ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition parties on Tuesday termed the federal budget for fiscal year to June 2020 “anti-people” and dictated by the terms of an International Monetary Fund loan, adding that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had no roadmap or policy to provide relief to common Pakistanis facing the brunt of a ballooning economic crisis.
Pakistan has announced a Rs8.2 trillion budget with the next year, with a tax revenue target of Rs5.5 trillion, a 25 percent increase from the Rs4.4 trillion target set in last year’s budget.
As Revenue Minister Hammad Azhar unveiled the budget, members of the opposition parties chanted slogans against the government and held up placards that read: “IMF budget not accepted.”
Opposition politicians rejected the government’s claim that the budgetary proposals were focused on economic stability and sustainable growth and said the government’s vision would increase inflation and unemployment.
“This budget will bring a tsunami of new taxes and storm of inflation. We along with other opposition parties will try our best that this anti-people budget is not passed by the National Assembly,” Pakistan Peoples Party’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said while talking to reporters after the budget session.
Pervaiz Malik, a senior leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said the government had abolished a zero-rated tax regime on the export-oriented industry which would result in the reduction of the exports.
“The government has withdrawn the zero-rated tax facility on the pressure of the IMF [International Monetary Fund], and this will not only reduce the exports but also increase unemployment in the industrial sector,” he told Arab News, referring to a $6 billion bailout package that Pakistan is hoping the Fund will give final approval to.
Malik said the government had increased taxes on items of daily use including sugar, beverages and milk, and revised down the income tax limit for government employees from annual Rs1.2 million to Rs0.6 million.
“The PTI government has failed to keep its election promises of providing relief to the common man, and it stands fully exposed with this budget,” he said.
Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, a lawmaker from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal religious alliance, said the government had increased taxes on everything, but failed to increase budgetary allocations for education and health.
“There is nothing in this budget," he told Arab News. "In short, this is the IMF’s budget and we totally reject it.”
Opposition parties reject budget plan as anti-people, IMF-dictated
Opposition parties reject budget plan as anti-people, IMF-dictated
- Pakistan Peoples Party’s chair says will work with other opposition parties to ensure budget isn’t approved by parliament
- Opposition politicians hold up placards saying “IMF budget not accepted” as revenue minister delivers budget speech
Pakistan interior minister urges new laws for online speech
- Mohsin Naqvi calls for a reassessment of laws after being asked about prolonged disruption of platform X
- He says the social media is used to raise false allegations against people, adding the issue needs to be fixed
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s new interior minister said Tuesday the country needed better laws to regulate Internet free speech, as disruption of social media platform X stretched into its fifth week.
Islamabad has declined to clearly say whether it is behind nationwide restrictions to the platform, formerly known as Twitter, which have left it rarely accessible since February 17.
Pakistan’s polls earlier that month were marred by allegations of rigging, and the outages began after a senior government official made a public admission of vote tampering.
“We need to make better laws,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said when asked whether his ministry was responsible for the X shutdown.
“Expression is fine, but making false allegations against people is wrong – it’s happening and needs to be fixed.”
“We must reassess our own laws and look into what is being misused,” he told reporters in remarks broadcast on state TV.
X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok were key planks in the election campaigning of jailed ex-prime minister and popular opposition leader Imran Khan.
The former cricket star was barred from running and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was subject to a sweeping crackdown of arrests and censorship ahead of February 8 polls.
Most of their campaigning moved online, where it was shut down by numerous social media blackouts which Islamabad blamed on technical glitches.
Rigging claims were also fueled by a nationwide mobile Internet shutdown on polling day, which the caretaker government said was required for security reasons after twin bombings killed 28 a day earlier.
X remained unavailable to AFP reporters in Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore on Tuesday afternoon – but the site has been momentarily accessible at times over the past five weeks.
“The problem is there is no transparency by the government,” said Sadaf Khan, an analyst for Pakistani campaign group Media Matters for Democracy.
“Twitter is being banned specifically because it has emerged as a platform where political disclosure takes place,” she told AFP.
