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The government must stop shifting the cost of weak revenue mobilisation onto households and the corporate sector and instead offer targeted tax relief to offset the burden imposed in recent years, including a reduction in the petroleum levy. While support for the most vulnerable remains necessary given high poverty levels, sustained job-creating growth is vital.

It is unreasonable to tax a monthly income of Rs50,000, which falls below the amount required for a family’s subsistence. To make the tax regime more logical and equitable, the income tax threshold should be raised to Rs1.5 million per annum (Rs125,000 per month) from the current Rs600,000. The tax slabs and rates should then be recalibrated accordingly to preserve progressivity while providing meaningful relief to low-income earners.

At the same time, there is little justification for imposing a super tax on the already compliant corporate sector while large segments of the economy — including many services, retail and wholesale trade, real estate, and farm landowners — continue to remain undertaxed or effectively enjoy a tax holiday.

With inflation once again edging upward, the persistently high petroleum levy is adding to the cost pressures across the economy. The levy needs to be rationalised and gradually reduced to levels comparable with regional averages to provide much-needed relief to consumers and businesses alike.

‘Attempting to extract more taxes from an already stressed private sector is likely to generate frustration and resentment rather than meaningful additional revenues’

Measures to broaden the tax base by effectively bringing big property owners and traders into the federal tax net, while ensuring that provinces adequately tax agricultural income and other undertaxed service providers, could not only offset the revenue loss from providing relief to overburdened taxpayers but also generate substantial additional revenues.

“A wider and more equitable tax base would improve compliance, reduce distortions, and strengthen fiscal sustainability without placing further pressure on already heavily taxed segments of society,” said a retired Federal Board of Revenue officer.

Meanwhile, revenue targets should be set realistically, considering the near-stagnant state of the economy, where economic growth is barely keeping pace with population growth. Under these circumstances, greater emphasis should be placed on reducing wasteful administrative spending and rationalising the costs of an oversized and inefficient state apparatus.

“Sizeable increase in tax revenues is rarely achieved in a low-growth environment,” observed a tax expert who requested anonymity. “Attempting to extract more taxes from an already stressed private sector is likely to generate frustration and resentment rather than meaningful additional revenues. It could further undermine business confidence, discourage investment, and deepen the economic slowdown at a time when the country can least afford it.”

The government will need to use the budget to convince the public that it is not only cognisant of the mounting economic pressures on households and businesses but is also committed to addressing rising poverty and inequality, while facilitating the private sector for accelerating GDP growth.

More importantly, it must demonstrate a credible strategy to lift growth to the levels capable of generating sufficient productive employment for the country’s expanding workforce and improving living standards on a sustained basis.

The spending patterns witnessed during Eid, where a small segment of society reportedly spent millions on sacrificial animals, in a country where half the population remain below or near the poverty line, underscored the widening gap between the affluent and the struggling majority.

Growing frustration among the youth over limited economic opportunities, coupled with widening income and wealth disparities, is increasingly viewed as a source of political and social risk not only for the government of the day but also for the country’s fragile democratic order and broader institutional framework.

Some observers caution that unless the upcoming budget sends a clear signal that the government is committed to expanding opportunities, reducing barriers to upward social mobility, and addressing economic exclusion, public discontent could intensify. Failure to tackle these underlying grievances may further erode trust in institutions and increase the risk of social unrest.

“We dread a Bangladesh-like situation if mounting economic grievances remain unaddressed. Our platforms are not merely advocating the interests of businesses; we are also urging the government to safeguard the economic rights of citizens and provide tax relief to the middle class,” remarked a leading Karachi-based business leader while explaining the budget proposals submitted to the government.

The reference was to the 2024 turmoil in Bangladesh, widely referred to as the “July Uprising”, a massive, student-led movement that toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government. Many analysts view it as a reminder of how economic pressures, perceptions of nepotism and inequality, and limited opportunities can amplify public discontent and trigger wider political instability.

Official estimates place Pakistan’s poverty rate at 28.9 per cent of the population. However, a recently released report by the Social Policy and Development Centre paints a bleak picture, suggesting poverty incidence at 43.5pc in 2024-25, with urban poverty rising at a faster rate.

