DAWN Editorials 21st September 2026

Strategic stability

IN a world awash with violence, where the old geopolitical rules of the game are being rapidly rewritten, there is a need for states to display maturity and rational behaviour in statecraft. This is all the more true in troubled regions such as South Asia, which have been witnessing friction for decades, and where nuclear weapons are part of the equation.

Addressing a workshop in Islamabad recently, adviser to the National Command Authority and former head of the Strategic Plans Division retired Lt-Gen Mazhar Jamil highlighted the shrinking space for diplomacy in South Asia. He added that the erosion of arms control frameworks and reliance on hard power were creating “new challenges to strategic stability in South Asia”. While criticising India’s “military adventurism and hegemonic approaches”, the official made a crucial observation: there was no space for war between two nuclear states.

This should be clear to any level-headed individual. However, high-level officials in the Indian military, as well as the political elite, have — particularly since last year’s hostilities — been making increasingly jingoistic statements directed at Pakistan. In May, the Indian army chief — who has since retired — hurled unacceptable threats at this country, which were described by ISPR as “hubristic”. Indian political leaders have been making similarly unhinged comments. While such language may attract a few votes and please extremist lobbies within India, it does lasting damage to the cause of peace in South Asia, especially at a time when both nations have only recently emerged from a dangerous encounter that could have spiralled into all-out war.

War in a nuclear neighbourhood is not an option. Pakistani officials have reiterated this, and there is a need for similar rational behaviour from responsible military and civilian actors in India. There is huge bilateral mistrust at the moment. Yet to prevent a catastrophe in the subcontinent, both sides, particularly India, need to restart the dialogue process. This can begin with small steps, such as regular contact between military officials from both sides to ensure misunderstandings do not escalate into something larger. In parallel, diplomatic contacts and Track II efforts need to be resumed. While it is difficult to foresee peace in the immediate future, such steps can at least help in conflict management, while ensuring that the channels of communication are kept open. But perhaps the biggest need is for Indian officials to stop their inflammatory rhetoric against Pakistan, which is even more irresponsible at a time when the flames of war are burning not too far from South Asia. Hopefully, restraint and sustained dialogue can lead to bilateral trust and peace between Pakistan and India.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2026

Bridging the gap

THE Global Gender Gap Report 2026 endorses how the dice are loaded against Pakistan’s women. The aggregate performance picture is dark: it is close to the bottom at 143 out of 145 economies, just above Chad and Iran. The gender parity mark rose from last year’s 56.7pc to 59.5pc, shrinking the divide by 5.2pc. The three-notch ascent, billed as the strongest year-on-year progress in a decade, is due to the 91.7pc climb in education parity. Pakistan’s total literacy rate is one of the worst in the world. Piecemeal interventions, and patriarchal systems that chip away at women’s agency have contributed to the downward performance graph in most indices. Some of the highest maternal mortality rates, and regulated access to reproductive health, puts us at 127 in the health and survival category. In a deeply gendered economic and political landscape, Pakistan stands at 144 in female economic participation and opportunity, and 107 in political empowerment, reflecting the dishonesty of political claims. Equal rights elude women in financial services, land and non-land assets, and even justice. Meanwhile, in Sindh’s first Gender Parity Report, women’s abysmal numbers in education and their employment rates in state institutions, including the justice sector, are deeply concerning.

The onus of a skewed scorecard in the primary gauges that drive productivity and progress falls on the government’s failure to install protective ecosystems, counter chauvinistic narratives and respect women’s presence in power structures. Each marker is a mainstay of empowerment. We cannot afford economic strategies where women’s safety, education, employment, and political contributions are not central. These barriers aggravate each other. For instance, education without opportunity makes human capital wither. This, together with a broken and biased criminal justice system, has created an unsafe setting where sexual abuse and other violence are daily realities. To achieve gender equality, justice in these indicators is vital. Female voices cannot remain absent from positions of power. At the same time, progress in silos is insufficient to offset the trenchant systemic constraints that defeat gender parity. Reforms, enforcement of relevant statutes, sensitised law enforcement and legislation will ensure that women are not reduced to an afterthought.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2026

Legal pathways

A DROP of 64pc in irregular migration from Pakistan towards Europe is an encouraging development. According to Frontex data cited by the FIA, the decline was recorded in January-February this year compared with the corresponding period in 2025. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has now set the considerably more ambitious target of eliminating illegal migration altogether. But the more important question is what Pakistan should expect in return for helping Europe meet one of its central migration goals. If Islamabad is demonstrating that it can curb irregular departures, cooperation with European states should no longer be confined mainly to border controls, interceptions and returns. It should increasingly produce something Pakistan has repeatedly sought: more regulated avenues for its citizens to work abroad. Migration cooperation cannot remain a one-way arrangement.

The framework is already there. The EU-Pakistan Talent Partnership is intended to facilitate labour mobility while matching Pakistani skills with shortages in sectors such as IT, construction, renewable energy, hospitality, agriculture and textiles. Italy has separately allocated 10,500 jobs to Pakistani workers over three years across seasonal and non-seasonal categories. These initiatives are useful, but they should be the beginning rather than the extent of a broader shift. Pakistan’s success in curbing irregular migration gives it stronger grounds to press for wider legal employment opportunities. That would serve both sides. European economies need workers in a range of sectors, while Pakistan has a large population seeking employment abroad. More importantly, legal routes provide an alternative to the smugglers whose business depends on the absence of accessible ones. The next phase of migration cooperation should therefore be judged not only by how sharply irregular departures fall, but by whether safer and lawful routes expand alongside them. If Pakistan is expected to help close the illegal door, Europe should help open the legal one.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2026