students of history can look forward to browsing these records once they are digitised and made publicly available, which the WCLA says it hopes to do soon. The effort should be applauded.

Meanwhile, Punjab’s archaeology department has said it is initiating “a major new scientific programme” to initiate fresh excavations at Harappa as well as other sites of historical significance across the province. This is an exciting prospect for students of ancient history as well as those interested in the subcontinent’s sociocultural evolution. “At Harappa, the new excavations will employ digital mapping, scientific dating and advanced documentation techniques to present the cultural development of the Indus Valley Civilisation in a more comprehensive manner,” according to a report on the development. The authority will then get to work on a structured excavation programme for Gandharan sites as well. Pakistan’s rich archaeological heritage is celebrated worldwide, even if local interest seems to be lacking. Punjab’s archaeology authorities now want to position the province as a leading hub for heritage-based tourism and research. This is a wonderful ambition. Such initiatives not only enrich global scholarship but also offer Pakistanis an opportunity to reclaim and reconnect with their own past. One hopes this renewed energy will foster greater local pride and curiosity about the cultures that flourished here millennia ago.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2025

Education disrupted

A MIX of natural calamities, terrorism and bureaucratic ineptitude has resulted in difficulties for students in KP’s Khyber tribal district. In fact, the situation in Khyber reminds us of the disruptions in education that tens of thousands of school-age children face across Pakistan because of floods and militancy. As reported, some prefabricated schools in Khyber, which were built to replace educational facilities damaged by militants, are lying unused, mainly because of bottlenecks created by the provincial education department, while some structures were damaged during last month’s torrential rains. It should be remembered that during several militant insurgencies over the last few decades, terrorists closed, damaged or destroyed thousands of schools in KP and erstwhile Fata. Today, as the floodwaters rage through Punjab, and enter Sindh, the educational future of countless children continues to hang in the balance. As per reports, over 400 schools have been damaged during the floods and heavy rainfall in KP this year, while the number for Punjab has crossed 2,000.

As it is, Pakistan faces an education emergency, with around 26m children out of school. The ongoing TTP insurgency in parts of KP, which has caused the displacement of thousands of families in some areas, as well as destruction and displacement resulting from harsh weather, will only add to the emergency. The provinces, therefore, with the centre’s help, must ensure that displaced families have access to education for their children. Once areas are cleared of militants, and the waters subside, educational infrastructure must be rebuilt without delay. Pakistan cannot afford to add millions of children to the already abysmal total of out-of-school youngsters. While rebuilding schools will indeed take time, informal methods can be used to ensure uninterrupted education for affected children. Without basic education, the miseries of the children affected by terrorism and climate disasters will only be compounded.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2025