But even the parliamentarians could not take attention away from their neighbours next door. After months of petitions and chatter about Imran Khan’s health, the Supreme Court also held a hearing on the matter. Perhaps this was due to the ‘alarming’ report on his medical well-being which made its way to the judges. It is still a bit unclear who ordered it and why but the court asked for a health check-up and a hospital stay for the former prime minister.

What followed the court’s order was pandemonium. After all, Khan has been locked up and has been out of sight (but not out of mind), since he was arrested before the election. A court order which allowed him to meet his family, consult his doctors and stay in hospital seemed impossible concessions, considering the non-stop messaging about how Khan was not acceptable to those who matter. In this land, where conspiracies rule the roost and even prove to be true at times, everyone, including the PTI, thought something was up. So did the government. Indeed, it seemed the government took a page out of the PTI’s book — in which there is more contradiction than agreement.

The government was proved right as the order was not implemented the way many assumed — Khan took a road trip to hospital and then back to Adiala. But it was not the hospital the court had ordered nor did he get to consult his own doctor. So, what happened and what went wrong?

Co-option cannot happen at the level of high politics without also including the people.

After all, our courts do not give orders which will not be implemented. That really isn’t how Constitution Avenue works. No wonder some went so far as to think that the hearing came after some behind-the-scenes understanding. And of course, those who believe such fairy-tales then also argued that, at the last minute, someone, somewhere changed their mind.

The finger is being pointed at the government, for it has the most to lose from any ‘relief’ given to the PTI and its leader. But it is worth asking if the PML-N component in Islamabad or Lahore has the power or the space to make such decisions. After all, the manner in which Pakistan is being run, the decision to take Khan to hospital and meet his family could not have been lightly taken or at any unimportant level. And so, if it was scuttled, it was done by someone as powerful as the one who made the original decision.

If we allow for these assumptions, does it mean that there is some disagreement at the top about how to treat the PTI? The answer to this question will be evident once the court hears the PTI’s contempt of court petition and says something about it. The party has already approached the court complaining that the latter’s orders were not implemented. That the petition names government ministers other than Mohsin Naqvi is worth noting.

As an aside, it is interesting that the time period from Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification in the summer of 2017 to the vote of no-confidence in April 2022 is similar to the period from the VONC to the present. A little short of five years. Relief from imprisonment doesn’t necessarily mean the end of all troubles but it does indicate that there is some softening of attitudes, whatever the reason. But to repeat, all of this will become a little clearer if and when the Supreme Court gets around to dealing with the petition.

There is a larger issue here that escapes the attention of those who focus on high politics in Islamabad. And that is of the people, whose support has turned Imran Khan into the force he is. Large parts of this support is linked to the anger the people feel towards the state’s policies of high taxes, an affordability crisis, the lack of security and the absence of economic opportunities. The list may be longer. This anger is why, despite the utter lack of competence displayed by the PTI and the imprisonment of Khan, his popularity has not faded. For people need hope and they have pinned this hope on the cricketer-turned-politician.

If he and his party now reach an understanding with the establishment, as did Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N some years back, what will the people do? This is not a question to be ignored. It is illogical to assume that the anger will dissipate just because Khan is released — even if he returns to power — if the crises facing the populace are not addressed. People will simply dump Khan the way some of them ditched Nawaz Sharif. Will they then still believe in mainstream politics or turn to more extreme options?

Indeed, it is important to understand that co-option cannot happen at the level of high politics without also including the people. Those who think this is possible need to pay a little more attention to what is happening in Balochistan. Parliamentary politics or political parties can be effective only as long as they are linked to and carry the people along. The PTI and those engaging the party should remember this.

The writer is a journalist.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2026

Young activists invoke mixed responses in South Asia where politics has suspended its left-right discourse for something called centrist and pragmatic politics. Pragmatism is too often a ruse for putting lipstick on the pig. The posture is worrisome but there are other reasons to be prepared for a determined pushback from the state if the wayward rulers with their monopoly over the means of coercion feel truly threatened, say, by the youth as glimpsed partly in Delhi’s Cockroach event.

