Express Tribune Editorials 27th Feb 2025

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Widespread drug use

Investigations and reporting around the Mustafa Amir murder case have given most Pakistanis the biggest glimpse into the workings of the local illicit drug trade and how ingrained drug culture has become. But beyond the alleged narcotics-trading millionaires involved in the gruesome crime, news reporting has exposed the abject failure of the authorities — and even their complicity — in allowing drug dealing to proliferate. And while it was a commonly held belief that the use of the most expensive drugs, such as cocaine, was limited to the elite class, it appears this is not the case, with the trade and use of high-priced drugs being reported among students from all income groups.

It is also worth noting that in recent years, Pakistan has also witnessed a disturbing rise in the use of designer drugs. These synthetic substances, often marketed as legal alternatives to illicit drugs, are engineered to mimic the effects of traditional narcotics like cocaine, heroin and cannabis. However, their chemical composition is frequently altered to evade legal restrictions, making them both dangerous and difficult to regulate.

However, the government's heavy-handed approach to addressing drug use has always been part of the problem. Reports suggest authorities plan to summon the parents of alleged drug users for questioning and collect information on dealers from the drug-using students. This essentially amounts to arm-twisting small fry to get to big fish, which might reduce supply but will do nothing to alleviate demand. As the failure of supply-focused drug policies in the US and elsewhere have illustrated, cutting supply only causes prices to spike, with a negligible impact on demand. Without education and awareness through open and honest discussions, the only success that our current drug policies can bring is to arrest a few active dealers, who will quickly be replaced by new dealers seeking to enter the highly lucrative market.

Thirsting for relief[

Karachi's residents once again find themselves at the mercy of the tanker mafia as reckless development work has disrupted key water supply lines across the city, leading to protests. Officials now warn that the crisis will persist a few more days. Time and again, ill-planned infrastructure projects damage critical pipelines, leaving entire neighbourhoods parched.

Promises of infrastructure development ring hollow when basic necessities like water are repeatedly sacrificed. Karachi's outdated and fragile water supply network is already struggling to meet demand, and each new infrastructure project further exacerbates the problem. Time and again, careless excavation damages key pipelines, plunging neighbourhoods into crisis, while authorities fail to implement preventive measures. The ultimate beneficiaries of this dysfunction are the tanker operators, who thrive on Karachi's chronic water shortages. The more the system crumbles, the stronger their grip on the city becomes. With no or irregular piped water supply, residents have no choice but to pay exorbitant prices for tankers, lining the pockets of private suppliers who operate with little oversight.

What is needed is a systematic overhaul of the city's water infrastructure. Authorities must ensure that development projects do not come at the cost of essential services. Coordination between agencies responsible for roadworks and water supply must improve, and penalties must be imposed on those whose negligence leads to public suffering. The parallel water economy, allowed to flourish under the authorities' watch, must also be dismantled. A comprehensive crackdown on illegal hydrants, stricter regulations on private suppliers and measures to ensure fair pricing are needed to break this vicious cycle. Karachiites deserve better than to be held hostage by tanker mafias every time a new road is built. If this cycle continues, the city's future will remain as parched as its present.


Central Asia connect

Pakistan's focus on expanding ties with Central Asian Republics is an outcome of geo-economics. The graduation of CPEC into its second phase has thrown open new opportunities for the landlocked former Soviet states, as well as Afghanistan, to buoy their regional interaction for collective good. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's visits to Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan were intended at kick-starting a new phase of understanding, and to cement relations on a broader horizon of multilateralism.


The promise from Baku to invest over $2 billion in Pakistan and, likewise, the eagerness of Tashkent to expand bilateral trade to $2 billion are epoch-making developments, and need to be firmly implemented. There are a large number of sectors that Pakistan can tap for these progressive republics in the north, especially in defence cooperation, transportation, energy and mining. A cobweb of unbridled air connectivity is a must, and it is a pity that Pakistan is still not on the map of several airlines that, otherwise, frequently fly to capitals in the region.

The Tashkent-Lahore flight is a good initiative which should be extended to Astana, Samarkand, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Bukhara and Minsk. Similarly, easing of visa regulations and due patronage to the businesses community is indispensable. Another area of interest should be infrastructure development to cut down on the road travel in the region, and enable logistics on a supersonic speed as is the case in Europe. Last but not least is pinning cultural and academic interactions to galvanise a better understanding of ethos for promoting pluralism.

As trade and commerce take roots, it necessitates an understanding to further the prospects for peace in Afghanistan. Nothing could be materialised with revulsion in the West Asian state, and Kabul has a major responsibility to dispense by exterminating terror fissures on its soil. This will not only help prospective energy projects such as TAPI and CASA-1000, but also the proposed railway link between Pakistan and Uzbekistan via Afghanistan. That is how geo-economics could be realised for the betterment of around a billion people in the region.