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By S.M. Inam The State Bank of Pakistan’s recent decision to hold the policy interest rate at 10.5 per cent for the next two months is being presented as a marker of stability. Governor Jameel Ahmed, speaking after the Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting, also announced a one-percentage-point reduction in the cash reserve ratio, bringing it down to five per cent, a move intended to ease liquidity in the banking system. Inflation in December remained moderate at 5.6 per cent, with core inflation steady at 7.4 per cent, while economic growth has exceeded expectations, with GDP projected to expand between 3.75…

BY Amir Muhammad Khan In a historic development at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Pakistan formally accepted an invitation to join the newly established Gaza Peace Board, a multilateral platform aimed at fostering sustainable peace, facilitating reconstruction, and supporting humanitarian efforts in conflict-affected areas. Ratified by the Federal Cabinet and signed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in May, Pakistan’s participation signals a renewed assertiveness in the country’s foreign policy and a commitment to projecting itself as a peace-oriented actor on the global stage. The Gaza Peace Board, proposed under the framework of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza…

By Asghar Ali Mubarak Lahore, once celebrated as one of the safest cities in Pakistan, was shaken this week by a harrowing incident that has raised serious questions about the city’s infrastructure and governance. A mother and her nine-month-old daughter fell into an open sewer hole near Bhati Gate, leaving residents and officials grappling with the preventable tragedy. The incident has exposed gaps in emergency response, accountability, and public safety, prompting calls for rigorous investigation and reform. According to reports, the family had been visiting Data Darbar after attending a court ceremony when they approached an open manhole—estimated to be…

In recent days, Tirah Valley has become the unlikely stage for a controversy that says as much about Pakistan’s fractured politics as it does about the fragile realities of life along its north-western frontier. What should have remained a routine, if harsh, seasonal movement of people has been inflated into a narrative of displacement, conspiracy and institutional conflict. The defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, has now sought to deflate that narrative, arguing that there is neither a military operation under way nor any extraordinary state action forcing residents from their homes. His intervention is less a denial of hardship than…

By Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal Although mid-January arrives with icy winds at their fiercest and the mercury seems to sink perilously close to freezing, it is also the season when memory awakens with unusual intensity. The chill in the air carries with it the warmth of remembrance, drawing the mind irresistibly toward the narrow, winding streets of Lahore. What the younger generation now terms the “Walled City,” what others know as Androon-e-Shehr, and what Lahoris simply call Shehr, was then a living organism, breathing history, culture, and intimacy. Winter nights echoed with the rhythmic calls of “Garam Aanday,” while peanuts and…

By Asghar Ali Mubarak The idea of Lahore as a “safe city” did not collapse under the weight of crime statistics or terrorism. It fell, quite literally, into an open manhole. The deaths of a young mother and her infant daughter near Data Darbar are not just a tragic accident; they are a brutal indictment of an administration that has confused slogans with safety and optics with responsibility. In a city that proudly boasts of surveillance cameras and global safety rankings, two lives were lost because the most basic duty of governance was ignored: protecting people from preventable danger. The…

By Sibghatullah Mughal The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s detailed judgment in the Naila Javed case arrives at a moment when confusion, inconsistency and, at times, casual disregard for settled law have begun to cloud the country’s family courts. Far from breaking new legal ground, the ruling performs a more necessary and perhaps more difficult task: it restores clarity. By reaffirming long-established principles around second marriage, khula and women’s financial rights, the Court has drawn a firm line under practices that had drifted away from both statute and precedent. At the center of the judgment lies Section 6 of the Muslim…

By Israr Ahmed Orakzai KOHAT:  Transport facilities across Kohat were inspected on the instructions of the Kohat Division commissioner, as officials stepped up efforts to improve passenger services and enforce traffic rules. Acting on the directives of Commissioner Syed Moatasim Billah Shah, the secretary of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Kohat, Shah Wazir, accompanied by RTA superintendent Shaukat Zaman and traffic police officials, visited several transport terminals in the city. The inspections focused on assessing facilities available to passengers and identifying areas for improvement. Special attention was given to the Pir Yousaf Shah stand on Bannu Road. Officials appreciated the…