WASHINGTON: Public opinion within parts of the American-Jewish community on the US-led war against Iran has shown a noticeable shift, with support easing and opposition rising over time, according to a recent survey.
While different polls focus on different segments of the community, both point to growing reservations about the campaign as it has progressed.
The Jewish People Policy Institute’s “Voice of the Jewish People Index” survey, which tracks attitudes among a more connected segment of American Jews engaged with organised communal life, records a steady decline in support over the course of the conflict.
Backing fell from 68 per cent in the war’s first week to 62pc in the third week, and further to 60pc in the week following the ceasefire, while opposition rose from 26pc to 34pc over the same period, the survey shows.
A separate nationwide survey conducted by GBAO Strategies for the advocacy group J Street, which reflects a broader sample of American Jewish voters, suggests that scepticism is even more widespread, finding that about 60 per cent opposed the war in March.
A breakdown of respondents in the “Voice of the Jewish People Index” survey by ideological orientation points to strong political polarisation in perceptions of the campaign.
Among self-identified “strong liberals,” opposition to the move was overwhelming, with 71pc against it. The “leaning liberal” group appeared the most divided and uncertain, with opinion almost evenly split between support and opposition (42pc and 44pc respectively), while a relatively high 15pc remained undecided or expressed no clear view.
In contrast, there is near-total support for the decision among conservative respondents, with approval reaching 96pc among “strong conservatives” and 94pc among “leaning conservatives.”
Centrist respondents also showed substantial backing, with 83pc expressing support for the war.
In the first week after the ceasefire came into effect, broad support for the war remained high among Jewish respondents in Canada (81pc) and the United Kingdom (75pc), while opposition stayed relatively limited, ranging between roughly one-sixth and one-quarter.
Alongside the gradual decline in support for the Iran war, there was also a noticeable shift in how respondents perceived the mood within their own social circles.
At the outset of the war, a majority (53pc) believed that most of their Jewish acquaintances supported the campaign. This perception fell to 43pc within a month. Over the same period, the share reporting that opposition was present within their social environment increased from 20pc to 28pc.
A breakdown by ideological orientation highlights sharp differences in how respondents perceive their social environments. At the liberal end of the spectrum, a majority (56pc) report that opposition to the war is more common within their social circles, compared with 21pc who say they observe support.
This pattern reverses moving rightward: among centrists and conservative respondents, perceived support within social environments rises to between 59pc and 63pc, while reported opposition falls to 14pc or lower.
Notably, a relatively high share of respondents selected “don’t know,” suggesting possible reluctance or avoidance in discussing the issue within social settings.
In parallel, assessments among US respondents show a clear decline in perceived success of the war compared with the previous month. The share describing the campaign as a “major success” fell from 24pc to 14pc, while those viewing it as a “failure” doubled from 14pc to 25pc.
Overall, the proportion who regarded the war as successful (combining “major” and “somewhat successful”) declined from 66pc in March to 56pc in April, while negative assessments rose from 26pc to 40pc.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar was informed by the petroleum ministry on Monday that the country has sufficient reserves of POL products till the third week of June.
The information was conveyed to the deputy premier during a high-level meeting to review the country’s petroleum, oil, and lubricants stock position.
“The Petroleum Ministry briefed the committee on the prevailing supply situation, confirming that, after factoring in incoming shipments, sufficient stock levels are available to ensure uninterrupted availability of POL products throughout Pakistan until the third week of June 2026.”
Global fuel prices have skyrocketed over the past two months as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains paralysed since the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28.
The attendees were also informed that the supplies are being continuously monitored on a daily basis by the National Coordination and Management Committee (NCMC), to “ensure effective oversight and proactive supply chain management”.
Dar commended the relevant stakeholders for ensuring the steady and reliable availability of fuel across the country, amid prevailing global and domestic challenges.
According to the DPM’s office, the meeting was attended by several cabinet ministers, alongside senior government officials from various ministries and departments.
Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the country’s weekly oil bill reached $800 million due to the ongoing oil crisis arising from the Middle East conflict.
PM Shehbaz commended the efforts of Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik for tackling the fuel crisis resulting from the Iran war, stating that the situation now appeared “satisfactory”.
On that note, the prime minister remarked that fuel prices in the global markets had risen sharply, noting that “our weekly pre-war oil bill was around $300m, and today it is up to $800m”.