Information minister Attaullah Tarar has given mixed signals over disruption, telling one local media outlet it “is working” and another that it was “already banned” when the new government came to power.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif – who secured the office through a shaky coalition after Khan’s candidates defied expectations to secure more seats than any other party – has frequently published statements on X.
On Monday, he used the platform to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin for his re-election in a poll slammed by independent observers and the West as the most corrupt in post-Soviet history.
US envoy meets Finmin Aurangzeb, assures support for completion of Pakistan’s IMF program
- An IMF team is currently holding talks in Islamabad for the second and final review of the $3 billion loan program
- The global lender is expected to conclude the review today after the agenda could not be completed on Monday
ISLAMABAD: United States (US) Ambassador Donald Blome on Tuesday met with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and assured him support for the completion of Pakistan’s ongoing $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program, the US embassy said.
The statement came amid talks between Pakistan and the IMF for the second and final review of the program secured by Islamabad last summer. Pakistan says it has met all structural benchmarks and targets set by the global lender. A successful completion of the evaluation will release the remaining $1.1 billion to the South Asian country.
In his meeting with the finance minister, Ambassador Blome discussed US cooperation and support for Pakistan’s efforts to meet its reform targets, including improvement of the country’s tax administration and investment climate, according to the US embassy.
“Ambassador Blome noted the US government’s support for Pakistan’s work with the IMF to complete its current Stand-By Arrangement (SBA),” the embassy said in a statement.
The IMF review was expected to conclude on Monday, but a Pakistani finance ministry official told Arab News on condition of anonymity the visiting IMF delegation had decided to extend the review by a day after the two sides could not complete its agenda.
“The review agenda couldn’t be completed in the scheduled period, therefore the mission has extended it for a day for now,” the official said on Monday. “The letter of intent and staff-level agreement will be discussed tomorrow [Tuesday] now.”
Islamabad has also expressed its interest in securing a new loan under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program as it continues to carry out reforms to strengthen its debt-ridden economy.
On Monday, Pakistani financial authorities briefed the IMF mission on the country’s annual taxation targets, ways to abolish subsidies in different sectors, digitization of the tax system and expansion in the tax net, according to the official.
“At the moment, Pakistan has been lagging on two fronts that are digitization of the taxation and bringing over 3 million retailers in the tax net,” he said. “The FBR has signed a memorandum this week for the digitization while the work on bringing the retailers into the tax net is underway.”
The global lender wants Pakistan to continue the economic stabilization and reforms agenda “till negotiation of the new loan program,” the official added.
Citing officials, Pakistani state media last week reported that Islamabad’s talks with the global lender for the second review of the program were “progressing positively.”
Pakistan secured the $3 billion IMF program in last June after it narrowly escaped a sovereign default. Its economy has been under extreme stress with low reserves, a balance of payment crisis, inflation at 23 percent, policy interest rates at 22 percent and record local currency depreciation.
Pakistani court sentences two female seminary students to death, one to life for teacher’s blasphemy killing
- The students targeted the teacher at the seminary’s gate, beating her with sticks before slitting her throat
- The students said in their confession a relative had seen the teacher committing blasphemy in his dream
PESHAWAR: A local court in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has sentenced two female seminary students to death and another to life imprisonment for killing their teacher on blasphemy charges in March 2022, confirmed the lawyers involved the case on Tuesday.
The three women, Razia Hanfi, Ayesha Naumani, and Umra Aman from Jamia Islamia Falahul Binaat seminary in Dera Ismail Khan were arrested two years ago for murdering their teacher Safoora Bibi, alleging she had committed blasphemy.
The assault took at the seminary’s gate where the convicted students beat their teacher with sticks before slitting her throat. Subsequently, the police said the accused students had confessed to the crime, claiming that a teenage relative had dreamt of the victim committing blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Speaking to Arab News, public prosecutor Tanseer Ali said the court sentenced Razia Hanfi and Umra Aman to death, imposing a fine of Rs2 million each. The third accused, Ayesha Naumani, were given life imprisonment and a Rs1 million fine since she was under 18 when the crime took place.
“The court has decided the case on the basis of concrete evidence,” he said. “Thorough investigations into the matter by the police, confession of crime by the convicts in front of a magistrate and forensic evidence helped the court decide the matter.”
