DAWN Editorials - 22nd August 2025

[zarnishhayat]

Lingering issue A LONG-RUNNING controversy over the legitimacy of the 26th Amendment is back in the spotlight. A letter, authored by two of the senior-most justices serving in the Supreme Court, surfaced on Wednesday and was circulated on various social media forums. Unsurprisingly, it quickly became the topic of heated debates on the 26th Amendment and how a controversial piece of legislation enacted under questionable circumstances was allowed to become a fait accompli by the highest court.

The missive, which its authors said had been prompted by a recent decision to publish the minutes of an Oct 31, 2024, meeting of the court’s Practice and Procedure Committee, read like a riposte to two notes recently uploaded to the Supreme Court website and attributed to the chief justice, in which he had explained why challenges to the 26th Amendment were sent to the Constitutional Bench to adjudicate and not presented before a full court.

The controversy is already well known. However, the judges’ letter does shed some fresh light on the chief justice’s decision to set the petitions challenging the amendment before the Constitutional Bench. The judges point out that the meeting of the Practice and Procedure Committee, which decided to place the petitions before a full court bench, had been called in accordance with the relevant law, and the decision could not be ignored or overruled. This much was previously known. However, they assert that the decision was ignored after the chief justice informally and individually met the other judges of the court without their knowledge or involvement. The chief justice later concluded from these meetings that placing the matter before the full court “could dampen the much-needed spirit of collegiality among the judges and further expose the court to public scrutiny”.

That is certainly not a very satisfactory explanation, and the two senior judges appear correct in their indignation over the Committee being overruled. Arbitrary decision-making by past chief justices had been the primary justification for the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act, 2023, which subsequently mandated that the Committee decide all crucial issues before the court.

Meanwhile, “The challenges to the 26th Amendment continue to remain pending, and a golden opportunity to decide them […] before the institution as a whole — ie, the full court as it then stood — has been lost, perhaps irretrievably”, the judges regret in the letter. One hopes that this is not so.

The chief justice must reconsider. It has since become clear that this amendment has done substantial harm to both the judiciary and the constitutional order. The Supreme Court must decide this matter as a whole and reaffirm its solidarity in this moment of crisis.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2025

Flood lessons PRIME MINISTER Shehbaz Sharif’s lament in Buner on Wednesday — that Pakistan did not heed any lessons from the 2022 floods — is as apt as it is tragic. His words echo the frustration of a people once again mourning hundreds of lives lost and thousands displaced by rains that have battered KP, Gilgit-Baltistan, Karachi and beyond. However, while Mr Sharif was right to highlight the folly of unchecked construction on floodplains and riverbanks, describing it as a “human blunder”, the crisis runs much deeper. Climate change has been amplifying the destruction that has come from decades of poor governance.Pakistan, unfortunately, sits on the front lines of climate vulnerability. Glaciers in the north are melting in fragile valleys, while unpredictable monsoons unleash heavy rains on already soaked plains. Deforestation, particularly in KP, has stripped hillsides of the natural barriers that once slowed floods and prevented landslides. Trees that could have absorbed water and anchored soil have been felled for timber or cleared for unregulated development. The result is not only devastation in rural areas but also risks for cities, where clogged drains and crumbling infrastructure leave millions exposed to urban flooding.

The government must step up to the task. These are not seasonal aberrations. They are our permanent new reality. We must invest in better early-warning systems, including real-time monitoring of glacial lakes and rainfall patterns, to give vulnerable communities a chance to evacuate. Urban centres are in dire need of investment in drainage, waste management and flood-resilient housing. Rural areas need embankments and restoration of tree cover. Above all, laws must be enforced against hotels, housing and roadside markets on riverbanks, regardless of any clout behind them. The PM’s call for a ban on construction in hazardous zones, and for a national movement against deforestation, is welcome. But Pakistan has heard similar promises before. What has been missing so far is the political will to follow through consistently, across provinces and beyond electoral cycles. As Mr Sharif admitted, corruption and influence in building permits remain rampant. Unless these are curbed, no assurance will carry any meaning. Pakistan cannot afford to spend its meagre resources repeatedly rebuilding what could have been protected in the first place. If the state is serious about enforcing the law, then flood resilience must be the first test.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2025
Battered innocence SCARRED children represent a sad truth: a nation that fails to guarantee child safety hurtles towards poverty and inequity. The interior ministry has informed the Senate that out of Islamabad’s 567 cases of sexual abuse registered between 2021 and June 2025, 200 involved children — 93 of these young victims were boys and 108 were girls. According to the ministry, 222 suspects were arrested but only 12 were convicted; 163 remain under trial and 15 have been acquitted with 26 still at large. Another 266 children were reported missing in the capital from 2022 to 2025 — 153 males and 120 females. The ministry claims that of the 135 accused who were taken into custody, two were sentenced, 21 walked free and 103 await trial.

Children routinely endure exploitation and sexual abuse at the hands of predators who cultivate environments of impunity. Six years after the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill, 2019, was passed, followed by other legislation, to expedite investigation and punishment, we have not come very far. Grisly figures — Sahil reported 3,364 child abuse cases in 2024 from across the country –— show a deeper malaise that feeds on power. Scores of assault victims are silenced by families for reasons of shame, adding to the problem of underreporting. To stem the rot, the government, along with enforcing the laws, must set up reporting mechanisms in health and education facilities so that professionals report these crimes on behalf of hesitant families. Sufferers and their kin must be assured that identities will be protected as anonymity is central to eradicating this menace. It prevents out-of-court settlements and raises conviction rates. Confronting child abuse requires abandoning violent punishment and adopting rehabilitative justice through understanding criminal psychology, spreading awareness and creating rehabilitation services. The trust deficit created by delayed trials, pending cases and illiteracy must be addressed to boost faith in the judicial system.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2025