The report also points to a widening income gap. According to its findings, inequality increased by 12pc between 2018-19 and 2024-25, with deterioration more pronounced in urban centres.

Members of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s economic team were approached for their views on the concerns raised in this report. While some chose not to comment ahead of the budget, the responses of others had not been received by the filing deadline.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 1st, 2026

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A military official from Pakistan has said that the country’s “resolute response” to India during the May 2025 conflict had effectively debunked the notion of space for war in South Asia.

Commander I Corps Lieutenant General Nauman Zakria made these remarks during a special session at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday.

In May 2025, a four-day conflict between Pakistan and India was sparked by an attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir, which New Delhi, without evidence, linked with Pakistan. Islamabad strongly denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation.

After New Delhi launched deadly air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir on May 7, Pakistan said it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat, later raising the tally to eight. After tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally reach a ceasefire.

Speaking at the Shangri-La conference, Lieutenant General Zakria said strategic stability in South Asia remained shaped by nuclear deterrence, conventional asymmetry, enduring political tensions, and unresolved territorial and ideological disputes between India and Pakistan.

And despite the complexities of great power contestation, China constituted a constructive and stabilising factor, contributing to strategic balance, regional connectivity and economic cooperation, he added.

Lt Gen Zakria said the May 2025 conflict demonstrated Pakistan’s effective multi-domain operations, which were enabled by tri-service synergy, integrated use of cyber, electronic warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, space-based capabilities and synergetic information manoeuvre, generating cross-domain effects.

“Pakistan’s resolute response has effectively debunked the notion of space for war in South Asia,” he said.

“Postconlict dynamics have further constrained the prospects for conventional war. However, continued Indian militarisation coupled with persistent adversarial rhetoric and absence of robust crisis management mechanisms continue to undermine regional stability,” he added.

In this evolving environment, he said, South Asia’s strategic equilibrium was increasingly contingent upon escalation control and effective crisis communication frameworks.

“Navigating the complex challenges of a fast-transforming geopolitical environment warrants a shift from competition-only postures to cooperative risk management across multiple domains, while remaining committed to upholding international norms,” he stressed.

Firstly, he said, states must prioritise responsible governance of emerging technologies. “Technological innovation cannot be divorced from ethical responsibility and strategic accountability.”

States should work towards internationally accepted norms regarding the military use of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber operations and space technologies. Human oversight must remain central in decisions involving the use of force, especially in systems with strategic implications, he said.

Lt Gen Zakria added that confidence-building measures, transparency mechanisms and technical dialogues among states were essential to reduce misunderstanding and prevent destabilising arms races.

Secondly, he said, institutionalised crisis management mechanisms and strategic communication channels needed to be strengthened, he said.

“Even during periods of geopolitical rivalry, dialogue must never collapse. History repeatedly demonstrates that strategic stability is preserved not only through deterrence but through communication as well.”

Thirdly, he said, nations needed to collaborate in codifying norms regarding space testing, prohibitions on attacks on civilian infrastructure, and human oversight requirements for autonomous weapon systems.

“Norms do not discourage competitiveness, but they do set boundaries that make deterrence more calculable.

“International law and multilateral institutions must be adaptive to emerging realities. Technological transformation is outpacing our existing institutional and legal frameworks,” he said.

Lt Gen Zakria said that strengthening global cooperation on cyber governance, responsible AI development, space security, digital ethics and information integrity was imperative to maintaining the geostrategic equilibrium.

“No country, regardless of its size or technological sophistication, can manage the emerging multifaceted risks alone. The challenges we face are transnational by nature and therefore require collaborative responses,” he asserted.

Moreover, strategic stability was not only about military capability but also about societal endurance, he pointed out.

“Countries must strengthen cyber resilience, protect critical infrastructure, improve digital and technical literacy and build institutional credibility.

“Public trust is a strategic asset. Resilient societies are far less vulnerable to external manipulation and internal destabilisation through misinformation, polarisation, and technological disruption,” he said.

At its core, strategic stability was ultimately about responsible statecraft, he added.

“Technology itself is not inherently destabilising. But the real challenge lies in how technologies are governed, integrated, and employed. Human judgement, political wisdom, and international cooperation for the greater good remain indispensable.