However, defense attorney Asad Aziz said the case became high-profile and sensitive, affecting the court’s verdict.
“We are going to challenge the decision in higher court,” he added. “I’m sure this judgment will not withstand further legal scrutiny and will be suspended.”
The administration of the seminary could not be reached for comment after the announcement of the verdict.
However, Shah Noor, a relative of the convicted girls, vowed to lodge in appeal in the high court during this week.
Pakistan court acquits PM Sharif’s nephews in graft cases
- Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz left country in 2018 after they were named in the cases linked to Panama Papers
- The brothers this month filed petitions seeking acquittal in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship and Avenfield references
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday acquitted Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, nephews of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in three corruption references, local media reported.
Both Hassan and Hussain, sons of three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif, left the country in 2018 after they were named in the three corruption cases linked to the Panama Papers scandal. They were later declared proclaimed offenders by an accountability court for not joining investigation.
Like their father, both had been living in the United Kingdom in a self-imposed exile since 2018. The duo returned to Pakistan this month after filing an application through their counsel that sought suspension of warrants issued against them in the corruption references.
The brothers later filed petitions seeking acquittal in the corruption cases relating to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship company and Avenfield apartments, Pakistan’s Geo News channel reported. On Tuesday, their lawyer contended before the court that proceedings could not be carried out against them on allegations of abetting a crime, when the main suspects had been acquitted.
“[The court] granted relief to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s sons — Hasan and Hussain — on the petitions seeking acquittal in corruption cases related to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship company and Avenfield apartments,” the report read.
On March 14, the court had approved bail of both brothers in exchange for Rs50,000 bond each in the three references. Their perpetual arrest warrants and fugitive status had also been canceled.
Hassan and Hussain’s father, Nawaz Sharif, arrived in Pakistan in October last year after nearly four years of self-imposed exile. Nawaz was found guilty in 2017 of dishonest practices and disqualified under a 2018 Supreme Court ruling. He, however, left Pakistan in 2019 after obtaining a court-approved bail for treatment abroad.
Last year, the courts overturned most of the Sharif family convictions. Many suspected the move was part of the Pakistani military’s plan to grant relief to Nawaz after it had a falling out with his rival, ex-PM Imran Khan. Nawaz has denied this, while the military says it does not interfere in politics.
Pakistan’s president calls for translating ties with Bahrain into ‘economic partnership’
- Commander of Bahrain’s National Guard calls on President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad
- Both discuss bilateral relations, trade, defense and other matters of mutual interest
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said Pakistan attached great value to its fraternal ties with Bahrain, stressing the need for both countries to translate their relationship into a “mutually rewarding economic partnership,” a statement from his office said.
The statement followed a meeting between Zardari and General Sheikh Mohammad bin Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the commander of the National Guard of Bahrain, who called on him at the presidency in Islamabad.
Zardari said Pakistan and Bahrain enjoyed excellent relations, which needed to be further strengthened in areas of mutual interest.
“He [Zardari] highlighted the need to translate the bilateral relations between Pakistan and Bahrain into a mutually rewarding economic partnership,” the president’s secretariat said.
Zardari told Al-Khalifa it was his firm belief that Pakistan would grow stronger as it had immense potential to become a prosperous country. Al-Khalifa congratulated the president on assuming office for a second time and hoped the South Asian country would move forward under his leadership, the statement said.
The Bahraini official noted that both countries enjoy excellent defense cooperation, reiterating the Gulf country’s continued support for Pakistan. Al-Khalifa invited Zardari to visit Bahrain, the president’s secretariat said.
Al-Khalifa met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last Wednesday to discuss bilateral trade, defense cooperation and the developing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Pakistan enjoys fraternal relations with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including Bahrain. Islamabad also has strong defense and trade ties with them and routinely holds military exercises with friendly states to enhance combat skills.
Cash-strapped Pakistan set up the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a hybrid civil-military forum, in June 2023. The SIFC was established to attract international investment, particularly from Gulf countries, in the country’s key economic sectors. The council was set up as Pakistan faced tough economic challenges amid dwindling forex reserves and a rapidly depreciating national currency.