DAWN Editorials 31st July 2026

Expanding conflict

WITH neither of the belligerents willing to back down, and the theatre of conflict expanding geographically, the US-Iran war is in an extremely dangerous phase. There was some hope that last week’s lull in violence could lead to a resumption of the diplomatic process, but these expectations were short-lived.

In the latest round, fighting has spread to Iraq and Egypt, further complicating efforts to douse the flames of war in the region. On Monday, Saudi Arabia witnessed drone attacks on oil facilities in its east. The attacks are believed to have been carried out by pro-Iran militias in Iraq — Tehran has denied the charge. In response, together with the Americans, the Saudis hit several targets in Iraq, causing a number of casualties. This is the first major public Saudi involvement in combat during this war.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian port of Damietta came under a drone attack on Wednesday. No party claimed responsibility. In the latest developments, the US has hit the Iranian island of Qeshm, causing civilian fatalities, while the Iranians have attacked facilities in Jordan and Kuwait. The Ukrainians had also targeted an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea last week.

The growing number of actors now involved in this conflict have created a very high risk of miscalculation. One misfired drone or missile is capable of igniting a larger exchange of fire, as the recent attacks and counter-attacks have shown. That is why a long-term ceasefire is imperative.

As the Foreign Office said on Thursday, diplomacy remains the “only viable path forward”, and the Islamabad MoU still offers a framework for peace, should Washington and Tehran seek to pursue it. The US, as the aggressor in this conflict, must take the first step, admit that the war was a mistake, and pledge to work for peace. Iran should respond positively to any such overtures, particularly by exhibiting a less rigid attitude where the Strait of Hormuz is concerned. Keeping this vital waterway closed to global marine traffic is hurting the entire international community, including Iran’s foreign allies and sympathisers.

Though rationality demands that all sides step back from the brink, the current occupant of the White House is not known for making rational choices. The Israeli prime minister was recently in Washington, and one is not sure what toxic advice vis-à-vis Iran he gave to the American president.

If both the US and Iran continue to climb the escalation ladder, a catastrophic regional war may well be the eventual result. However, if both sides choose to employ the good offices of interlocutors, such as Pakistan and other regional states, a way out can be found, though the window for a negotiated settlement may not remain open indefinitely.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2026

Spoils and spats

A FIGHT over assembly seats in Azad Jammu and Kashmir has laid bare what seem to be some deep resentments between the PPP and PML-N. Despite being ruling coalition partners in Islamabad, the two parties have engaged in a public war of words following the first phase of polling in AJK, completed on July 27. Rather startlingly, the PPP has openly accused the PML-N of using the administrative machinery to perpetrate electoral fraud in the Mirpur polls. Speaking at a workers’ convention in Muzaffarabad, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari alleged that his party’s mandate was “stolen” through widespread administrative manipulation and polling violence. The party’s central secretary general, Nayyar Bokhari,separatelydemanded that the AJK Election Commission hold off on notifying winners until irregularities had been investigated, alleging that “winning seats were gifted to the PML-N” using manipulated administrative tallies. PPP leaders have drawn explicit comparisons to the Form 47 controversies that marked the 2024 general election. The PML-N, in response, has chosen to remind the PPP of the ‘spirit of democracy’, with federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal dismissing Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s remarks as “immature” and “undemocratic”, while Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has ‘advised’ the PPP to be graceful in defeat.

It remains to be seen how long the acrimony lasts. The last round of the AJK election is, barring any misfortune, scheduled for Aug 10. Will it carry on beyond that, and if so, how will it affect the parties’ relationship at the centre? Perhaps one should not get carried away with the speculation. After all, the two parties have, for all their differences, invariably found a modus vivendi in the past. No matter the crimes of moral turpitude they routinely accuse each other of, they manage to set aside their differences to sit at the same table when it is time to divide the spoils of power. It is also a sign of how impoverished Pakistan’s democracy has become that accusations of serious electoral fraud, and, what prima facie seem to be open admissions that the federal legislature was not fairly elected, are now shrugged off as if they do not matter at all. And this is perhaps why the PPP’s protestations are being viewed publicly as the bellyaching of a jilted partner rather than a party taking a political or moral stance. Perhaps this should be expected when politics is surrendered to expediency.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2026

Unfair tax system

THE disclosure that the FBR collected nearly Rs1.9tr in sales and income taxes through electricity bills over the past four years is hardly a matter of pride. Indeed, it shows that the tax system has come to depend on extracting ever more money from those it can easily reach rather than bringing the vast number of untaxed into the net. The revelation that Rs400bn to 500bn in adjustable income tax withholding goes unclaimed annually further exposes the system’s flaws: those outside the formal tax net are content with paying indirect taxes rather than entering the tax system, while those not liable to pay taxes keep bearing the burden because the state has chosen the easiest point of collection. The cumulative burden of electricity consumption and income taxes falls disproportionately on ordinary households.

The FBR chairman told a parliamentary panel recently that the sales tax bill included ‘normal sales tax, extra tax, further tax and tax on electricity supplied to retailers’. Income tax, meanwhile, was withheld from industrial and commercial consumers and even domestic consumers. He warned that electricity could face more taxes, arguing that it receives the highest concessions. But how much more can consumers be expected to bear? Electricity bills are already burdened with high tariffs, debt and other surcharges, fuel adjustments and an array of levies. A panel member rightly described tax collection through electricity bills as “tantamount to coercion”. That the state is using electricity bills as a convenient collection mechanism means it is effectively forcing millions to pay taxes before establishing whether they are actually liable to do so. This is hardly sound fiscal policy. Nor is it sustainable. The failure lies in the state’s approach to taxation. Revenue collection has become an end in itself, while the more difficult task of broadening the tax base is repeatedly postponed. A state that cannot distinguish between a taxable citizen and a non-taxable consumer is making taxation more coercive.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2026