Consider the facts carefully. Twelve Latin American countries have recently veered to the right, reversing the region’s previous ‘pink tide’ of left-leaning governments. A wave of election cycles has fundamentally altered the region’s political landscape. Notable among the renegades are Colombia, Peru, Argentina, El Salvador, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and Paraguay. Factors are not too different from South Asia’s. High inflation, social inequality, corruption and post-pandemic economic stagnation are listed as driving the massive anti-incumbent sentiment. The ‘Trump Effect’ is cited as a factor even if the enduring impression in Europe and Asia is of the US being evicted from its comfort zone in the oil-rich Gulf.

Many leaders in Latin America are actively copying the ‘Bukele model’ of mass incarceration and hard-line security borrowed from the El Salvadoran dictator. South Asia has not remained untouched. The deposed leader of one country is languishing in jail and that of another country is a fugitive from those who drove her from office with street power. The right-wing Indian prime minister has coined a new description for what could be his next target — the thinking youth. So, who are the “dimaghi Naxals” Modi has warned the country about? Che Guevara and John Keats lived a century apart but they may have offered a likely pointer to who exactly could be in Narendra Modi’s crosshairs. “If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine,” said Che. “Where but to think is to be full of sorrow,” mused Keats, describing the human condition to a bohemian nightingale.

Has the new generation found the courage and the commitment to face the consequences of a massive pushback?

Before joining the jubilant crowds at the resignation of Modi’s powerful education minister whose removal the Cockroach protesters had sought, it would do no harm to remember that Indira Gandhi was similarly forced to remove two of her chief ministers — Chimanbhai Patel in Gujarat and Abdul Ghafoor in Bihar — in the run-up to the Emergency. With her back to the wall after a court verdict sought her removal from power, she went for the trigger and jailed her opponents. Mrs Gandhi was essentially a democrat, not the best in the world but also not the worst. There was no other valid reason for her to hold elections after having vanquished the violent surge against her. How can we know that Modi would not consider harsher measures should things come to the crunch?

The political circumstances seem a lot more fraught today than they were in 1975 on the eve of the Emergency. A commission of inquiry probed Indira Gandhi’s excesses following her defeat in the 1977 elections (which she had called in the alleged belief she would sweep the polls). Whatever the Shah Commission found on her was not enough to send her for more than a night’s stay in Tihar Jail. But look at the list of excesses called out by Modi’s opponents today. Moreover, there are deeply entrenched domestic and foreign interest groups who dread the Modi government losing power.

What would become of the TV channels and their ace anchors that have become a platform for hate speech and servitude to the government? What would become of the temple heist probe? At an international level, what would become of the $250 million corruption charge slammed on Gautam Adani and the opposition’s claim that after Donald Trump took office, the US Justice Department contrived to drop the cases. This reversal allegedly came after Adani hired a personal lawyer of Trump (Robert J. Giuffra Jr) and extended an unusual offer to invest $10 billion into the American economy to create 15,000 jobs.

Opposition leaders claim Modi actively “covered up” this corporate corruption during high-level US diplomatic meetings. What would be Israel’s reaction should the Modi government ever be stuck in the political doldrums? The entire Western world rose up in arms against Indira Gandhi’s Emergency not least because she was identified as a Soviet ally. Today, the West is silent over a raging genocide in Gaza; how would it find the courage to speak for Indian democracy, particularly when the Modi government is “doing the job” for them?

