Dawn Editorials 1st October 2025

Mending hearts

WORLD Heart Day has come and gone, but the warnings sounded by medical experts should echo far beyond a single date. At a seminar in Islamabad this week, leading cardiologists drew attention to an alarming reality: cardiovascular disease is no longer confined to the elderly. Doctors are increasingly seeing patients in their 30s and 40s with serious conditions — even heart attacks — once confined to old age. This is no small concern. Cardiovascular disease causes nearly 23pc of all deaths in Pakistan, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study, with related deaths having doubled in three decades. The number of citizens living with heart disease has surged from 4.1m in 1990 to 8.6m in 2019 — a staggering rise in less than a generation. If this trend continues unchecked, the economic, social and healthcare costs will be immense.

The culprits are well known: smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise, uncontrolled blood pressure, unmanaged diabetes and rising stress. These are modifiable risks. Prevention does not lie in complex technologies or unaffordable treatments, but in attainable lifestyle changes — balanced eating, daily physical activity, quitting tobacco, regular check-ups and careful adherence to prescribed medication. Yet, public health campaigns around these remain sporadic and underfunded. The onus is not only on individuals. Successive governments, too, have failed to address the driving forces behind this crisis. The absence of safe public spaces for exercise, limited access to affordable healthy food and weak primary care services all conspire to keep risk factors high. Meanwhile, prevention rarely receives the political priority accorded to curative, high-profile hospital interventions. World Heart Day is supposed to raise awareness. It should do more: remind policymakers that heart disease, though preventable, is becoming a defining affliction of Pakistan’s next generation. Without urgent changes, the country will be living on borrowed time.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2025

Terror strikes again

ANOTHER day, another reminder of the fault lines that make it difficult to ensure durable peace in the country. On Tuesday morning, at least 10 people were martyred and over 30 injured in a suicide bombing near Quetta’s Frontier Corps headquarters, underlining once again how fragile the security situation is in Balochistan. The confusion over which terrorist group to hold responsible did not help. The president’s office issued a statement saying he “strongly condemned the suicide attack in Quetta carried out by the Fitna-al-Khawarij, the misguided extremists acting on India’s agenda”. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on the other hand, commended security forces for “dispatching terrorists of Fitna-al-Hindustan to hell”, according to a statement posted on the Government of Pakistan’s X handle. The two terms have previously been used to distinguish between religiously inspired militants, which the state describes as the ‘Khawarij’, and Baloch separatists, which it links to subversive Indian activities in the region. However, on Tuesday, it seemed that the head of state and head of government were confused over which group to blame, suggesting the need for greater clarity at the top levels of decision-making on what is going on in Balochistan. It is a worrying situation, and shows that better coordination may be needed in the oversight of security-related developments in Pakistan’s most restive province.

It is also a matter of considerable concern that these incidents are occurring in a province with a high level of security, indicating the deep penetration of terrorist organisations. All that the statements of outrage and condemnation put out after each attack show is that the administration may be more interested in pointing fingers than in answering burning questions, such as: why have terrorist elements proven so elusive? Balochistan has already seen multiple high-profile attacks this year. Vigilance and strong security must consequently be a critical priority. Despite this, yet another major attack, this time in Quetta, the heart of the province, would suggest that the authorities are still struggling to turn the tide against inimical elements. Perhaps it is time to re-examine the strategies that have been employed in the province to curb unrest and reassess any mistakes that may have been made that have strengthened the militants’ hand. Well-wishers have pointed some of these out: it is time that the state pays attention to them.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2025

The Gaza project

EVEN though American President Donald Trump believes that his grand 20-point Gaza plan will bring ‘eternal’ peace to the Middle East, it is doubtful that the scheme will help achieve a just solution to the Arab-Israeli dispute.

It is a biased document, protecting Israel and putting all the onus for creating the conditions of peace on the Palestinian factions. The only two positives the plan contains are the prospects of the cessation of war and the resumption of aid to the battered Gaza Strip. These faint hopes, too, are premised on the assumption that Hamas will surrender before Washington and Tel Aviv. Mr Trump on Tuesday gave the Palestinian group between three and four days to consider the proposal.

As per the plan, Hamas has been ordered to surrender its weapons, while it has been decided that the group will have no future role in Gaza. Opinions may be divided on Hamas. However, it should be left to the Palestinian people to decide which groups should or should not participate in their national politics; no outside power has a right to dictate the terms.

Moreover, the ‘Board of Peace’ the plan wants to put in place to manage Gaza after the ceasefire has a distinctly colonial whiff to it, not unlike the Mandate System of the League of Nations.

Luminaries including Mr Trump and former British prime minister Tony Blair will oversee Gaza and guide the Palestinian natives until they are fit to rule themselves.

The Trumpian plan makes no mention of accountability for Israel, particularly for the genocide it has unleashed upon Gaza. There is no guarantee that in case of future conflict, Tel Aviv will not target Palestinian civilians yet again. In fact, Mr Trump has assured Tel Aviv that should Hamas reject this grand bargain, Israel can “do what you have to do”, which means taking the Gaza genocide to its ‘logical’ conclusion. Additionally, there is no guarantee that Israel will stop building illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Regarding Pakistan’s role, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was part of the group of Muslim nations that discussed the plan with Mr Trump and has offered fulsome praise for it. But there is a need to reflect.

The initial reaction in the country, from parties on the left and right, as well as ordinary citizens, has been overwhelmingly negative.

People view the document as an instrument of surrender designed to protect Israel and give the Palestinians a raw deal, once again. There was also talk of this country, along with other states, deploying a ‘peacekeeping force’ in Gaza. Before any such endeavour, parliament must be taken on board, and no step should be taken that goes against Pakistan’s principled stand in support of the Palestinian people.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2025