Published on, Aug. 20 -- August 20, 2025 6:18 AM

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz's trip to Japan is, in many ways, a milestone of sorts. In a country where female leadership still strains against glass ceilings, her presence in Yokohama carried symbolic weight. Yet the triumphant narrative of a Lahore remade in Japan's image-with automated sewers, seamless transit, and modern hospitals-felt premature. Ambition is welcome, yet it risks becoming a substitute for achievement when unmoored from local realities.

The Rs160 million reportedly devoted to the visit raised eyebrows not because Punjab should avoid international outreach, but because the contrast with its own crises is so stark. The province produces more than 20,000 tonnes of s...