Therefore, the question is, has the new generation found the courage and the commitment to face the consequences of a massive pushback? Pakistan, in India’s neighbourhood, has seen momentous changes, including coups as well as the eviction of usurpers. But it is equally a fact that when Ziaul Haq hanged an elected prime minister, there was­n’t the mass upheaval against his tormentors that ZAB had hoped for. Tariq Ali underscores the irony in his play The Leopard and The Fox. While localised street clashes occurred in places like Rawalpindi, Lahore and Sindh, protests against Bhutto’s hanging remained fragm­ented. Therefore, when the “dimaghi Naxals” and assorted “cockroaches” ponder their next brave moves, they might want to blend with their abiding hopes a dose of prescribed preparedness.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2026

But good intentions alone are not enough. The real question is whether the government can turn his directives into a coherent policy and implement it effectively. That would require reforming federal and provincial agriculture policies, markets and institutions that determine what farmers produce, what they pay for inputs and what they earn. Above all, an agricultural policy must be responsive to the needs of small and medium-sized farmers rather than powerful lobbies.

Take the example of the sugar sector. Policy has repeatedly been designed around the interests of millers, who have traditionally enjoyed political influence. Decisions on support prices, cane procurement, export, and other interventions aim to protect them. Cotton illustrates another failure of the agricultural system. Farmers often do not receive a fair share of the value generated by their crop, with middlemen and other parts of the supply chain capturing much of the margin. The result is reduced yields over the years.

Improving farm productivity means little if farmers remain trapped in inefficient markets and weak bargaining arrangements. A serious agricultural reform programme must address these structural problems. Smallholders need easier and cheaper access to bank credit, fairly priced and reliable inputs, protection against adulterated pesticides and poor-quality fertiliser and certified, high-yielding and climate-resilient seeds.

They also need better extension services that take modern farming techniques from research institutions to the field. Market reform is as important. Farmers should have greater direct access to efficient markets and buyers, instead of remaining dependent on middlemen. Better storage, grading, transport, digital market information and transparent price mechanisms can help reduce the gap between what consumers pay and what farmers receive. The proposed national system for estimating crop production is overdue. Reliable data is essential for planning imports, exports, storage and prices. But such a system will be useful only if its estimates are credible and produced through modern technology.

The question, therefore, is not whether the PM’s intentions are honest. They are. The question is whether his government has what it takes to confront the entrenched interests that benefit from the system. Agricultural modernisation requires a comprehensive plan covering research, seeds, credit, inputs, extension, markets, water management and value chains, with the smallholder at its centre. It also requires political will to reform policies that currently favour powerful groups. Without these, no intervention will deliver the productive gains that farmers and the economy urgently need.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2026

Under the new system, applications filed through the IRIS portal will be screened using risk-based checks. The measures were notified through Sales Tax General Order No. 20 of 2026, issued on Monday.

Under the new procedures, applicants falling in the low-risk category will be processed within three working days under a risk-based framework, provided all required documents are complete. Applications will be submitted through the computerised IRIS system.

The FBR has directed all field formations not to demand additional documents unless they are legally required or flagged by the risk-based system.

Bars field offices from seeking unnecessary documents

To further facilitate manufacturers, the FBR has asked sectoral associations under the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry to issue pre-registration certificates to their members.

These certificates will confirm that the applicant is engaged in manufacturing, that the business premises are identifiable, that the activity corresponds with the relevant sector and that the details provided match the association’s records. The certificates will be sent electronically to the local registration office (LRO) along with other required documents.

The FBR clarified that these certificates are intended only to expedite verification and do not replace legal requirements or grant any exemptions. It also pointed out that associations will be held responsible if false information is discovered during physical checks. Local registration offices must also conduct on-site verification of manufacturers within three working days.

At the same time, the FBR stressed that applications flagged as high-risk will continue to face stricter scrutiny, including pre- and post-verification. Even low-risk registrations may be rechecked later if irregularities are detected.

To make the registration process quicker and more transparent, the FBR has laid out a step-by-step procedure. All applications filed through the IRIS portal will be screened using a risk-based system. Those identified as low-risk will be given priority and, if complete, processed within three working days.

Field formations have been instructed not to ask for additional documents unless they are legally required, needed to verify information or flagged by the computerised risk system. If an application is incomplete, the applicant must be informed within seven days, with clear details of what is missing, what needs to be corrected and how much time is allowed to rectify the deficiencies. The order also directs that no vague or general objections be raised — every objection must be specific and linked to a clear requirement. Once the missing information is provided, the application should proceed without requiring the applicant to restart the process.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2026

He categorically said “it was a murder”, adding her husband and a domestic servant are in police remand custody, while the father-in-law of the victim is under investigation.