“We must resist the temptation for the greater good. We must resist the temptation to view every technological breakthrough solely through the lens of competition and militarisation, rather as a function of balance between innovation and responsibility, national security and global stability, strategic competition and collective survival,” he said.

Lt Gen Zakria added, “Let us remember that peace and stability have never been involuntary outcomes of technological progression. They have always depended on political responsibility, strategic restraint and sustained international engagement.”

Earlier in his address, he said the operationalisation of the emerging domains alongside the legacy domains had significantly complicated the strategic stability landscape.

“Rapid advances in AI, autonomous systems, cyber capabilities, quantum technologies, and multi-domain operations are transforming military decision making, command and control structures, and strategic competition, while simultaneously introducing new vulnerabilities, risks of miscalculations, attribution challenges, and unintended escalation,” he said.

As states, societies, and critical infrastructures become increasingly dependent on interconnected technological ecosystems, the erosion of predictability and compression of decision-making timelines were fundamentally reshaping the nature of inter-state conflict and strategic deterrence, he added.

Lt Gen Zakria said the information was becoming increasingly fragmented, as digital platforms, AI-generated content, and disinformation campaigns eroded trust, distorted narratives and compressed decision-making timelines.

“In this evolving landscape, the control of information and data integrity has emerged as a critical determinant of strategic stability, alongside conventional military balance,” he stressed.

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QUETTA: Pakistan Rai­lways resumed train operations from Balochistan on Saturday, restoring services after a three-day suspension, railway officials said.

According to the officials, train operations from the province have been fully restored, with the Jaffar Express departing from Quetta for Peshawar. They said that the return service of the Jaffar Express will also depart from Peshawar for Quetta as per the timetable, restoring connectivity between the province and other parts of the country.

The Jaffar Express, the only train service from Quetta to Peshawar, was suspended last Sunday following a vehicle-borne suicide bombing that targeted a shuttle train near the Chaman railway crossing.

The Jaffar Express, which was ready to depart for its destination, was immediately stopped and later cancelled. Passengers were asked to collect refunds. However, after two days, the train service was restored, but on Wednesday it was again suspended. Railway authorities have not mentioned the reason for the suspension of the Jaffar Express from both sides.

On Saturday, however, the Jaffar Express depa­rted for its destination on schedule following the restoration of rail traffic.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2026

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Paris Saint-Germain claimed back-to-back Champions League triumphs with a 4-3 shootout win over Arsenal following a 1-1 draw after extra time in Budapest, with Eberechi Eze and Gabriel missing from the spot.

Mikel Arteta’s Premier League champions showed great resilience to take the game beyond 120 minutes, but fell to a second final defeat, 20 years after their first in Paris against Barcelona.

Luis Enrique’s side became only the second besides Real Madrid to win the competition in consecutive years in the Champions League era.

PSG’s first triumph was 55 years in the making, 14 of those under Qatari ownership, the second could start what they hope is an era of dominance and dynasty-building.

Luis Enrique rebuilt the team swiftly and efficiently, removing the club’s superstars and building a cohesive and committed attacking side, capable of shredding opposition with terrifying pace.

It was the Spaniard’s third Champions League triumph, making him one of only five coaches to complete a hat-trick – the first coming with Barcelona in 2015.

For a while it looked unlikely as Kai Havertz powered Arsenal ahead after six minutes but Ousmane Dembele’s penalty midway through the second half took a tight game to extra time and ultimately penalties.

Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber was fit after a groin injury but his rust from over two months out led Arteta to deploy Cristhian Mosquera out of position at right-back.

The coach also opted for Havertz in attack over Viktor Gyokeres, and for an hour it seemed like his calls would pay off.

Luis Enrique selected 10 of the side which demolished Inter Milan 5-0 in last year’s final as PSG finally lifted the trophy they so badly craved.

In Arsenal’s only prior final German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off in the opening stages as they were defeated by Barcelona in Paris in 2006.

They got off to a far better start at the Puskas Arena, with Lehmann’s compatriot Havertz firing the Gunners ahead after just six minutes.

Havertz, who scored the winning goal in Chelsea’s 2021 Champions League final victory, could not believe his luck after Marquinhos’ attempted clearance hit Leandro Trossard and bounced into his path.