He further shared that the country’s fuel consumption “had lessened compared to previous weeks”, stressing that the situation was being monitored regularly.
In March, PM Shehbaz announced unprecedented austerity measures to cope with the crisis, saying it was being enforced to utilise the available reserves of oil in a “judicious manner”.
The premier announced that, among these measures, all government offices would observe a four-day working week from Monday to Thursday, although this would not apply to banks. The exemption also extended to the agriculture and industrial sectors, as well as essential services such as hospitals and ambulance services.
Pakistan’s gas sector has an allocation problem, not a supply problem. The country already produces and imports enough gas to serve the existing network more intelligently.
Pakistan’s energy ladder runs in cruel reverse. The poorest households, those in places where clean-fuel access remains thin and where firewood, dung, crop residue, or cylinders remain the default, pay the most for energy. Around 40 per cent of Pakistani households still use wood or sticks for cooking, while only 38pc have access to clean fuel for cooking, lighting, and heating. In Balochistan, that clean-fuel figure is only about one in four households. The household outside the pipe is the majority experience, not an exception.
LPG, one rung up the income ladder, is also expensive once converted into useful heat. At official notified consumer prices, LPG is roughly Rs4,900 per metric million British thermal unit (MMBtu) on a gross energy basis. After accounting for burner losses, cylinder handling, retail margins, and delivery frictions, the useful-heat cost is closer to Rs9,000-10,000 per MMBtu and can be higher for commercial use.
Purchased firewood and biomass can still be more expensive in terms of useful energy. The point is simple: the poorer and less connected the consumer, the more expensive the energy.
Pakistan is effectively using a dollar-priced fuel to heat water in subsidised urban homes, while business that can pay a fair price buy cylinders, and poorer households outside the network rely on firewood
Piped gas sits at the other end of the ladder. Pakistan has around 10.8 million gas connections, roughly a quarter of households. These are predominantly urban, networked, and relatively better-off households by the very fact of being connected. Yet the most protected domestic consumers are still sold gas at commodity rates as low as Rs200 per MMBtu, before fixed charges.
Even after the Rs600 protected-consumer fixed charge, meter rent, and burner inefficiency are included, the all-in useful-energy cost for a low-volume protected gas household remains a fraction of LPG or purchased biomass. The exact multiple changes by consumption volume. The injustice does not.
On a more granular level, a very large share of residential piped gas is not going into cooking at all. It is going into heating water. If roughly 55pc of residential piped gas is used in gas geysers, the gas burned for household water heating is approximately 126,000 million cubic feet (MCF) per year. At an import-parity value of $18 per MMBtu, and using the standard conversion of approximately 1.037 MMBtu per MCF, that volume is worth about $2.35 billion a year. Even at a lower valuation, it remains one of the largest and least productive uses of a scarce imported molecule.
That is the core absurdity. Pakistan is effectively using a dollar-priced fuel to heat water in subsidised urban homes, while businesses that can pay a fair price buy LPG cylinders, and poorer households outside the network rely on firewood.
An electric alternative is not experimental; it exists. Heat-pump water heaters deliver three to four units of heat for every unit of electricity consumed. With honest gas pricing, the payback can be less than two years. A national electrification programme for geysers and space-heating loads could convert 4m piped-gas households by 2030.
On conservative assumptions, that alone could avoid roughly $800m to $900m per year in import-equivalent gas use. Combined with thermal storage, rooftop solar, and off-peak electricity pricing, it can reduce gas demand without creating new evening peak stress on the grid.
A national shift to electrify geysers and space heating could avoid roughly $800–900 million annually in import-equivalent gas consumption
Freeing gas from inefficient residential uses is, therefore, a resource shift. The question becomes how it is reallocated.
The obvious answer is to redirect it to users for whom gas is an input into productive economic activity. Pakistan’s dependence on LPG imports has risen sharply. Public sector data show FY25 LPG imports of roughly Rs295bn, while FY24 LPG imports were around 1.3m tonnes.
The common assumption that this burden is driven mainly by household cooking is incomplete. However, commercial and industrial users together account for nearly two-thirds of LPG consumption.
The baker in Faisalabad, the restaurant owner in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, the hospital laundry in Karachi, and the small industrial unit running on process heat are not buying LPG because cylinders are a superior fuel. They are buying it because there is no gas in the pipe, the pressure is unreliable, or they were never connected in the first place. Many of them are willing to pay. Many of them are already paying more. What they lack is not willingness to pay, but access to a reliable molecule at a rational price.
