Express Tribune Editorials 13th September 2026

Asia Cup exit

Pakistan's latest failure in the Women's T20 Asia Cup should concern more than those following the women's game. Defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the semi-final, after Pakistan had reduced the opposition to 33 for four, was another indication of a cricket system struggling to turn talent into sustained performance. Sri Lanka took only 19 overs to chase 131. Pakistan's captain Fatima Sana had done almost everything she could, scoring 47 and taking four wickets, yet her side still could not snatch away a win.

Sri Lanka have now eliminated Pakistan in three successive Asia Cup semi-finals. Pakistan's women have shown flashes of ability, but too often their cricket remains dependent on individual performances rather than the collective discipline required to win important matches. A total of 130 was always going to leave little room for error, but losing four wickets while defending it after making such a promising start points to weaknesses in batting depth and fielding. More troublingly, the team continues to struggle to sustain pressure once the opposition begins to recover, suggesting shortcomings in game awareness and the ability to adapt when momentum shifts. With the men's team following an uncomfortable parallel in England, the PCB must sit down at the drawing board and take a hard look at where Pakistan cricket is headed.

The time has come for a serious review of Pakistan cricket across both the men's and women's teams. The purpose should not be to find the next person to blame. It should be to establish why a country with such a deep cricketing culture continues to struggle to produce teams capable of performing consistently at the highest level. That conversation is overdue.

Crippling fuel tax burden

As back-to-back fuel shocks under the country's daily pricing review mechanism continue to haunt the public, the burden on everyday citizens shows no signs of easing. The federal government raised petrol prices by a total of Rs29.95 per litre and high-speed diesel by Rs25.27 per litre over the course of the week ending September 12, pushing short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator, up by 8.62% year-on-year.

While price movements are not completely in the government's control, about one-quarter of retail fuel prices comprises different taxes. Consequently, it is crucial to understand how much leeway the authorities actually have to lower prices, should they choose to provide relief. As things stand, critics argue that oil marketing companies are the ones generating substantial profits at these high rates while everyday citizens, squeezed by skyrocketing housing and rent costs, find even basic transportation increasingly unaffordable. A more viable solution would be for the government to cut taxes, the petroleum development levy in particular, and bring fuel prices down to a reasonable level, a move that would undoubtedly secure broad political consensus across the aisle.

Public anger is mounting. Jamaat-e-Islami has staged nationwide sit-ins in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, demanding the withdrawal of the petroleum levy and a reduction of petrol prices to Rs225 per litre. The party has rightly termed the levy an "extortion tax" that burdens every citizen and every sector of the economy. Most economists agree that Pakistan must improve its tax system. But the government seems to have no intention of supporting this argument, and is even hesitant to address the indirect taxes problem. Successive governments have claimed to be addressing the problem, but only with 'noteworthy' material, choosing instead to keep pressure up.

On the other hand, it could focus on the fact that reducing fuel taxes and surcharges would immediately lower consumer prices, ease inflation and restore a measure of relief to a population already reeling from an economic crisis. Kicking the can down the road is no longer an option.

Pakistan's polio excuses

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries on Earth where wild poliovirus remains endemic. Every other nation - from war-torn Somalia to resource-poor Malawi - has interrupted transmission. But we have excuses at every corner. We developed nuclear weapons on a shoestring budget and are still one of only eight nuclear-armed nations. Yet we are also one of only two countries where polio still cripples children. That contrast should shame every official who signs another glossy progress report.

Health officials and government functionaries claim 98% of citizens are fully vaccinated, yet nearly one million children were missed in a single campaign, and over 53,000 families refused the drops outright. Nationwide routine immunisation has been estimated as low as 60%, miles away from herd immunity - the threshold at which enough people are protected that an outbreak becomes impossible. Meanwhile, the virus keeps showing up in sewage samples across the country, proving that official statistics and ground reality are dangerously divorced.

The excuses are as predictable as they are unacceptable. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa indeed faces militant attacks on vaccinators, community boycotts and access constraints. Almost 100 people have been killed in attacks on vaccinators since 2012. But other countries have also fought insurgencies, poverty and vaccine hesitancy - often at the same time - and still eliminated polio. The difference is that they built trust, engaged local communities and held officials accountable for results. Pakistan keeps issuing directives, chairing task forces and taking donor handouts, but takes no tangible action against failure. In fact, our political leaders actively blame each other for their respective region's problems.

At this rate, we will never be free of polio. We will keep counting missed children while the world moves on. If a nation that mastered nuclear deterrence cannot deliver two drops to every child, the problem is not capacity. It is will. Until that changes, millions of Pakistani children will continue facing the unnecessary risk of lifelong paralysis.