The Nation Editorials 16th September 2026

Protest Politics

With each passing day, Jamaat-i-Islami’s agitation over fuel prices looks less like a dispute over the mechanics of the petroleum supply chain and more like a political campaign seeking its own momentum.

Public anger over fuel prices is understandable. The petroleum levy is heavy, household budgets are strained and the government must continue examining where relief can reasonably be provided. But protest politics must eventually confront economic reality.

Global oil markets are under severe pressure, with conflict around the Strait of Hormuz driving prices higher and threatening supplies. Pakistan does not control those forces. Nor can the government simply erase a major revenue stream without consequences for the budget, debt servicing and other public obligations.

Pakistan backs Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself against Houthi attacks
In these circumstances, the prime minister’s targeted fuel relief scheme for motorcycles, rickshaws and small vehicles represents a reasonable attempt to protect those most exposed to rising prices. It is not a complete solution, but it recognises both fiscal constraints and the unequal burden of inflation.

JI’s categorical rejection of the scheme, coupled with its insistence that protests will continue until the petroleum levy is abolished entirely, therefore raises questions about the movement’s real objective. At some point, negotiation must involve compromise. If every partial concession is dismissed because it falls short of the maximum demand, dialogue becomes little more than theatre.

President approves Tamgha-e-Shujaat for PIMS nurse
The government should still justify its taxation, reduce wasteful expenditure and pass savings from IPP negotiations to consumers wherever possible. But opposition parties must also distinguish between achievable relief and slogans designed to sustain mobilisation.

As political rhetoric across the opposition has intensified in recent weeks, JI’s refusal to accept a targeted compromise comes as little surprise. Yet if protest becomes the objective rather than the means, public hardship risks becoming merely another instrument of political pressure.

Towards Accountability

The inquiry into the PIMS nursery fire has returned the conclusion many feared from the moment 14 newborns lost their lives: this was not simply an accident, but a systemic and institutional failure. The committee has placed principal institutional responsibility on PIMS management for failing to turn known risks, previous warnings and assigned duties into an effective safety system.

The findings are damning. PIMS had already been warned about deficiencies in detection systems, alarms, electrical inspections, evacuation procedures, firefighting equipment and emergency planning. Yet these weaknesses were never converted into a comprehensive and independently verified corrective programme.

Pakistan backs Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself against Houthi attacks
But a strong report is only useful if it produces strong consequences.

If this document now disappears into government files, it will become another exercise in post-tragedy paperwork. Accountability must have measurable endpoints: disciplinary proceedings where responsibility is established, resignations where leadership failed, public explanations to the families, revised emergency protocols, functioning alarm and suppression systems, proper evacuation drills and independent fire and electrical audits.

The committee itself has recommended a closed-loop compliance system under which every deficiency has a responsible officer, deadline, resources and independent verification before it can be considered resolved. That principle should become the minimum standard, not merely at PIMS but across major public hospitals.

President approves Tamgha-e-Shujaat for PIMS nurse
Fourteen newborns died because multiple safeguards failed simultaneously. Their deaths cannot be answered with another committee report alone.

Much more remains to be done. But identifying institutional failure clearly and refusing to hide behind the convenient language of an unavoidable accident is an important first step. The next one must be action. We owe a lot to the victims of this fire and all the fires before it.

Yemeni Attrition

Saudi Arabia has shown considerable restraint in navigating the wider regional war. It has resisted provocations, absorbed attacks on American facilities on its soil without allowing them to dictate its own strategy, and worked with regional partners to prevent escalation. That caution has served the kingdom well.

Yemen, however, risks becoming the exception.

After renewed Houthi missile and drone attacks wounded civilians and threatened Saudi cities and oil infrastructure, Riyadh has every right to defend its territory. Yet the return to large-scale airstrikes risks pulling Saudi Arabia back into the same war of attrition from which it spent years trying to extricate itself.

Pakistan backs Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself against Houthi attacks
There should be few illusions about what military escalation can achieve. The United States has deployed overwhelming naval and air power in the region without eliminating the Houthi threat. Israel’s technologically sophisticated bombing campaigns and targeted assassinations have similarly failed to end armed resistance elsewhere. Most importantly, Saudi Arabia itself spent years fighting the Houthis in a devastating conflict without securing a decisive military outcome.

Repeating that experience is unlikely to produce a different result.

The Houthis now control strategically important territory along the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, while renewed fighting has displaced tens of thousands of Yemenis. Every additional exchange of missiles and airstrikes deepens a humanitarian disaster while increasing risks to shipping, oil supplies and the wider Gulf economy.

President approves Tamgha-e-Shujaat for PIMS nurse
Saudi Arabia must deter attacks on its territory, but deterrence should not become another open-ended war. Its broader regional strategy has increasingly favoured diplomacy and de-escalation. Yemen should not be treated differently.

After more than a decade of bloodshed, the wiser course is to revive the political process, reduce external interference and pursue a settlement capable of holding Yemen together. Peace remains the better choice.