PRE-WINTER SMOG: Although winter is still weeks away, Lahore’s skies are already getting covered with heavy grey smog. Air monitoring stations across the city have been recording hazardous AQI levels past 250-300. Citizens are told to wear masks and stay inside, which is not a realistic fix for daily-wage workers, students or families going about their routine lives. Measures like closing schools or token crackdowns on crop stubble burning have repeatedly failed to address the core problem. The situation requires tackling vehicular emissions, industrial smoke, disappearing green cover and open waste burning. It is high time the government finally focused on modernising public transport, enforcing factory standards, and investing in genuine green infrastructure.

Rutab Naseer
Lahore

INEFFICIENT POLICING: It seems like the police force in Karachi has totally given up on maintaining law and order in its jurisdiction. Most criminals happen to be ‘outsiders’ operating without any fear across the metropolis. One fails to understand how the current lawlessness is possible, especially in the heavy presence of paramilitary personnel in the city. Apparently, all the able-bodied police constables and commandos along with modern vehicles and equipment are being deployed for VIP protocols, while shabbily dressed and gutka-chewing policemen are left to carry out patrol duties. They are often seen arguing with law-abiding motorists to just make some money.

Arsalan Faruqi
Karachi

STUDENTS IN TROUBLE: Every time there is some protest in Islamabad, life in the federal capital comes to a standstill, and the students staying in hostels get badly affected. All the roads get closed, and the cellular network goes down. It becomes hard to travel or communicate with family members. Universities never provide any prior notification of a closure. The announcement is always made at the last minute when all the roads have been blocked already. Up until that time, hostel students remain uncertain.

Areesha Mubeen
Fateh Jang

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2026