KARACHI: Pakistan’s economy suffered a loss of Rs100 to Rs120 billion following the three-day countrywide protests called by religious parties rallying against the Supreme Court’s decision to acquit a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, traders and industrialists told Arab News on Saturday.
Life limped back to normalcy after an agreement was signed between the leaders of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a far-right political party, and the government ending 72 hours of violent demonstrations that had paralyzed business activities across the country.
“The country’s daily business activities are worth Rs30-40 billion, which means it lost that much amount everyday during the protests which paralyzed industrial activities for three days,” Muhammad Danish Khan, President of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), which represents one of the largest industrial estates of Pakistan, told Arab News.
He added that Korangi industrial, which was forced to cease its activities for the past few days on account of the nationwide protests, is host to nearly 4,000 small and large industries, including a refinery, and contributes Rs400 million every day to the national exchequer.
Highlighting the impact of the ill-timed protests, especially with Prime Minister Imran Khan visiting China to secure financial assistance and investment, Syed Mazhar Ali Nasir, Senior Vice-President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), said: “The cost of the country’s image and the exports is much higher from the economic numbers, especially at a time when the country’s prime minister is in another country to secure financial assistance and investment.”
Though no official figures detailing the actual loss to the economy have been released, industrialists and traders estimate it to be in billions, with the port city of Karachi impacted the worst, sending disturbing signals to the rest of the country about its economic health.
“Nearly 85 to 92 percent of cross border trade, particularly exports of Pakistan, are transshipped from Karachi. Approximately Rs7 billion of exports are lost during a one-day strike in Karachi. Similarly Rs17 billion worth of imports are disturbed due to this reason,” the FPCCI said.
As the industrial activities came to a grinding halt three days ago, the trading community also suffered losses due to a lack of sales. “We estimated that during the last three days our trading community has suffered around Rs100 billion losses. Small shopkeepers were mostly impacted by the events,” Khalid Pervaiz, President of All Pakistan Traders’ Association, said, while Atiq Mir, Chairman of Karachi Tajir Itehad, added that traders “incurred losses worth Rs15 billion in Karachi alone”.
“More than three million daily wagers turn up every day in the markets to earn their livelihood, with means of their livelihood blocked by this kind of protests,” Mir said.
Pakistan’s Karachi Port Trust (KPT) handles an average of 80,000 tons of cargo per day. “The shipping activities at the harbor during the protests remained normal but due to the non-availability of transport, movement of export and import goods remained suspended,” Shariq Amin, spokesman of KPT, said.
Pakistan’s industrialists and traders called for a comprehensive policy to tackle sensitive issues and violent protests. “Businessmen are the first victims of such violent actions. In such conditions who will place order from outside of Pakistan,” Nasir questioned.
“It is the responsibility of the state to stop violence and protect the life and properties of citizens,” Pervaiz said, adding that the government should take the business community into confidence and consult with them “because it’s the economy which guarantees the security and existence of the state”.
“All sensitive issues concerning politics and religion must be resolved at the table rather than on streets,” Nasir said, reasoning that negotiations should be the first and violence could be the last option. “Unfortunately in Pakistan, the last option is exercised in the first place,” he added.0
Businessmen pay Rs120bn as price for three-day protests
Businessmen pay Rs120bn as price for three-day protests
- Pakistan’s industries and markets remained shut following protests against SC verdict
- Country generates nearly Rs30-40bn revenue every day, traders say
From Pakistan to Europe, climate-hit communities take big polluters to court
- Experts say advances in climate attribution science are strengthening climate-related lawsuits
- No company has paid compensation, but recent rulings have made future liability claims possible
PARIS: Farmers and fishermen hit by climate change are taking big corporate polluters to court — and experts say these David-vs-Goliath lawsuits are only set to multiply as the planet keeps warming.
From Pakistan to Belgium and Peru, ordinary people bearing the brunt of failed harvests, rising seas and destructive storms are demanding compensation from the heavy-emitting industries most responsible for the climate crisis.
Once dismissed as legal long shots, climate damage claims are gaining traction, bolstered by scientific advances tying rising greenhouse gas emissions to extreme weather.
While most face steep hurdles, legal scholars say these cases are slowly shifting how courts view responsibility for climate-related economic harm — and who should pay for it.
POLLUTER PAYS
The use of courts and other legal avenues to pursue climate litigation has grown rapidly over the past decade, particularly in the United States.
Most climate lawsuits target governments. For example, on Thursday, hundreds of people across Japan sued the central government over its “grossly inadequate” response to climate change in the country’s first such litigation.
But cases seeking monetary damages from companies with massive carbon footprints — mostly fossil fuel and cement giants — have risen sharply in recent years.
Claimants argue a relatively small number of major polluters bear a historic liability for losses caused by droughts, storms and other climate-fueled extremes.
“Their responsibility dwarfs many even industrialized nation states, let alone other companies or individuals,” Jonathan White, a lawyer at ClientEarth, told AFP.
More than 60 “polluter pays” cases have been filed globally and dozens are ongoing, Zero Carbon Analytics said in March, citing data from Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
BREAKING GROUND
In one closely watched case, a Peruvian farmer took German energy company RWE to court, alleging its emissions helped melt an Andean glacier threatening to flood his home.
Swiss cement producer Holcim is being sued by Indonesian islanders over rising seas, while in another landmark case a Belgian farmer is accusing French fossil fuel major TotalEnergies of contributing to his crop losses.
This month, typhoon victims in the Philippines filed a lawsuit in the UK targeting oil giant Shell, while flood-hit Pakistani farmers announced legal action against RWE and German cement producer Heidelberg Materials in October.
Not all cases involve distant polluters: South Korean farmers are suing a national coal-fired power generator, and lawsuits in New Zealand, Brazil and the United States have targeted climate-harming activity at home.
JUSTICE MOVES SLOWLY
Corporations argue they cannot be held solely responsible for climate damages and so far no court has ordered a company pay compensation for any alleged harm caused by their global emissions.
“It’s a very difficult claim to win, and the courts are very cautious,” Sophie Marjanac, a lawyer and director of legal strategy at the Polluter Pays Project, told AFP.
But experts said this could change in time, particularly as climate attribution science draws a clearer line between humanity’s burning of fossil fuels and the impact on specific extreme weather events.
“It’s worth just underscoring that justice moves gradually,” said White.
Although no case has succeeded in directly linking a company’s emissions to a specific storm or flood, in Brazil judges have ordered that climate damages be paid for illegally felling carbon-rich forests.
In May, a German court dismissed the Peruvian farmer’s claim against RWE, but in a major step, ruled that corporate polluters could — in principle — be held liable for climate damages.
This “set a significant legal precedent” that could influence cases in Europe and beyond, the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics said in a June report.
LITIGATION LANDSLIDE
While climate rulings in one country are not legally binding in another, judges considering the merits of a case look to decisions elsewhere for guidance, said White.
Experts said that corporate polluters should expect an avalanche of litigation as climate damages mount.
“I can’t really foresee a world where these arguments simply go away,” said White.
Zero Carbon Analytics said estimates of climate damages vary but could reach “trillions of dollars globally” by mid-century.
Experts pointed to historic class-action lawsuits against tobacco and asbestos companies as examples where courts eventually held corporations accountable for harm.
“Over the past five years especially there has been an absolute revolution in climate change law... the law can evolve, and I believe that in the future these cases will eventually succeed,” said Marjanac.
