DAWN Editorials 26th August 2026

Dual approach

WITH regard to resolving the US-Iran stand-off, two distinct approaches are being pursued simultaneously. The more mature track involves Pakistan and other regional countries that are trying to revive the Islamabad MoU and ensure a peaceful denouement to this crisis.

In this regard, Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir was in Tehran on Monday for talks with the Iranian leadership. The other — more combative — approach involves the US ramping up financial pressure on Iran through sanctions and what it calls an “economic onslaught”. The US on Monday announced a fresh set of sanctions targeting Iran under the imaginatively titled ‘Operation Economic Outcast’.

Field Marshal Munir met the Iranian president, as well as other top leaders, in Tehran. One of the positive outcomes of this interaction was Iran’s affirmation that it remains committed to the Islamabad MoU. However, as the Iranian national security chief said, “we distrust America”. This mutual distrust remains the biggest obstacle in operationalising the MoU. The reality is that America’s ramping up sanctions on Iran will do little to build bridges with Tehran. If anything, it will harden attitudes there.

It should be remembered that Iran has survived punishing US sanctions for nearly half a century, and while the new curbs may increase the pain, they are unlikely to make Tehran yield. Moreover, there is little appetite amongst Iran’s major trading partners, particularly China, to toe Washington’s line. The announcement of new economic curbs is also an admission from the US that its strategy of defeating Iran on the battlefield has failed.

The fact that the Iranians are willing to engage with mediators, and are still interested in reviving the Islamabad MoU, means that a peaceful way out of this crisis can be found. After the CDF’s visit, the Omani foreign minister was in Tehran yesterday to discuss the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. If the Trump administration goes ahead with its ill-advised plan to further isolate Iran economically, or if it considers restarting military action, it will undoubtedly attract a matching response from Iran. Very few states in the region want a return to hostilities.

Therefore, both sides, particularly the US, need to take advantage of the renewed diplomatic push, and attempt to implement the salient features of the MoU. The US should drop its hostile rhetoric and attempt to reach a genuine understanding with Iran.

Washington’s aggression against the Islamic Republic has proved a disaster, and it would be best for the US to quickly exit the quagmire with whatever remains of its tattered honour. The Iranians, meanwhile, should restore the free flow of marine traffic through Hormuz, and rebuild damaged ties with their Arab Gulf neighbours.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2026

Little to celebrate

BY now it has become almost tedious to read the same assessment from every global credit rating agency and lender — Pakistan’s economy has stabilised, but risks remain. Moody’s commentary on the country’s economy accompanying its latest upgrade is simply a repetition of this review dressed up in a new number. And that tedium is itself the story: an economy that keeps producing the same verdict year after year is hardly holding steady; in fact, it is stuck. Macroeconomic indicators may not be falling, but nothing underneath them is moving either. Standing still while the rest of the world advances is nothing but a quiet form of decline. Moody’s new rating, still highly speculative and seven notches below investment grade, is not a vote of confidence. It is merely an acknowledgment that the country is marginally less likely to default than before. And yet it was an occasion for the prime minister to congratulate the nation as though we had turned the corner. This is the peculiar place Pakistani policymaking has settled into, where even minor technical adjustments are treated as milestones.

The picture Moody’s has painted is unflattering. It points to a narrow export base, negligible FDI, heavy reliance on remittances, and a government that still leans on official and commercial borrowing to meet its external obligations. None of this describes an economy capable of standing on its own feet. It is being propped up by the IMF and rolled-over bilateral deposits. The governance language deserves more attention. The agency is blunt: weak rule of law, poor control of corruption, limited government effectiveness. These are not casual observations. These are the reasons investors continue to look elsewhere. Even the improvement in debt affordability that Moody’s highlights comes with a caveat. Interest payments have reduced substantially over the previous year. Yet the figure is so high that practically nothing is left for the social and infrastructure investment the country needs. This improvement is a function of falling inflation and rate cuts, not any structural change. What all of these add up to is an economy that has been stabilised in the technical sense but the deeper conditions for real growth remain elusive. Real recovery would have looked different. Moody’s upgrade is not a turning point; it is just a slightly better seat in the same waiting room.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2026

Defeating malaria

PAKISTAN logged 1.8m malaria cases last year, revealing that sustained preparedness is not on the government’s priority list. The disease, preventable but potentially fatal, is registering a worrying rise in Sindh: out of the 10,033 patients screened on a single day, 916 tested positive. The highest figure of 410 emerged from the Hyderabad division and 208 in Larkana. While there are four human malaria parasites, doctors say this is a vivax malaria spread due to relapse among patients who halt treatment once the fever subsides. The reasons remain obvious — the vector-borne illness persists where poverty, climate shocks and poor healthcare render medical care a privilege instead of a right. Meanwhile, doctors in Karachi maintain the city’s patient caseload is much higher than what is documented. Some 25 cases are reported weekly, including a few dengue cases.

At a time when temperatures vary, monsoon patterns change and poverty is on the rise, mosquito breeding spots proliferate, becoming difficult to control. Additionally, the Pakistan Medical Association attributes the illness pattern to Karachi’s dilapidated sewerage system along with weather conditions. Experts warn that without widespread preventive measures, strategy and vigilance in the province, the situation can spiral out of control. The truth is that only delivery matters. Annual transmission across the country, particularly in rural Sindh and KP, and areas of Balochistan, highlights the gaps in the healthcare infrastructure. There is no political commitment to address the injustices that feed malaria. Health units including rural health centres must have diagnostic supplies, medicines and staff on hand. Surveillance cannot be taken lightly, particularly when foreign aid is drying up. Malaria needs constant local investment as global health funds are exposed to pressure. Pakistan has to give precedence to its people’s health to defeat vector-borne and other diseases. Without heightened deterrence, we will be helpless against potentially deadly outbreaks.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2026