Express Tribune Editorials 17th September 2026

Bodycams may help, but

Punjab's decision to equip police with body-worn cameras is a step in the right direction as far as transparency is concerned. The devices are being introduced in 43 cities under their respective Safe City networks. They will include features such as live monitoring and facial recognition, which would improve policing, while also helping reduce police violence and corruption.

But the gap between announcement and enforcement is where past reforms have failed. In this case, the danger is that police officials who want to abuse their power can simply turn the cameras off. Even if they are required to be on at all times, police can easily claim operating errors, lack of technical skills, or simple mistakes led to the cameras missing egregious conduct. These are not even novel excuses. Even in countries which tout themselves as being nations where the police are actually accountable, body cameras have an uncanny tendency to turn off at the most inopportune times. Take the US, where a police precinct in the city of Philadelphia reported that only 22% of police interactions that required cameras to be turned on were actually recorded. There are also several cases of police violence and criminal conduct taking place 'off camera'.

Failure to address this problem will just worsen conditions for everyone. It is true that having cameras on all the time can be problematic - and infringes on the privacy of police officials and certain members of the public, especially during everyday interactions. But police officials also need to know they must allow themselves to be audited and accept penalties for failing to record relevant interactions. Support cannot be a form of blind faith. Dirty cops need not smash cameras or refuse to wear them. They can simply claim malfunctions, battery problems, or that it was "accidentally" deactivated. For this, the system will need top-notch training and better equipment and resources. If approved and used properly, body-worn cameras could represent a giant leap in the right direction.

PIMS tragedy aftermath

It should not take the deaths of 14 newborns for a major public hospital to discover that its most basic safety systems are inadequate. Yet that is what the PIMS inquiry has effectively revealed. The prime minister has now given authorities three months to implement the short-term measures identified after the fire, but the more important test is whether this deadline finally produces the institutional discipline that repeated warnings and previous recommendations failed to achieve.

The inquiry's findings are difficult to dismiss as an unfortunate accident. It identified systemic and institutional failures at PIMS, with senior management bearing primary responsibility for failing to address known safety risks. The fire was most probably caused by an electrical fault, but what turned a fire into a catastrophe was a chain of deficiencies around it. Fire-safety arrangements were inadequate, emergency procedures were weak, the nursery was overcrowded and there was no formally approved and regularly practised procedure for evacuating newborns. External assistance was also called only after a significant delay. The prime minister has ordered implementation of the inquiry's short-term recommendations within three months, called for WHO recommendations to be incorporated into the improvement plan and sought assistance from PKLI on fire safety. He has also ordered free provision of medicines and facilities at PIMS, called for reputable personnel to be appointed and directed that Polyclinic Hospital be audited and restructured. Fire-safety audits have also been ordered. Every corrective measure needs an identified responsibility and independent verification. This is particularly important for a public institution that serves some of the country's most vulnerable citizens.

A hospital's real standard is judged by whether its systems function when lives depend on them. The three-month deadline at PIMS is therefore an opportunity to demonstrate that the state can act on institutional failures before they produce another tragedy.

Security paradox

Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabian interests are pushing the region toward a major crisis. Reports of a drone attack over the holy city of Makkah are highly condemnable and unacceptable under any norms of warfare. Though the Houthis have denied the attack, it could still lead to widespread repercussions, as even the slightest strategic miscalculation could ignite a full-fledged war.

The only point of consolation, however, is that both sides are not going over the brink. Yet, the fact that the Houthis have set on fire the East-West oil pipeline and are encroaching on navigational routes is an undesirable escalation. More than 13 civilians were reportedly killed or injured in the Yemeni militia's missile and drone attacks on Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif, while Riyadh was blamed for flying more than 450 sorties. The downing of a Saudi F-15 aircraft and the forcing of Typhoon warplanes over Marib to withdraw hint at a build-up that could prove catastrophic.

Quite evidently, the Middle East is simmering with a paradox. The conventional security provider, the United States, has let its allies down. Its obsession with acting as a client state of Israel has cost it its prestige in the region. The Iran war has exposed the superpower's fault lines. Vice President JD Vance's recent realisation that the US cannot allow its Mideast policy to be "subservient to the state of Israel" is too little, too late. The damage is done. The biggest casualty for the US is the loss of faith among its allies. The Makkah Pact is, thus, an auto-correction intended for collective deterrence and carries no extra-territorial regional aspirations. The pact does not state that every hostile act, economic measure, or threat automatically triggers collective military action.

The way forward is to return to the fine print of the Islamabad MoU and get talking. China, too, has asked for this. Persuading Iran to tame the Houthis is indispensable, and that can only happen if the crisis of confidence is addressed. The Salalah talks postponement highlights the need for more intricate parleys. The Houthis have unnecessarily opened a new front, and the earlier they are neutralised, the better.