Dawn Editorials 15th October 2025

Mideast peace?

AS some of the world’s most powerful leaders gathered in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, geopolitical theatre and hyperbole replaced substance, as the assembled luminaries celebrated ‘peace’ in the Middle East. Leading the pack was US President Donald Trump, as he declared, in a moment of self-congratulation, with reference to the Palestine-Israel conflict and his Gaza peace plan, that the “long and painful nightmare is finally over”.

While the genocide in Gaza has certainly stopped, achieving a just and permanent peace in occupied Palestine is still a very distant goal. Despite the effusive praise Mr Trump has received over the Gaza plan, including from Pakistan’s prime minister, who again called for giving the Nobel Prize to the US leader, and declared that he had “saved millions of lives”, there is little of substance in the Trumpian scheme.

For one, there is no clear path towards a sovereign Palestinian state, even though Egypt’s president claimed that the deal paves the way for the two-state solution. We must remember that the Oslo Accords of 1993 — which offered a much more detailed, if flawed, framework for peace — collapsed in the chaos of the Second Intifada, mainly because of Israel’s insincerity towards genuine peace.

Moreover, the idea of a foreign-administered, colonial-style administration to oversee Gaza, including the deployment of foreign troops, sounds deeply flawed. Those familiar with the region should remember the involvement of American and European ‘peacekeepers’ during the Lebanese civil war; that experiment ended in disaster. The ‘nation-building’ debacle in Iraq should also not be forgotten.

In short, neither Gaza nor the West Bank should be ruled by foreign forces. Palestinian factions of all persuasions should come together and manage their land till the conditions are created for credible elections.

It is also a fact that amidst the celebrations of ‘peace’ in Sharm el-Sheikh, there was no mention of accountability for Israel’s crimes during the Gaza genocide. Unfortunately, the Zionist state has for decades acted as if it is above the law, killing, maiming and stealing from the Palestinians since the time of the Nakba. It is because Israel was not punished for its past impunity that it felt confident enough to carry out the Gaza slaughter.

If there is to be genuine peace in the region, two things are essential. First, those in Tel Aviv responsible for the murder and starvation of tens of thousands of Gazans must be held to account. The world must pledge that ‘never again’ will there be another genocide like Gaza. Secondly, a firm roadmap towards a sovereign and viable Palestinian state must be drawn up. Anything less than this will only perpetuate the cycle of violence, as Israel continues to deny the Palestinians their legitimate rights.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2025

Washington meetings

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is in Washington to participate in the IMF-World Bank plenary meeting and engage with American officials, multilateral organisations, financial institutions, rating agencies, as well as investors. However, the most challenging aspect of his visit involves salvaging the second review of Pakistan’s ongoing IMF programme, which concluded earlier this month without a staff-level agreement, delaying $1.2bn in pending loan disbursements. Even Pakistan’s embassy in Washington had emphasised this aspect in its statement prior to the minister’s arrival, saying the visit would focus on securing the third IMF tranche and meeting outstanding benchmarks under the extended programme and climate facility. The key issue preventing the agreement pertains to recent flood losses. The Fund insists that provinces not only bear flood damages from their own resources but also meet their cash surplus commitments to help the federal government attain its primary budget surplus target — the most critical condition of the IMF programme. Other contentious issues include missed deadlines for governance and corruption assessment report publication, and delays in declaration of assets of government officials in BPS-17 and above, and the upward revision of last year’s GDP numbers.

That said, not much progress seems to have been made on the IMF review during Mr Aurangzeb’s meeting with the Fund’s Middle East and Central Asia Director Jihad Azour. The official account of the meeting indicates that discussions did not go beyond Pakistan’s “reform agenda” and its commitment to “maintaining macroeconomic discipline” and “sustaining the current momentum of reforms.” The official statement suggests that the agreement is unlikely to be finalised during his visit, in spite of the minister’s optimism about concluding discussions on the review during his trip. The delays in reaching the SLA reflect not only the slow pace of reforms but, more critically, the government’s desire to secure concessions from the IMF. While Islamabad may eventually secure the agreement after more discussions and assurances, the repeated delays in finalising each review, despite the IMF staff’s positive assessments of Pakistan’s progress on programme targets, do not send a reassuring signal to the international community. This approach is doing little to help Pakistan regain the confidence of investors or bilateral lenders, as evidenced by the stagnation in both official and private inflows, which will be key to sustaining economic stability and kick-starting growth in the post-IMF years.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2025

Victims of vengeance

THE ordeal of the 42 Pakistani fishermen released from Indian jails this week exposes yet again the inhuman cost of political hostility in South Asia. The men returned home not as criminals but as survivors of cruelty no human being should endure. Their stories of beatings, burn injuries, forced labour and humiliation reveal the depths to which empathy has sunk in the shadow of conflict. One man was left half-paralysed by torture; others showed charcoal scars on their legs where hot irons were pressed against their skin. Their only ‘crime’ was to have drifted unknowingly across an invisible maritime line while pursuing their livelihood. While such detentions are a frequent occurrence, this time the suffering has been far worse. After the May flare-up between Pakistan and India, the detained fishermen became easy targets for vengeance — punished merely for their nationality. Such treatment is indefensible. Both nations are signatories to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which requires prompt release of detained fishermen after the posting of a reasonable bond. Yet, year after year, men are plucked from their boats, languish in foreign jails for years, and are released only as gestures of goodwill. Their families, often living hand-to-mouth, are left destitute and traumatised.

These fishermen are among the poorest of the poor, and their plight deserves urgent humanitarian attention, not political exploitation. The two governments must immediately establish a joint mechanism to prevent arrests for unintentional crossings, ensure humane treatment of detainees, and repatriate those still in custody without delay. A permanent ‘no-arrest zone’ at sea, as rights groups have long demanded, would spare hundreds of families needless suffering. These men venture out to earn an honest living, not to wage war. They should not be treated as enemies. Compassion must anchor policy, not vengeance.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2025