The path forward requires a multipronged strategy. Investment in early warning systems is essential: accurate forecasting can help farmers and authorities prepare for shortages, adjust cropping patterns, and manage reservoirs more effectively. At the same time, water-use efficiency must be dramatically improved.

Pakistan remains one of the most water-intensive agricultural economies in the world, with significant losses due to outdated irrigation methods. Modernising these systems is imperative.

Regional cooperation must also move from rhetoric to reality. The HKH region spans multiple countries, and water systems do not adhere to political boundaries.

Data sharing, joint research, and coordinated policy responses are crucial to managing shared risks. In this context, institutions like ICIMOD can play a pivotal role, but their recommendations must be backed by political will at the national level.

Ultimately, shrinking snow cover is a test of governance. Pakistan’s ability to adapt will determine whether this challenge evolves into a full-blown crisis or is managed with foresight and resilience. The science is clear, the risks are known, and the solutions are within reach; what remains uncertain is whether the urgency of the moment will translate into meaningful action.

Abdul Qadir, Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

This creates a dangerous feedback loop: each dry year compounds the severity of the next. In an agrarian economy like Pakistan’s, this translates directly into reduced crop yields, rising food prices, and increased rural distress. Hence, ICIMOD’s warning that “every dry spell will hit harder” should not be taken lightly.

Equally, concerning is the lack of coordinated water governance. Water allocation in Pakistan is often shaped by political considerations rather than scientific assessment. Provinces compete rather than collaborate, and institutional fragmentation weakens the overall response. The ICIMOD report’s call for coordinated efforts among agencies highlights a fundamental gap that must be addressed. Without integrated planning, even the best technical solutions can fail to deliver meaningful results.

Rashid Bhoon (Lahore)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

The alarming decline in snow cover across the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region is not merely an environmental concern; it is a grave threat to water security, food production, and economic stability for millions who depend on the Indus River Basin. When nearly half of the basin’s run-off is tied to meltwater, a sustained reduction in snow reserves signals trouble; it can no longer be dismissed as a cyclical variation.

Pakistan relies on the Indus system as its agricultural backbone, yet water management practices remain outdated and inefficient. The data cited in the report—showing a steep and persistent drop in snow cover—should compel immediate action.

Instead, authorities continue to operate with a reactive mind-set, responding to crises only after they materialise. This approach is not viable in the face of accelerating climate change. As the report rightly emphasizes, the time has come to transition from emergency responses to proactive, science-based governance.

Salmaan Shahnawaz, Karachi

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Good governance does not require political interference in cricket administration.

Equally, autonomy should not translate into the absence of oversight. If the Right of Access to Information Act does not adequately address the peculiar status of statutory sports bodies, Parliament may need to consider an appropriate framework that preserves commercial confidentiality while ensuring independent financial oversight.

An external audit mechanism or similarly independent supervisory arrangement would strengthen, not weaken, the board’s credibility.

Public confidence in institutions is sustained not merely by success on the field but also by transparency off it. The PCB’s autonomy deserves protection. So does the principle that bodies exercising public authority must remain answerable for how they conduct their affairs.

Salman Khurshid, Karachi

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There is, admittedly, a line that must not be crossed. Disclosure requirements should not compromise ongoing commercial negotiations, reveal proprietary business information or violate the privacy rights of individuals. But aggregate financial statements, expenditure patterns, governance structures and independent audit reports fall into a different category.

These concern institutional accountability rather than personal confidentiality. It is noteworthy that the PCB itself used to publish the board’s financial statements— containing expenditure details across all departments, including the chairman’s office— on the PCB website, until discontinuing the practice after the current administration assumed office in 2024.

Amir Randhawa (DG Khan)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

Pakistan Cricket Board’s authority to regulate cricket in Pakistan is not simply contractual or voluntary; it flows from law. That distinction is significant, to say the least. The absence of direct government funding does not by itself eliminate the need for public accountability.

The PCB enjoys statutory recognition, exercises a regulatory monopoly over the country’s most popular sport and represents Pakistan in international cricket. Such powers carry obligations that extend beyond those of an ordinary corporate entity.

Ehtesham Bhoon, (Faisalabad)

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The issue is not whether confidential contractual terms should be made public but whether an institution vested with statutory authority can remain largely insulated from independent scrutiny of its financial affairs.

The PCB may see itself as comparable to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which enjoys autonomy in managing the world’s richest cricket market. But the comparison is only partial. The BCCI is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act. The PCB, by contrast, derives its legal character from the state. Although established in 1948, it was reorganised as a corporate body under the Sports (Development and Control) Ordinance, 1962.

