Express Tribune Editorials 19th August 2026

Social media limits and privacy

Despite concern over France's Constitutional Council decision to block the country's social media ban for children under 15, the ruling should be seen as a technical setback addressing a structural flaw in the legislation, not a repudiation of the need to protect young people online. Though the court objected to the legislation's "disproportionate" infringement on expression and its vague privacy safeguards, it did not explicitly rule that age-based restrictions are inherently unconstitutional. Other countries planning similar bans - including the EU and several member states, and also Pakistan - should take note of this and craft their laws in ways that achieve the balance needed to meet these conditions.

The French court's primary grievance was the lack of clear limits on age-verification data collection - a flaw with a solution that could be implemented in no time - requiring robust privacy-preserving technologies, strict data retention caps and transparent oversight through independent audits. The EU should also feel minimal pain, even if it has to tweak its Digital Services Act, considering the bloc's long-running reputation for respecting personal rights. The most dangerous thing any country could do is give up on introducing or enforcing restrictions just because it would take legislators a few more hours to make their laws compliant with the relevant privacy and free speech rules.

As for Pakistani legislators, the fact that our privacy and free speech laws are already considered repressive will be an unexpected bonus - many national identity documents are already part of the public record, and the cultural lack of respect or understanding of data privacy means many people willingly offer up information that would require legal intervention in other countries. But while laws surrounding the issue may differ from country to country, the concern at the heart of the problem is universally the same - protecting kids from the horrors of social media. Countries may choose to work together or go their own way, but everyone must agree to bring in much stricter use limits than currently exist.

Karachi's foul inheritance

Areas in Karachi lending the city its allure are few and far between, with the sea being its major site of attraction. Even then, the Sindh government treats it largely like a garbage disposal. According to recent reports, the drainage network of the entire city has persistently been in a shambles due to administrative hurdles and funding feuds, causing the diversion of untreated sewage into waterways and the Arabian Sea. On one hand, most gutter lines in the city are not even connected to the KWSC's drainage network. On the other hand, none of the sewage treatment plants of KWSC are currently functioning, owing to needless reconstruction.

Karachi is no stranger to construction projects left midway, and KWSC's sewage treatment plants are no different. The S-III project - also called the Greater Karachi Sewerage Plan - was initially designed in 2007 and approved in 2013, with construction beginning a year later. Shortly after, the project fell victim to the city's curse of delays, and after an increase of almost Rs28 billion in the estimated cost, the project remains unfinished.

The blame game between the federal government and the Sindh government is a major cause of this hindrance, as both parties agreed to share the initial costs for the project but began quarrelling after cost estimates skyrocketed. Stuck between these two parties are the residents of Karachi who have tried and failed - yet keep trying - to make peace with a consistently foul-smelling city.

Unmistakably, the issue doesn't cease to exist after you ignore the smell. Karachi's sewage treatment crisis has caused the rise and endemicity of several diseases that continually claim the lives of a good chunk of the population every year. Delays in this project are not merely an inconvenience; they carry fatal consequences unless the city actively manages its waste.

Rightsizing desired

Downsizing the government and cutting down on expenses are essential for ensuring good governance. It goes without saying that we, as a nation, are living beyond our means, and successive governments have only paid lip service to austerity. A Senate Subcommittee on Devolution has flagged two important aspects: first, around Rs6 trillion annually is being wasted on irrelevant ministries and state bodies; and second, the 18th Constitutional Amendment is not being implemented in letter and spirit. This is more than enough to kick-start a debate on the lacunae inherent in our system and how the financial bleeding can be stopped.

While listing out their recommendations, the panel of senators pointed out that the defunct concurrent list is still in vogue and Article 154 of the Constitution is being undermined - an issue that demands immediate rectification. They also called for reconstituting the CCI "on the basis of equality of provinces", and barred the federal government from privatising power distribution companies, arguing it is a provincial subject. An interesting observation was that the federation must limit itself to nine ministries with an official budget of Rs3.3 trillion. Likewise, the subjects in the Federal Legislative List Part-II must be decided by the CCI rather than the federal cabinet.

All this entails that Pakistan has burdensome ministries and an unproductive bureaucracy, eating up around Rs8 trillion annually out of a cash-constrained revenue generation apparatus of Rs15 trillion. It is worth noting that our ministries cater to 1.92 million federal employees, apart from a million provincial servants. That is why it had also been recommended earlier that the abolition and relocation of 65 departments would be a first step in the right direction. These observations, incidentally, have come at a time when a debate is underway on creating new provinces. All this necessitates some audacious scrutiny of the system at work, with the implicit understanding that the governance organogram must be remapped. Only then will we be able to alleviate the mounting debt burden and win back the trust of our constituents.