Converting commercial and industrial LPG users within the existing network reach should not be sold on one heroic savings number. The foreign-exchange saving depends on the replacement molecule.
If displaced LPG is replaced by domestic gas or lower-priced contracted LNG, a large-scale conversion programme can generate additional annual savings of a few hundred million dollars. If replacement occurs at marginal RLNG prices near $18 per MMBtu, foreign exchange gains narrow. Even then, benefits remain significant in terms of efficiency, safety, and system-level allocation.
The more powerful reform is therefore sequential. First, electrify the worst residential uses of gas, especially geysers and space heating. Second, reallocate the freed gas to commercial and industrial LPG users who can pay a fair tariff. Third, enable urban LPG-dependent households within network reach to shift to piped gas at cost-reflective prices, not subsidised ones, thus choosing economic value over a politically subsidised price.
The enabling condition is tariff rationalisation. Honest gas pricing is what makes heat-pump economics self-executing, encourages users to conserve, and gives distribution companies an incentive to serve customers who value the fuel.
But rationalisation without protection is regressive, and this is where reform has historically stalled. The protected-consumer category is defined by gas consumption volume, not income. That difference matters enormously.
Approximately 7m to 8m households may fall into the protected slab, but every one of them is already part of the privileged minority with a gas connection. Within that cohort, low consumption is a poor proxy for poverty.
A wealthy Karachi household with an electric geyser and low gas use may qualify. A lower-middle-class Lahore household heating through winter may not.
Meanwhile, millions of households using wood, sticks, other non-clean fuels, or LPG cylinders receive no comparable protection from the gas subsidy system at all. A gas metre cannot be a test for poverty.
The solution is straightforward: redirect the subsidy from the pipeline to the person. A Benazir Income Support Programme-linked cash top-up for eligible low-income connected households, costing roughly Rs38bn to Rs50bn annually, can protect a lifeline level of consumption while allowing gas tariffs to move toward economic cost.
The present subsidy does the opposite. It subsidises the connected, because they have a gas meter. It misses the unconnected because they are invisible to the gas metre.
A gas molecule freed from a geyser and redirected to a commercial LPG user creates a dual efficiency gain: reduced import-equivalent residential consumption and reduced LPG dependence in productive sectors.
If most residential water-heating gas is eliminated and reallocated efficiently, the annual foreign-exchange benefit could approach $2.5bn under import-parity valuation. That is available without a single new gas field, without a major expansion of the pipeline network, and without a technology that does not already exist at a commercial scale.
The woman cooking over wood in Nushki, the bakery buying LPG in Karachi, and the connected household in Lahore, heating water on subsidised gas are all part of the same policy failure. The first receives no meaningful support. The second pays for the failure of allocation. The third consumes the cheapest molecule for the least productive purpose. That is not social protection. That is energy policy turned upside down.
Pakistan does not need to wait for a miracle gas discovery to begin fixing the gas sector. It needs to price gas honestly, protect people directly, electrify inefficient residential heat, and reallocate scarce molecules to productive users. The gas sector is not short of arithmetic. It is short of courage.
The writer is an assistant professor of practice at IBA, member of the Thar Coal Energy Board, and CEO of NCGCL
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 4th, 2026
The final match of the 11th HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) edition was preceded by a star-studded closing ceremony of the tournament, featuring fireworks and performances by popular singers, including Aima Baig, Arif Lohar and Atif Aslam.
Scores of spectators arrived at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on a hot Sunday to witness the gala event that was followed by the final clash between Peshawar Zalmi and debutant Hyderabad Kingsmen.
Here are some glimpses of the closing ceremony.