Raheel Warraich, Lahore

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

The PCB has argued that it is not a government department and therefore cannot be subjected to the same standards of disclosure. It points out that it receives no financial support from the federal government or the Consolidated Fund, relying instead on revenues generated through broadcasting rights, sponsorships, gate receipts, licensing agreements and distributions from the International Cricket Council.

Mehdi Hasan, Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

If the US has decided to abandon its longstanding position on the issue, it should say so clearly rather than allow such a fundamental policy shift to emerge through an ambassador’s remarks during a visit to Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. President Trump cannot simultaneously offer to help resolve the dispute while his envoy uses language that prejudges its outcome.

India may declare Kashmir its “integral part” as many times as it pleases, but that assertion does not erase the dispute, its history or the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Nor does it erase the wars, ceasefires, UN deliberations and repeated crises that have kept Kashmir at the centre of Pakistan-India tensions and perpetuated instability in the region.

The US should therefore be left in no doubt: the Kashmir issue cannot be wished away through diplomatic terminology. If Washington genuinely wants to contribute to lasting peace in South Asia, it must recognise the dispute for what it is and encourage its peaceful resolution—not rely on one side’s claim and present it as a settled fact.

Sajid Hasan, Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

In my view, however, what makes the US ambassador’s statement particularly disquieting is its apparent departure from the position traditionally maintained by Washington. Successive US administrations have acknowledged the Kashmir dispute and the grave dangers it poses to regional and global security. Former US president Bill Clinton famously described Kashmir as one of the world’s most dangerous places and a nuclear flashpoint. That was hardly an exaggeration. Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed states, and their history demonstrates how quickly tensions over Kashmir can escalate into military confrontation, with consequences extending far beyond the region.

The contradiction is all the more striking given President Donald Trump’s repeated offers to help resolve the Kashmir dispute. Washington cannot credibly offer its services in facilitating a settlement between India and Pakistan while one of its senior representatives publicly describes the disputed territory as simply “an important part of India”.

Nasir Bangash, Quetta

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

On an issue as consequential as Kashmir, such language cannot be dismissed as an offhand diplomatic remark. It amounts to an apparent endorsement of one side’s position on a dispute that has remained unresolved for decades and over which Pakistan and India have fought two full-fledged wars, besides several limited military conflicts.

Pakistan has therefore rightly taken strong exception to the ambassador’s remarks.

Jammu and Kashmir is not a settled matter that can simply be described as belonging to one country by a foreign diplomat. It is an internationally recognised dispute that has repeatedly been taken up at the United Nations and remains governed by the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which provide for a free and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices to determine the future of Jammu and Kashmir.

The dispute cannot be erased by asserting one side’s claim to the territory.

Rafique Cheema, Gujrat

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

In my view, the media has a responsibility too. Reporting should draw attention to gaps in health services, workplace protections and commercial practices. Public discussion must shift away from asking whether mothers are breastfeeding and towards asking whether mothers are being adequately supported to do so. The message is simple: breastfeeding may begin with a mother, but its successful scale-up also depends on society. Hence, in any serious effort to reduce preventable child deaths and improve early-life nutrition, supporting breastfeeding must become a shared responsibility—not another burden placed on women.

Salman Mirza (Lahore)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

Fathers and grandparents can support breastfeeding in practical ways, including by protecting new mothers from unnecessary household pressures and giving them the time and space they need. At the same time, the growing prevalence of bottle-feeding deserves careful scrutiny.

Parents should receive balanced, evidence-based information about infant feeding rather than be subjected to aggressive commercial messaging. Where breast-milk substitutes are medically necessary, they have an important role. But their promotion must not undermine breastfeeding or exploit the anxieties of new parents.

The Sindh law regulating the marketing and promotion of designated breast-milk substitutes is therefore significant. Yet legislation will have little effect unless it is properly monitored and enforced.

Hamid Nizamani, Hyderabad

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

It is important to note that little to no breastfeeding is associated with a substantial burden of preventable illness and child deaths, particularly from diarrhoea and pneumonia.

The benefits of improving breastfeeding practices, however, extend beyond survival. Better breastfeeding can enhance infant nutrition, reduce illness and ease financial pressure on families as well as the health system.

Improving breastfeeding rates therefore need to be treated as a vital public-health intervention rather than simply a matter of individual choice.

Hospitals and clinics should make early initiation of breastfeeding routine, provide trained lactation counselling and avoid unnecessary separation of mothers and new-borns. Families also have an important role to play.

