ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s supreme court on Monday granted bail to the owner and editor-in-chief of country’s largest independent group of newspapers and television stations, months after his arrest in a decades-old case related to allegations of tax evasion in a real estate purchase.
Mir Shakilur Rehman’s release comes amid increasing pressure on journalists in Pakistan by state institutions and security agencies. Human rights workers, activists and members of civil society also have been targeted in recent years.
Rehman’s Jang Group of Newspapers, which includes Geo TV, has been critical of the government. He was arrested in March in the eastern city of Lahore by the National Accountability Bureau. The bureau is pursuing an over 30-year-old case against him over a land sale, one it acknowledges did not defraud the government at the time.
The terms of Rehman’s bail were not immediately known.
Activists say the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, elected in 2018, has failed to protect freedom of speech in Pakistan. Before becoming prime minister, Khan often publicly said that he would have Rehman arrested if he came into power and now considers Rehman’s media house to be one of his main critics.
Opposition party leaders as well have been targeted in anti-graft probes in recent weeks.
Pakistan’s supreme court orders release of detained TV mogul
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Pakistan’s supreme court orders release of detained TV mogul
- Mir Shakilur Rehman was arrested in a decades-old case related to allegations of tax evasion in a real estate purchase
- His release comes amid increasing pressure on journalists in Pakistan by state institutions
Saudi FM in Islamabad, expected to meet top Pakistani officials today in investment push
- Saudi foreign minister’s visit comes a little over a week after Saudi crown prince met Pakistani PM in Makkah
- Crown prince has reaffirmed commitment to expedite investment package worth $5 billion that was previously discussed
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is expected to meet top Pakistani officials today, Tuesday, after arriving in Islamabad a day earlier on a two-day visit aimed at enhancing bilateral economic cooperation and pushing forward previously agreed investment deals.
The Saudi foreign minister’s visit comes a little over a week after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Makkah and reaffirmed the Kingdom’s commitment to expedite an investment package worth $5 billion that was previously discussed.
The Pakistani foreign office has said the Saudi delegation is expected to hold meetings with the Pakistani president, the prime minister, the foreign minister and other ministers, as well as the army chief and members of the apex committee of Pakistan’s Special Investment Facilitation Council, set up last year to oversee all foreign funding.
“A week after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to Saudi Arabia (April 6-8), a high-level delegation of Saudi Arabia is coming to Pakistan,” the Pakistani information ministry said in a statement shared with journalists ahead of the FM’s arrival at the Noor Khan air base in the garrison town of Rawalpindi.
“The Saudi delegation will consult on the next stages of investment and implementation issues,” the statement added, saying Saudi Arabia’s planned investment in the Reko Diq gold and copper mining project would also be discussed during the visit.
On Sunday, Pakistani state media reported Saudi Arabia was likely to invest $1 billion in the mine project in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas.
Riyadh was also interested in investing in agriculture, trade, energy, minerals, IT, transport and other sectors in Pakistan, the statement said.
“As a result of this visit, Pakistan’s export capacity will increase, joint ventures will be launched and new opportunities will be paved.”
The Pakistani foreign office said last week the Saudi delegation would comprise the foreign minister, minister of water and agriculture, minister of industry and mineral resources and deputy minister of investment as well as senior officials from the Saudi energy ministry and the Saudi Fund for General Investments.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong trade, defense and cultural ties. The Kingdom is home to over 2.7 million Pakistani expatriates and the top source of remittances to the cash-strapped South Asian country.
Former diplomats and analysts said the latest visit showed a deepening of relations between the two brotherly countries.
“This is a high-powered Saudi delegation led by the foreign minister and it is purely focused on investments in Pakistan,” Javed Hafeez, a former Pakistani diplomat, told Arab News, pointing to a recent indication by Saudi Arabia that it would expedite a $5 billion investment package for Pakistan.
“This delegation will also be exploring different fields and options during the visit to materialize the investment pledges as quickly as possible.”
Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s former foreign secretary, termed the visit “very significant,” saying the potential Saudi investment in Pakistan was a “welcoming step” in the Saudi-Pakistan friendship.
“The Saudi’s investments under the banner of the SIFC will be safe and secure, and this will help further deepen the ties between the two countries,” Chaudhry told Arab News.
Cash-strapped Pakistan desperately needs to shore up its foreign reserves and signal to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it can continue to meet requirements for foreign financing that has been a key demand in previous bailout packages. Pakistan’s finance minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, is currently in Washington to participate in spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and discuss a new bailout program. The last loan deal expires this month.
Saudi Arabia has often come to cash-strapped Pakistan’s aid in the past, regularly providing it oil on deferred payments and offering direct financial support to help stabilize its economy and shore up its forex reserves.
Last year, however, Saudi Arabia’s finance minister said the Kingdom was changing the way it provides assistance to allies, shifting from previously giving direct grants and deposits unconditionally.
“We used to give direct grants and deposits without strings attached and we are changing that. We are working with multilateral institutions to actually say we need to see reforms,” Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January.
“We are taxing our people, we are expecting also others to do the same, to do their efforts. We want to help but we want you also to do your part.”
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states like the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have increasingly moved toward investing rather than extending direct financial aid.
Pakistan raises petroleum prices citing ‘increasing trend’ in international market
- Pakistan has increased the prices of petrol by 4.53 rupees ($0.016) to 293.94 rupees
- Government also increases price of high speed diesel by 8.14 rupees to 290.38 rupees
KARACHI: Pakistan has increased the price of petrol by 4.53 rupees ($0.016) to 293.94 rupees with effect from today, Tuesday, the finance ministry said in a statement, citing rising petroleum prices internationally.
