COST OF IMPROVEMENT: The Engineering Department of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) recently floated a tender for “improvement/restoration” of areas around mosques in Karachi and also the routes of the planned Eid Milad processions. The estimated cost given in the tender notice is Rs200 million, or Rs20 crores. There are thousands of mosques in the city. What is intriguing is that no mosques or routes have been identified. Moreover, ‘improvement’ and ‘restoration’ are vague words. How was the cost of Rs200 million estimated? How will the civil engineering work required to be done be mea- sured? The KMC really needs to clarify.

Shameem Ahmad
Karachi

RESTRICTING SOCIAL MEDIA: While the government often blocks entire websites for political or ethical reasons, far less attention is paid to the silent crisis affecting teenagers: excessive screen time, cyberbullying, sleep disruption and the psychological stress caused by spending hours on addictive social media platforms. Protecting young minds does not mean denying them access to tech-nology. As France’s approach demonstrates, exempting educational platforms while restricting addictive social networking services can strike a healthy balance, allowing learning to flourish without compromising children’s mental wellbeing. Pakistan needs clear, evidence-based regulations that safeguard children’s mental health while ensuring they continue to benefit from the internet for education and personal development.

Shahque
Hub

ETHICAL POLICING: A significant number of street vendors in Sialkot set up their carts in busy commercial areas of the city, severely disrupting the flow of traffic. The authorities should establish designated street-vending zones or hawker markets at spacious and well-known locations that are easily accessible to the masses. Such an initiative would surely enable low-income vendors to earn a dignified livelihood in a lawful manner.

Ahtesham Munawar
Sialkot

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2026