Sehrish Qutubzadeh, Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

These figures should prompt a serious conversation as to why following a practice that is natural, inexpensive and vital to child health remains so difficult for many mothers. Much of the problem appears to lie not with mothers themselves, but with the support systems around them.

Breastfeeding is too often treated as an individual maternal responsibility, while the social and institutional conditions that shape a mother’s ability to breastfeed receive far less attention. A woman who has just given birth may need counselling, encouragement from her family, quality maternity care and sufficient time to establish breastfeeding. Working women, meanwhile, need adequate maternity protections as well as safe and suitable facilities for expressing and storing breast milk. Without such support, public exhortations to “breastfeed” are barely more than unrealistic advice, with serious health consequences.

Nida Mohsen (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

In my view, accountability must reach manufacturers and suppliers rather than falling primarily on small retailers, as is often the case.

Producers who knowingly manufacture or distribute unsafe food should face substantial fines, licence suspension and, where appropriate, criminal proceedings.

At the same time, compliant businesses should be encouraged through certification, incentives and stronger quality-assurance systems.

Food safety is not simply a regulatory or commercial matter; it is a public-health obligation. Pakistan cannot aspire to healthier citizens, greater economic productivity or stronger exports while allowing basic food products to fall below safety standards.

The PCSIR findings provide an opportunity for the authorities to move beyond expressions of concern towards sustained action. What is required now is not another temporary campaign, but a permanent culture of testing, enforcement and accountability. Consumers deserve nothing less than safe, nutritious and honestly marketed food.

Samina Aftab, Islamabad

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

The findings of Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) report on milk are equally concerning. Packaged liquid milk with insufficient milk-fat content and powdered milk containing inadequate levels of protein raise serious questions about both nutritional value and consumer protection. Milk is a staple food, particularly for children, and compromising its quality can have consequences for public health and nutritional outcomes across generations.

The provincial variations also deserve serious attention. The high levels of non-conformance reported in Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa indicate that enforcement is uneven across the country. The possibility that rural markets are receiving a disproportionate share of inferior products makes the situation even more disturbing. Poorer consumers cannot reasonably be expected to identify adulterated or substandard food simply by examining its packaging or comparing prices.

The government’s decision to establish a quarterly monitoring mechanism is a welcome step, but periodic testing alone will not solve the problem. What we need is a coordinated national food-safety framework involving federal regulators, provincial food authorities, laboratories, and local administrations. Testing must be regular, transparent and representative of both urban and rural markets. Its results should be made public, while repeat offenders should face meaningful penalties.

Saleem Bokhari, Lahore

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

Presented to the National Price Monitoring Committee at a recent meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, the report shows that nearly half of vegetable ghee and substantial proportions of milk powder and loose milk available in the market fail to meet prescribed health standards. The findings point to a serious and systemic failure of food-safety oversight.

The most disturbing aspect of the report is the discovery of excessive trans fats, high peroxide values and free fatty acids, as well as the absence of essential vitamins in widely consumed products. Trans-fat levels reaching 15.87 grams per 100 grams, against the prescribed limit of 2 grams, are particularly worrisome. Excessive consumption of trans fats is associated with cardiovascular disease and other long-term health risks. Similarly, rancid or highly oxidised oils should never reach consumers, yet the findings suggest that substandard and unsafe products are entering the market without restraint.

Hamid Khan, Lahore

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

Oxfam has pointed out that the median annual austerity cuts required by the International Monetary Fund rose from 0.21 percent of GDP between 2012 and 2017 to 0.85 percent of GDP between 2018 and 2025.

In my view, therefore, it is important to note that one of the core principles of neoliberal economic policies is fiscal austerity. This means the government must reduce spending on social welfare programmes, healthcare, and education. It is widely known that neoliberal economic policies and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are closely linked. The IMF uses neoliberal principles as the core framework for its financial ‘rescue’ packages and loan conditions. That the IMF places a greater emphasis on austerity is a fact. Its advice often hurts a loanee country’s growth prospects and reduces job opportunities for its people. The IMF is rarely concerned if a country’s growth is stunted because of its austerity advice.

Abdul Majid Khan (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

Whether it is a car being stolen, a phone being snatched, or a gun being waved in someone’s face, these incidents have become terrifyingly common. Furthermore, while official statistics show a decline in criminal activities, reality depicts a far grimmer picture: a large number of residents constantly live in fear, even when stepping out of their houses for just a moment. It is imperative that policymakers, government officials, and law enforcement agencies address this growing challenge urgently and take decisive action against the perpetrators. Doing so would be a small yet significant step toward restoring safety to Karachi—a city whose residents have endured the traumatic effects of rampant street crime for far too long.

