UNSAFE PAVEMENTS: Footpaths are meant to be safe for pedestrians. However, that is not the case in Karachi. Whenever roads are blocked or congested, motorcyclists ignore the difference between roads and footpaths. Karachi already has over 4.2 million registered motorcycles. With that many bikes on city roads every day, using footpaths as roads is seriously hazardous. Pedestrians make up a disproportionately large share of road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Pakistan because footpaths and crossings are either poorly maintained or are simply ignored. Traffic police need to start treating footpath riding as a serious violation.

Batool Fatima
Karachi

INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: The Undergraduate Education Policy 2020 of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) made internships mandatory for undergraduate students to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Students from less-established universities and those with lower scores often struggle to secure placements, as organisations tend to prefer candidates with exceptional academic records and well-developed CVs. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Labour Force Survey 2024-25, unemployment among degree-holders stands at 10.9 per cent. The HEC should establish a structured national internship framework requiring universities to develop annual partnerships with industries, government departments and other organisations. Employers should also be incentivised for accommodating students.

Shafique Rajper
Nausharo Feroze

PROFIT ON ACCOUNTS: The government has issued Eurobonds with profit rates of up to 7.9 per cent per annum. The profit rates offered by Pakistani banks on foreign currency (FCY) accounts are negligible, about 1pc, and even that is subjected to withholding tax (WHT). The government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) should look into the matter and fix a minimum profit rate to be given by Pakistani banks to FCY account holders.

Khawaja Tajammul Hussain
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2026