Express Tribune Editorials 12th September 2026

Need for a rabies policy

The suspension of four doctors and three health workers in Sindh after five rabies deaths in three weeks is an attempt to patch a much more complex problem. The victims, including two young boys aged five and six, died despite being reported to anti-rabies units. This is because the problem is not just a handful of negligent medics, but a broken system.

Consider the case of a 13-year-old boy who received a full vaccination course at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, a major health facility in Karachi, and still died of rabies three months later. Investigations point to several factors, including medication shortages, improper wound washing, counterfeit vaccines and unfit storage temperatures. All of these are systemic failures. Sacking doctors will not fix shortcomings in the cold-chain management system or ensure that rabies immunoglobulin is available at every treatment centre.

Sindh has recorded 38 rabies deaths this year alone. For comparison, the entire country of Germany has had one case of rabies all year - in an illegally imported dog. This makes us to question the veracity of PPP leader Taimur Talpur's claim that Sindh's healthcare system exceeds anything in Europe. But it is not just Sindh. Punjab logged an astonishing 38,586 dog-bite cases in just the first quarter of 2026.

This is a problem that needs a unified solution. We need a comprehensive national rabies policy that requires vaccination of all pets, higher reserve stocks of vaccines, more public awareness and better surveillance. As for animals, policies such as culling should be taken off the table. They are only effective for a few months, and at the heart of things, they are cruel - thousands of healthy animals die to make work a little bit easier for city officials. The WHO says mass vaccination - at least 70% of all dogs in a region - rather than culling is the best rabies reduction strategy. Vaccinating and neutering existing stray populations would protect them from the disease and effectively let them act as buffers, keeping 'outside' dog packs out, while allowing them to eventually die off without reproducing.

Cyber fraud surge

Cyber fraud has become one of the most pervasive forms of financial crime in Pakistan, and the state is still struggling to build a response commensurate with its scale. More than 227,000 people reported being defrauded of Rs8.32 billion over the past three years. The figures are staggering even before accounting for the thousands who never report smaller losses. For many victims, the loss of a few thousand rupees may not justify the time and effort involved in pursuing a complaint. For the fraudster, however, thousands of such transactions constitute a highly profitable business.

The sophistication of these crimes has also changed the nature of the threat. Fraudsters routinely impersonate bank officials and other trusted institutions, while WhatsApp accounts and telephone numbers provide convenient tools for establishing credibility. The victim is often manipulated into authorising the transaction personally, leaving institutions with a difficult question of where responsibility begins and ends. The institutional response to this has been weak, and it can only be meaningful when it changes the risk calculation for criminals. There is a policy issue here that deserves greater attention. Pakistan is actively promoting digital payments and greater financial inclusion. The State Bank has introduced a technology risk management framework for payment institutions, requiring stronger controls against cyber risks, while its consumer protection framework has also been strengthened.

The next step should be to measure these policies by outcomes. How quickly are suspicious transactions detected? How rapidly can a compromised account be frozen? How much stolen money is recovered? How many repeat offenders are identified across different complaints? Public awareness remains necessary, but telling citizens to recognise suspicious calls cannot become a substitute for institutional safeguards. Pakistan cannot expect public confidence in its digital economy to grow while cyber criminals continue to treat citizens' accounts as easy targets.

Eyes on Salalah

There is a crisis of confidence in the Middle East as renewed escalation threatens to bring global supply lines to a standstill. For the first time, the WTO has sent an SOS, warning that geopolitical tensions, conflict-driven shipping disruptions and sweeping tariffs continue to cloud the outlook for global supply chains and transport costs. This warning needs to be read alongside the IEA's warning that global oil supply and demand are set to fall further due to lack of progress in ending the volatility. Consequently, fuel prices will continue to soar; on Friday, preliminary data showed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had dropped to just seven vessels a day. Likewise, the plot is thickening as the Houthis close in on the strategic Perim Island at the mouth of Bab El-Mandeb, effectively choking Saudi Arabia's oil exports on both flanks of the Red Sea.

This necessitates sustained diplomacy in the face of the whims and wishes of forces bent on furthering the conflict. The silver lining is that the Omani port city of Salalah is scheduled to host the foreign ministers of Iran and the Gulf states on Monday to secure a 'buy-in for a temporary deal' to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Oman deserves commendation for bringing all regional stakeholders together for a meaningful dialogue. It is widely hoped that Tehran's influence over the Houthis could help de-escalate the situation. Encouragingly, the Yemeni militia has promised not to obstruct navigation, and the US has refrained from widening the scope of conflict over Yemen.

Any upcoming Salalah declaration must serve as a source of consolation for all, anchoring a commitment from the warring sides to end hostilities immediately. Ensuring an uninterrupted navigation of commercial vessels is a must to save the world from another recession. Last but not least, President Trump's rhetoric on the eve of the midterm elections and the matching rejoinder from the IRGC to push on with the war are self-serving exercises detrimental to the prospects of collective security. It is time to put an end to this narrative of madness.