Syeda Fizza Jafri

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

Our defence minister Khawaja Asif, who is widely known for his unfiltered rhetoric and aggressive statements, seems to have fully explained his country’s approach to the conflict by stating that attacks spilling into the Saudi kingdom could trigger a joint security arrangement involving Riyadh, Ankara, and Islamabad.

It is now increasingly clear that the recent Saudi-Houthi escalation risks further expanding the conflict across the region and beyond, with Pakistan’s warning to Iran serving as a case in point. That the situation is getting out of hand is a fact. The region is moving towards a wider war at a dangerously fast pace, with catastrophic consequences for humanity. Therefore, the Middle East crisis needs to be resolved through diplomacy immediately, requiring both the US and Iran to first cease hostilities against each other.

Rahmat Khan Achakzai, Quetta

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

At the same time, many old or damaged devices are being discarded without proper consideration of their environmental impact. Electronic waste is different from ordinary household rubbish because it often contains hazardous substances.

Batteries, circuit boards, screens and other components may contain lead, mercury, cadmium and other harmful materials. When electronic devices are dumped in open areas or ordinary landfills, these substances can enter the soil and groundwater. Burning electronic waste is even more dangerous because it can release toxic fumes into the air. The problem is made worse by the short life of many electronic products.

Consumers are often encouraged to replace devices because newer models offer additional features or because repairing an old product appears more expensive or difficult than buying a new one. E-waste may look like a small household problem, but collectively it has serious consequences for the environment and human health. Responsible consumption, repair, reuse and recycling can help reduce this growing burden.

Kaleem Usmani, Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

That is the deeper importance of the Jewish scholar’s observation. A country may possess the world’s most sophisticated weapons and still fail to achieve complete victory over a people whose spiritual will survives every physical blow. Conversely, a materially weaker nation may endure overwhelming pressure if its people remain united by deeply rooted belief, disciplined practice and spiritual leadership.

A military can conquer territory; it cannot automatically conquer conviction. Governments may fall, armies may retreat and economies may suffer devastating losses, yet civilizations can rise again so long as the spiritual foundations that give their people identity, courage and purpose remain alive. A nation is therefore not completely defeated when its weapons are destroyed, but when the spiritual power sustaining its will to survive has been broken.

(Concluded).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

This is precisely why the spiritual dimension matters in strategic calculations. A military installation can be rebuilt. Weapons can be replaced.

Economic damage, however severe, can eventually be repaired. But the decisive question is whether a people still possess the conviction to absorb hardship and rebuild. If the answer remains yes, physical defeat may be temporary. When conviction itself collapses, however, even a materially powerful society may become vulnerable from within.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

Afghanistan provides a powerful modern illustration of why physical superiority alone cannot guarantee complete victory. The United States and its allies possessed overwhelming advantages in aircraft, satellites, drones, precision weapons, intelligence and financial resources.

The Taliban possessed nothing remotely comparable. Yet after two decades, foreign forces departed and the Taliban returned to Kabul. Political and strategic failures played major roles, but one undeniable factor was that the conviction sustaining resistance was never extinguished.

Iran offers another contemporary illustration. Whatever one’s political judgment of Tehran, the ability of Iranian society to withstand immense military, economic and psychological pressure cannot be understood exclusively through inventories of missiles or military hardware.

Religion, nationalism, historical memory, collective sacrifice and a deeply cultivated narrative of resistance have all contributed to national cohesion.

Destruction of infrastructure or military assets does not automatically produce collapse when the population continues to perceive endurance as meaningful.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

The same broad principle appears in different forms across other religions. Judaism has its rabbis, sages and mystical traditions; Christianity its saints, clergy, monastic orders and contemplative lineages; Hinduism its gurus, yogis and spiritual masters; Buddhism its monks, teachers and accomplished practitioners. Their doctrines are different, yet each tradition recognizes personalities whose spiritual attainment gives them responsibilities extending beyond ordinary religious instruction.