The forward galloped into open space behind PSG’s defence and towards Matvey Safonov’s goal. Havertz had a tight angle to overcome but rifled a strike into the roof of the net.

It was the worst possible start for PSG against a miserly Arsenal side who had conceded just six goals on the run to the final.

Their disciplined defending kept the Parisians at bay with consummate ease, as Luis Enrique’s side controlled the ball but could not break through Arsenal’s defensive bastion.

Gabriel Magalhaes made an excellent last-ditch challenge to pick Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s pocket. The dynamic Georgian has been the tournament’s best player but in the first half was not allowed room to breathe.

The French champions appealed for a penalty when Bukayo Saka bungled an attempted clearance and the ball hit both his arms, but referee Daniel Siebert was unmoved.

Fighting back

PSG were reduced to frustrated pot-shots from distance and after the break moved the ball quicker to try to destabilise Arsenal’s rearguard.

Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya saved from Achraf Hakimi’s bouncing free kick before Kvaratskhelia finally had his say. After the winger’s slick one-two with Dembele, Mosquera bundled him down in the box with a clumsy foul.

Dembele sent Raya the wrong way with a low penalty to level, with PSG fans igniting several flares in celebration. It was their 45th goal of the competition, matching the all-time record.

PSG almost set a new one when Kvaratskhelia hurtled down the left but teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly deflected his shot against the post.

Substitute Bradley Barcola fired a fine chance wide on the break before extra time, as the French side threatened frequently, a tiring Arsenal suddenly giving them too much space.

The Gunners pleaded for a penalty of their own when substitute Noni Madueke went down under pressure from Nuno Mendes, but it would have been harsh on the PSG defender whom the winger was pulling.

To a shootout it went, with PSG confident after already claiming three trophies on penalties this season, and winning their last five. They also took the first spot kick, and at the end in front of their own supporters.

Arsenal blinked first, with Ebereche Eze firing wide but Raya then saved from PSG’s Mendes. Declan Rice drilled home to level at 2-2.

After Lucas Beraldo put the Ligue 1 winners 4-3 up, Arsenal defender Gabriel was left with the fifth kick for his side and lashed it high over the crossbar to hand PSG the trophy.

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Pakistan out-spun Australia by five wickets in the first one-day international in Rawalpindi with spinner Arafat Minhas becoming the first home bowler to take five wickets on ODI debut on Saturday.

Minhas finished with 5-32 as an under-strength Australia were bowled out for 200 in 44.1 overs before Pakistan chased down the target in 42.3 overs for a memorable win in their 1,000th ODI.

Babar Azam notched a 94-ball 69 while Ghazi Ghori hit an impressive 92-ball 65 as Australia’s inexperienced spinners failed to match Pakistan’s slow bowlers on a dry spin-assisting Pindi Stadium pitch.

Azam and Ghori added 127 runs for the third wicket after Sahibzada Farhan (28) and Maaz Sadaqat (eight) fell with the score at 49.

Azam hit four boundaries and a six while Ghori’s knock had eight hits to the rope before both falling to pacer Nathan Ellis, but with just 16 to win that did not hurt Pakistan.

Minhas smashed a six to complete the victory.

Australia are missing a host of key players, including regular skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood alongside opener Travis Head.

Australia, sent in to bat, saw Matthew Renshaw hitting a career best 63-ball 61 and opener Matthew Short scoring a 76-ball 55 amidst a spin assault with eight wickets going to slow bowlers.

It was Abrar (2-44) who broke the opening stand of 34 with the wicket of Alex Carey for 19, before Minhas destroyed the batting with guile and accuracy.

Minhas had stand-in skipper Josh Inglis (13) and Marnus Labuschagne (nought) in his fourth over before getting Cameron Green for a third-ball duck in his next.

At 68-4, Australia were in a spot of bother, but Short and Renshaw fought hard through a fifth-wicket stand of 55 before Minhas broke the stand, getting Short stumped.

Abrar returned for his second spell to dismiss Renshaw while Arafat completed his five-wicket haul by Nathan Ellis for eight.

Short hit six boundaries in his fourth ODI half-century, while Renshaw’s knock had five boundaries and a six.