The RPO was speaking at a hurriedly-called joint press conference with City Police Officer Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera, the SSP investigations and the SP Potohar at the Police Lines auditorium on Monday night.

A special team has been formed to investigate the murder of digital media executive, Hina Javaid, 45.

Says husband and servant in remand custody, father-in-law under probe

Initially, it was portrayed as a suicide; however, after examining the body, the impression of suicide was ruled out. The victim’s father-in-law has been included in the investigation but has not been arrested.

“The investigation into the case is at an early stage, so it is not appropriate to reveal certain things at this stage. However, as the investigation progresses, those who have played a role will be identified. As soon as concrete evidence is found against the victim’s father-in-law, action will be taken against him according to the law,” the RPO said.

He said that on August 20, at 6am, Asghar Ali Fayyaz came to the police station and gave the initial information that thieves had broken into his house located on Faisal Alvi Road.

He said on receiving the information, the police reached the spot where the body of Ms Javed was found in the bathroom of the apartment. “The body was tied to the shower and her hands were tied behind her back.”

On the request of the deceased’s brother Fahad Javed, a case was registered under murder charges.

The deceased’s husband Faisal Asghar Imam, father-in-law Asghar Fayyaz and domestic servant Zeeshan and an unknown person were named in the FIR.

The RPO said that the investigation was being conducted from all angles and a special team had been formed under the leadership of the SSP investigations.

He said the suspects, Zeeshan and Faisal, are in police custody. The RPO said all means, including technical and human intelligence, are being used in the investigation.

The servant revealed to the investigating team that Faisal and Hina had a quarrel on the night of the incident over some issue during which she was reportedly tortured. As she tried to escape, she was strangled, he added. Later, she was taken to the bathroom to give an impression that she had committed suicide.

The suspect had initially given a different statement but during the remand custody he made the disclosures.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2026

The petitions before the IHC vindicate the government’s concern that the SC order in Imran Khan’s case could set a precedent for other prisoners to seek similar relief.

The federal government, in its review petition before the Supreme Court, had argued that allowing a convict to receive treatment at a private hospital could disturb the existing prison system and trigger a “floodgate” of similar applications from other prisoners.

The issue is now before the IHC, where Justice Muhammad Asif sought comments from the jail superintendent on petitions filed by prisoners Ilyas Khan, Muhammad Ismail Khan and Owais Altaf. The court also issued noti­ces to prison authorities, and adjourned proceedings until Aug 27.

During the hearing, Barrister Akhtar Chheena, representing Ismail Khan, said his client was suffering from haemophilia and had developed internal bleeding. He submitted that the prisoner had been taken to hospital around 10 times in the last two months, but his condition had not improved.

According to the counsel, treatment for the particular condition was presently possible only at Shifa Interna­tio­nal Hospital. He relied upon the SC’s recent ruling and argued that where a disease could not be treated at a government hospital, a prisoner could be shifted to a private facility, with the family bearing the cost of treatment.

The counsel requested the court to constitute a medical board to determine whether the required treatment was available at a government hospital. He questioned whether a prisoner should be denied access to a private facility if a necessary procedure, including a liver transplant, was not available at a government hospital.

The petition filed by Owais Altaf was also pressed before Justice Muh­am­­mad Asif. His lawyer, Syed Jafar, ap­­p­eared through video link and submitted that the prisoner was suffering from fever and a heart ailment.

He argued that receiving proper medical treatment was a fundamental right of a prisoner and maintained that the required treatment was not available at a government facility. The counsel consequently sought an order for Owais Altaf’s transfer to Shifa International Hospital for treatment.

In another plea, Ismail Khan sought permission to communicate with his brother, who has been living in Dubai. The counsel requested that the jail authorities be directed to facilitate communication between the prisoner and his brother.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2026