Spectators witness fireworks at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium ahead of HBL PSL 11 final match on May 3, 2026. — White Star
Dancing groups representing different franchises perform at the closing ceremony of the HBL PSL 11 on May 3, 2026. — White Star
Singers perform at the closing ceremony of the HBL PSL 11 on May 3, 2026. — White Star
Singer Arif Lohar performs at the closing ceremony of the HBL PSL 11 on May 3, 2026. — White Star
Singers Aima Baig and Atif Aslam perform at the closing ceremony of the HBL PSL 11 on May 3, 2026. — White Star
Singer Aima Baig performs at the closing ceremony of the HBL PSL 11 on May 3, 2026. — White Star
A snapshot from the Gaddadfi Stadium ahead of the HBL PSL 11 closing ceremony on May 3, 2026. — White Star
Header image: Spectators witness fireworks at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium ahead of the HBL PSL 11 final match on May 3, 2026. — White Star
US President Donald Trump has called for a reduced military presence in Germany and urged Europe to take responsibility for its defence.—Reuters
• German minister says move should spur Europeans as Pentagon announces withdrawal of 5,000 troops • Two top US Republican lawmakers express ‘concern’ over decision • Nato says it’s working with US to understand details of plan • Transatlantic tensions simmer over Iran and tariffs
BERLIN: A planned drawdown of 5,000 US troops from Germany should spur Europeans to strengthen their own defences, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday, as the continent scrambles to boost deterrence against Russia.
However, two top US Republican lawmakers expressed concern, saying the troops should not leave Europe.
The Pentagon announced the drawdown from Germany, its largest European base, on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war and tariff tensions place further strain on relations between the US and Europe.
As part of the US decision, a Biden-era plan to deploy an American battalion with long-range Tomahawk missiles to Germany has also been dropped — a blow to Berlin, which had pushed for the move as a powerful deterrent against Russia.
Republican lawmakers Senator Roger Wicker and Representative Mike Rogers, the chairs of the Senate and House armed services committees, said they were “very concerned”. They said the troops should not be moved from Europe, but moved east.
“Prematurely reducing America’s forward presence in Europe before those capabilities are fully realized risks undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” they said in a joint statement.
Pistorius said the partial withdrawal was expected and would affect a current US presence of almost 40,000 soldiers stationed in Germany.
“We Europeans must take on more responsibility for our own security,” Pistorius said, adding, “Germany is on the right track” by expanding its armed forces, speeding up military procurement and building infrastructure.
Trump called for a reduced military presence in Germany as far back as his first term and has repeatedly urged Europe to take responsibility for its defence. However, he stepped up the threat earlier this week after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has questioned Washington’s exit strategy in the Middle East.
Nato seeking details
A Nato spokesperson said the alliance was working with the US to understand the details of the decision.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country is seeking assurances of continued US support on Nato’s eastern flank amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, expressed concern about the latest setback to the alliance.
“The greatest threat to the transatlantic community are not its external enemies, but the ongoing disintegration of our alliance. We must all do what it takes to reverse this disastrous trend,” Tusk wrote on X on Saturday.
The Pentagon decision means one full brigade will leave Germany and a long-range fires battalion that was due to be deployed later this year will be cancelled.
The long-range fires had been due to form a significant extra element of deterrence against Russia while Europeans developed such long-range missiles themselves.
Austrian police have arrested a man suspected of lacing jars of baby food with rat poison in what authorities presumed was an extortion scheme.
Police, cited by the APA news agency, said the suspect, aged 39, was apprehended in the state of Burgenland, south of Vienna. They did not name him nor say where exactly he was arrested.
He was charged with deliberately causing a public danger and attempted grievous bodily harm.
The arrest comes two weeks after Austrian authorities detected rat poison in baby food jars sold in some supermarkets. The jars were made by the German-based company HiPP, and German police became involved in the case.
Five tampered jars were recovered before they were consumed in the following days in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Police said they believed the crime was carried out to extort the company, which put out a product recall in Austria.
One of the adulterated jars was bought in a Spar supermarket in Burgenland state, in the city of Eisenstadt. It was found to contain 15 microgrammes of rat poison.
Another jar sold in the same supermarket was suspected to have also been laced with poison, but it has not yet been recovered.
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday vowed to keep political influence out of more than 1,300 new appointments in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), two weeks after the country’s premier probe body advertised its largest hiring drive in years.
During a visit to FIA headquarters, Naqvi said “merit and transparency must be ensured at all costs” in the recruitment process.
His remarks came three days before the deadline for submitting online applications.
The promise of a merit-based process addresses a persistent concern for the FIA, which handles immigration, cybercrime, human trafficking and financial fraud cases.
The recruitment covers posts including assistant (BS-15), sub-inspector (BS-14), stenotypist (BS-14), upper division clerk (BS-13), lower division clerk (BS-11), assistant sub-inspector (BS-09), constable (BS-05), and drivers.