The remaining two matches are in Lahore on Tuesday and Thursday.

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AN artificial intelligence age estimation tool that aims to detect adult migrants posing as children will be deployed at the UK’s borders from next year, BBC News reported.

A software company has been awarded a contract to develop and test the technology, which would estimate a person’s age by analysing photographs of them taken at the border.

The report cited the UK Home Office as saying the technology would make it easier to identify adult migrants “attempting to game the system”, after initial testing indicated “promising performance and accuracy”.

However, the Human Rights Watch urged the government to scrap the scheme, describing it as “unproven technology” that would undermine the protections vulnerable children were entitled to.

New technology to be deployed from next year for strengthening asylum checks

Unaccompanied child migrants receive support from local councils and are housed in the care system rather than more traditional asylum accommodation such as hotels.

They are entitled to legal protections which can simplify the asylum application system and make it easier to stay in the country for longer.

According to the BBC, the decision to use the software comes after years of heightened levels of people crossing the English Channel in small boats and claiming asylum at the border.

Rising numbers

A total of 111,084 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending June 2025, 14 per cent more than in the previous year.

In the year ending March 2026, more than 6,400 migrants claiming to be children were age-assessed at the border, with 43pc found to be adults, according to Home Office data.

A report carried out by the UK government’s independent immigration inspector last year found cases where adult migrants had been classified as children — and cases where child migrants had been wrongly classified as adults.

The report said in the absence of a “foolproof” test, it was “inevitable that some age assessments will be wrong, which is clearly a cause for concern, especially where a child is denied the rights and protections to which they are entitled”.

According to BBC, the government announced plans to use AI facial estimation technology to combat this problem last year.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2026

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The United Nations warned on Friday that an Israeli plan to take control of 70 per cent of Gaza will increase suffering among children already hit by the impacts of severe overcrowding.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to take control of more territory in the Gaza Strip, flouting the terms of a fragile ceasefire that took effect in October.

He said the military had controlled 50pc of the Palestinian territory under the terms of the ceasefire, then advanced to take over 60pc.

“My directive is to move to… 70pc,” he said.

The United Nations children’s agency Unicef warned that this would deepen the health crisis among children in the territory, suffering from acute lack of food, water and hygiene.

Israel controls the flow of aid into the territory along with all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.

Even before Israel’s assault in Gaza that began in 2023, the territory was already very densely populated.

Now “people have been crammed into around 40pc of the space”, Unicef spokesman Salim Oweis told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza.

People there were left “sheltering among broken buildings, rubble and mounting solid waste”, he said, adding “there is no accessible space left to clear” the waste.

“The effects of this are now widely apparent: children with respiratory infections, acute watery diarrhoea, and more than half of all households reporting skin diseases.”

Rats biting children

“Fleas, lice and scabies are commonplace,” Oweis said, also pointing to numerous cases of rats biting young children and even babies.

Oweis said a woman named Hind “hasn’t slept since her four-year-old daughter, Masa, was bitten by a rat during the night”.

“Like many families, they sheltered wherever they could, in their case, the second floor of a building block where sewage water leaks through the ceilings, and rodents crawl through the cracks in the building and climb the exposed pipes,” he said.

Rats are not the only menace.

Oweis said he had spoken with another woman named Amani whose seven-year-old daughter had “developed deep lesions and sores on her head, back and legs due to a bacterial infection”.

He warned that “increasing numbers of children are requiring hospitalisation, all without a single fully functioning hospital across Gaza”.

The situation was “dire”, Oweis said, noting the overcrowding was already “creating more spread of diseases, straining the systems and of course cutting … services”.

If Israel takes control of even more land, he warned, that “means that we will lose access to some of the service points, but also [to] some hard to reach places [where children and families are living”.

“This will just mean that more children will suffer,” he said.

The Palestinian foreign ministry slammed Netanyahu’s announcement as “a serious violation of the foundations of the ceasefire”.

Since then, Gaza has been gripped by daily violence, with Israel killing more than 900 people there, according to Gaza’s health ministry in the territory, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

They are among the over 72,800 people killed in Gaza since the start of the assault, according to the health ministry.

The October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the genocide, meanwhile, resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

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