This creates, within the spiritual realm, something comparable to deterrence in the physical realm. Spiritual aggression cannot necessarily be assumed to remain unanswered. A community whose beliefs are challenged may respond by strengthening its own religious foundations, reviving worship, restoring unity and reinforcing the institutions through which sacred knowledge is transmitted. Spiritual attack can therefore generate spiritual defence, and spiritual defence can create counterbalancing pressure. In this sense, religious civilizations possess a form of spiritual strategic depth.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

The history of Islam offers powerful examples. Across the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Malaysia and other parts of Asia, Islam frequently established deep social roots not primarily through military conquest but through merchants, scholars, Sufi shaykhs and spiritual personalities. Their influence came through character, teaching, service, devotion and spiritual attraction. Khanqaahs, zawiyas and religious circles became centers of learning, charity and community cohesion, allowing spiritual influence to reach where political authority or military force never could.

This history illuminates the concept of spiritual jurisdiction. Within the religious framework, highly attained personalities carry responsibility not only for individual disciples but for wider communities or territories. They strengthen faith, respond to spiritual disturbances, preserve unity and protect the religious consciousness of those within their sphere. If a community’s spiritual foundations are challenged, such guardians seek to fortify belief and practice and, within this understanding, counter hostile spiritual influence through their own spiritual resources.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

Physical destruction remains painful, but its capacity to compel submission diminishes when the convictions sustaining resistance are stronger than fear.

The Jewish scholar’s observation becomes particularly significant in this context. The strength confronting an army is not merely the weapon carried by a fighter but the conviction residing within the person carrying it. A missile can be destroyed, an installation demolished and an army weakened, yet if the belief system producing courage and endurance survives, resistance can regenerate. The deeper contest therefore extends beyond weapons to the spiritual foundations sustaining collective purpose.

This introduces another dimension of confrontation. If spiritual conviction strengthens a population, weakening that conviction becomes another means of weakening resistance. Doubt may be directed towards fundamental beliefs; attachment to worship may be eroded; materialism may displace spiritual purpose; internal divisions may be encouraged; and succeeding generations may gradually become detached from the traditions through which religious identity is renewed. The battlefield then extends beyond territory into the mind, heart and spiritual consciousness of society.

Religious communities, however, are not without spiritual guardianship. Islam has its scholars, shaykhs, Sufi traditions and awliya, just as other religions possess their own spiritually accomplished personalities and inherited traditions of guidance. Within Islamic spiritual understanding, accomplished figures have historically strengthened belief, preserved sacred knowledge and exercised responsibility for communities entrusted to their care. Their role has often been to reinforce faith precisely when political, cultural or external pressures threatened to weaken it.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

He attributes Muslim resilience to spiritual strength rooted in faith, prayer, sacrifice and an understanding of life and death extending beyond material existence. His observation points toward a broader proposition: military superiority may destroy physical capabilities, but it does not necessarily vanquish a people whose spiritual foundations remain intact.

History repeatedly demonstrates the distinction between defeating an army and defeating a nation. Armies may be destroyed, governments removed, economies crippled and territories occupied, yet a people can recover if their faith, identity and collective conviction survive.

This phenomenon is not peculiar to Islam. Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and other great religious traditions have endured persecution, displacement and political upheaval because something deeper than material strength continued to sustain their communities. In Islam, this spiritual foundation begins with iman: belief in Allah, His angels, His revealed books, His prophets and messengers, and the Hereafter. These convictions find practical manifestation through the declaration of faith, five daily prayers, fasting, zakat and pilgrimage to Makkah.

Together they cultivate discipline, sacrifice, accountability and attachment to purposes transcending material life. The stronger this relationship between belief and practice becomes, the more profoundly it shapes the believer’s response to fear, hardship, suffering and death. This is where conventional deterrence encounters a different equation.

Military power normally seeks to raise the cost of resistance until surrender appears preferable to continued suffering. But a person who regards earthly existence as temporary, sacrifice as meaningful and death as a transition rather than absolute extinction may calculate those costs differently.

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Unfortunately, many of these skills are gradually disappearing as modern lifestyles, mass production and changing consumer preferences reshape society. One of the main reasons for this decline is the growing availability of factory-made goods.

Mass production allows manufacturers to produce large quantities of products at relatively low prices. Consumers consequently tend to choose inexpensive and easily available goods rather than handmade products that may require considerable time and skill to produce. Traditional craftsmen find it increasingly difficult to compete with factories producing similar items on a much larger scale.

The younger generation is also less interested in learning traditional crafts. Many young people regard such occupations as financially insecure and lacking social prestige. They naturally prefer careers that offer higher incomes, better working conditions and greater opportunities for advancement. As older craftsmen retire without passing their skills to younger people, valuable knowledge can disappear within a single generation. Many artisans depend on their skills to support their families.

Saadat Hussain Soomro, Hyderabad

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026