You can feel it in your bones, this steady rise in anxiety and despair. Against the backdrop of a world in disarray, strong tremors are being felt in Pakistan’s political and national security spaces. A high functionary of the present ruling arrangement, one of the guardians of the prevailing system of governance, has proclaimed that it – the system – has “collapsed”.
What does this mean and how do you protect your sanity in these circumstances? Naturally, when Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi made his remarks at the Pakistan Economic Summit 2026 in Islamabad last week, arguing that the current governance model had effectively collapsed, it instantaneously raised a storm. This comment was also seen as a hint that the present government would soon be wrapped up and a new model of governance would be introduced.
In this respect, the focus was on the possibility of creating new provinces because Naqvi had called for additional administrative systems. The issue of Karachi becoming a separate province has simmered for a long time and after the interior minister’s speech, the reaction in Sindh during this week has erupted like a volcano.
But all this political tumult is not what I want to write about. In fact, I generally avoid these matters because I am not able to access the required information about the situation that exists on the ground. Ideally, Mohsin Naqvi’s ostensibly off-the-cuff assertions should have generated a serious, well-informed debate at the institutional level. That has not happened.
Hence, let me leave it at that. There is no scope for delving into issues that essentially relate to the destiny of this nation. I started my column with a reference to the growing awareness that the prevailing system cannot deliver because this could be a matter of life and death for our nation. Having done that, I am switching gears. Let this be a ‘two-in-one’ exercise.
My peg for the rest of the column is an article that I had recently read on BBC World’s website. Its heading: ‘What watching the sunset really does for your health’. It is a detailed piece that also includes scientific research and I have no intention of paraphrasing it in detail. Actually, it touched a chord with me because of my lifelong passion for nature and its beauty. I have had the opportunity to travel widely and scores of sunsets and sunrises in scenic locations are stored in my memory. I have now learnt from BBC that watching a sunset may also improve a person’s mental health and mood and become a source of joy.
This means that sunsets can serve some purpose in these times of distress when Pakistan’s system of governance is, in Mohsin Naqvi’s words, “completely destroyed”. The sunset, perhaps, can lift our spirits and help make this otherwise depressing life somewhat endurable.
Those of us who live in Karachi have the advantage of watching the sun setting in the sea. It is surely a beautiful sight that inspires awe and wonder. Incidentally, this feeling of awe is considered to be crucial in the science of the sunset. A few of my best sunsets in Karachi became possible when I beheld them from the French Beach, thanks to a privileged relative of a younger generation.
Sadly, the sea in Karachi is not easily accessible to most of its citizens. In other words, a great gift of nature has not been delivered to the people who are meant to be its rightful recipients. And there is another requirement for the people to enjoy a sunrise or a sunset, wherever they might be located. They need to have some respite from the misery and the pain of their daily existence to be able to recognise a thing of beauty.
According to the BBC article, watching the sunset provides concrete mental and physical health benefits by triggering feelings of awe, reducing inflammation markers, lowering stress hormones like cortisol, and signalling the brain’s internal clock to regulate your circadian rhythm for better sleep.
This seems to be a very complex and somewhat dense exposition for a natural phenomenon that is simply beautiful and an everyday affair. It is a breathtaking show when the sinking sun paints the sky in golden colours. Similarly, the sunrise has its own wonders. Besides, beauty does not only reside in nature. Human beings are capable of creating beauty in art and in their cultural expression.
However, I found in the BBC article a number of surprises that underlined for me some unexpected benefits of watching a sunset. For instance, it suggests that “if you are awe-struck by the beauty of a sunset, you may find yourself more inclined to be helpful or have more compassion for those around you.” The point here is that watching the sunset can make you feel more human.
Awe, we are told, “is the feeling we get when we witness something immense and profound that we can’t quite comprehend”. It could be a piece of art or a natural wonder. Experiencing awe more often also seems to have wider health benefits. In addition, it provides an opportunity for reflection.
Incidentally, there is a lot of poetry on the magic of a sunset or sunrise. From my early youth, I remember those two lines of Wordsworth: “My heart leaps up when I behold / A rainbow in the sky”.
To conclude, I know that all the benefits we may get from an exceptionally beautiful sunset will not compensate for the pain cast by the present state of affairs in Pakistan. This pain is further deepened by our inability to fully understand the crises that Pakistan confronts at the domestic level.
At the outset, I quoted Mohsin Naqvi’s observation that the system has collapsed and wondered if this was a signal for the ouster of the present government. For what it is worth, he said on Wednesday that the present government was not going anywhere and would complete its term. Is this assurance as refreshing as a sunset?
The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: [email protected]
