THE petroleum minister’s explanation in the National Assembly that the recent closure of the Iran border has disrupted liquefied petroleum gas supplies and driven up prices identifies a major cause of the current crisis. The subsequent partial border reopening has failed to ease the shortage.

While the closure may have triggered the present shortages and price hike, the problem recurs every winter. Pakistan produces only about a quarter of the LPG it needs. The rest is imported, mainly from Iran. The disruption of cross-border trade has therefore exposed the vulnerability of a market that depends heavily on external supplies. The Iran war has also complicated efforts to bring in more by sea. The minister says efforts are being made to increase seaborne supplies, but consumers have yet to see relief.

The state must explain what additional volumes have been secured, and when they will arrive. Further, why were no contingency measures taken before the Iran border closure, especially when the authorities knew that the onset of winter would push up demand? The decision-makers owe an explanation to people suffering due to sudden shortages and price shock.

That said, the current LPG supply disruption is only part of the wider story. LPG prices have historically surged as winter approaches, even without a major supply shock. This recurring pattern suggests that the crisis is not simply the result of border closure.

Inadequate advance planning, weak market oversight and the failure to build reliable supply arrangements leave consumers exposed whenever demand rises or imports are interrupted. The consequences are particularly harsh for households without access to piped natural gas. Millions of families in northern Pakistan, remote and hilly areas, and parts of Punjab depend on LPG for cooking and, during colder months, heating.

Low gas pressure and restricted supplies in connected areas also push more consumers towards cylinders, adding to demand. With the official price around Rs280 per kg and reported market rates reaching Rs500-800, an essential fuel has become unaffordable for many. Blaming the Iran border closure is but an attempt to cover up the ministry’s failure to do its basic duty: ensure adequate supplies ahead of the closure and enforce the official fuel price.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2026

PARLIAMENT has recently been debating the future of Pakistani democracy, but those debates will be for naught unless our leaders also develop the capacity to acknowledge each other’s positions.

The past two days have seen the government and opposition benches trading blame for democracy’s present, rather sorry state.

On Wednesday, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman accused the government of misusing the Constitution and resorting to unconstitutional measures. He also said his party was “prepared to die” resisting the government if the latter continued pursuing a policy of confrontation and violence, and proposed a new Charter of Democracy as the way out.

Regretting that his efforts to mediate between the government and the PTI had failed because the government had changed course and imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in KP, the maulana said the political leadership had grown too intolerant for parliament to do its job.

He was not wrong, though the fault is hardly the government’s alone.

The maulana’s rebuke drew two kinds of response. Minister of Defence Khawaja Asif resorted to personal attacks, insinuating that the JUI-F chief was merely sore at being denied a share of power in KP.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, on the other hand, was more circumspect. Though he, too, laid much of the blame for parliament’s dysfunction on the opposition, he nonetheless urged it to exercise its powers and return to parliamentary committees.

“Those who want this House to remain dysfunctional and do not want the people of Pakistan to benefit from it have succeeded,” he told the opposition benches. “You have played a part in helping these people achieve their objective.” It was a surprisingly candid admission that the House’s dysfunction serves interests other than the people’s, even if the PPP chief left out his own party’s role in getting us here.

They may have yet to come to terms with it, but both ruling and opposition parties have lost credibility and political ground due to their ongoing vendetta. The maulana’s call for a new Charter of Democracy, though welcome, looks difficult to realise when the two sides cannot even agree to sit together in parliamentary committees.

The imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in KP was a gross misstep by the federal government, and it has spoiled the chances of a negotiated settlement. But the opposition, too, has gained little from confrontation.

Unless both sides start to show some flexibility on key matters, make compromises and enter negotiations without preconditions, they risk further deepening this crisis of their own making.

If enough lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are willing to admit that matters have gone too far, there may yet be hope for parliament, and for Pakistani democracy. The question is, are they ready to do so?

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2026