The government also increased the price of high speed diesel by 8.14 rupees to 290.38 rupees, the post said.
The price hikes come as Pakistan has initiated discussions with the IMF over a new multi-billion-dollar loan agreement as its current nine-month, $3 billion loan program expires with the disbursement of a final $1.1 billion tranche likely to be approved later this month.
Reforms linked to that bailout, including an easing of import restrictions and a demand that subsidies be removed, fueled record inflation, with the rupee hitting all-time lows. Authorities also raised petrol and diesel prices to record highs to meet conditionalities.
“The prices of Petroleum products have seen an increasing trend in the international market during the last fortnight,” the finance ministry said as it announced the new prices.
“The Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has worked out the consumer prices, based on the price variations in the international market.”
Under the last IMF bailout, Pakistan was told to prevent further accumulation of circular debt in its power sector, arising from subsidies and unpaid bills. For a new program, the South Asian nation will need to implement reforms to reduce costs by improving electricity transmission and distribution, moving captive power into the grid, improving governance, and combating theft.
It will also have to maintain power and gas tariffs at levels that ensure cost recovery, with adjustments made to safeguard the financially vulnerable, through existing progressive tariff structures.
In a report released in January, the IMF noted Pakistan missed its target for power sector arrears, largely due to lower-than-expected recoveries and tariffs.
WHO warns of falsified cough syrup ingredients seized in Pakistan
- Five contaminated batches of propylene glycol falsely labelled as made by Dow Chemical units in Asia and Europe
- Contaminated cough syrups linked to deaths of more than 300 children globally since late 2022
The World Health Organization issued an alert on Monday warning drugmakers of five contaminated batches of propylene glycol, an ingredient used in medicinal syrups, that appear to have been falsely labelled as manufactured by Dow Chemical units in Asia and Europe.
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) issued three alerts between January and March over high levels of ethylene glycol (EG), an industrial solvent known to be toxic, found in drums purportedly made by subsidiaries of Dow Chemical in Thailand, Germany and Singapore.
DRAP sent suspect drums of propylene glycol, a sweet-tasting alcohol used in over-the-counter medicines such as cough syrups, for testing. The samples were found to have EG contamination of 0.76-100 percent, according to the WHO. International manufacturing standards say only trace amounts of EG, below 0.1 percent, can be considered safe.
Contaminated cough syrups made in India and Indonesia have been linked to deaths of more than 300 children globally since late 2022. The medicines were found to contain high levels of EG and diethylene glycol, leading to acute kidney injury and death. In the Indonesia case, authorities found that one supplier had placed false Dow Thailand labels onto drums containing EG that it sold to a distributor for pharmaceutical use.
Several of the batches seized by DRAP were labelled as having been manufactured in 2023, the WHO said, months after the agency issued a global alert calling on drugmakers to verify the quality of their suppliers.
The WHO said Dow confirmed that the materials identified in its Monday alert and found by DRAP were not manufactured or supplied by the company.
“The propylene glycol materials identified in this alert are considered to have been deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled,” the WHO said, noting batches may have been distributed to other countries and still be in storage.
Dow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The WHO alert comes the same week regulators in Tanzania and Rwanda joined Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa to recall batches of Johnson & Johnson children’s cough syrup after Nigeria said it found high levels of diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent known to be toxic.
The batch of Benylin Paediatric syrup recalled was made by J&J in South Africa in May 2021, although Kenvue now owns the brand after a spin-off from J&J last year.
Pakistan court strikes down clause setting gender-based age criteria for marriage
- The verdict was given on a petition seeking amendments to Child Marriage Act over gender-based distinction
- The court asks the Punjab government to issue a revised version of 1929 law in 15 days, based on its judgment
LAHORE: A high court in Pakistan on Monday struck down a section of the Child Marriage Act, 1929 that dealt with gender-based age distinction and ordered the government in the Punjab province to revise the legislation.
The verdict was given on a petition seeking amendments to the Child Marriage Act over apparent distinction on the basis of gender. The petitioner had stated in his petition that the Constitution of Pakistan granted equal rights to men and women.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) declared as “discriminatory” the 95-year-old act’s Section 2(a) and (b), which respectively fixed 18 and 16 years as legal ages for boys and girls for marriage.
“In sum, the words in section 2(a) viz . ‘if a male ….and if a female is under sixteen years of age’ being unconstitutional are held to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect. They are struck down,” Judge Shahid Karim wrote in his five-page verdict.
“The Govt. of Punjab (its relevant department) is directed to issue the revised version of 1929 Act (based on this judgment) within the next fifteen days and shall also upload that version on its website for information.”
Though the aforementioned law had been replaced by the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 2015 to criminalize child marriage in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province.
Women in Pakistan are often deprived of their basic rights and forced to marry against their will, in some cases even before reaching the legal age for marriage.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), about 500 women are killed each year by their family members over accusations that their “honor” has been violated, which are often triggered when women marry by choice.
The court observed there was a need to take effective steps against child marriages as the marriage laws in the country were meant to primarily keep in view the “social, economic and educational factors rather than religious.”
In his verdict, the judge referred to Article 25 of the constitution, which says: “All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law. There shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex.”
“The definition of ‘child’ in the 1929 Act while making a distinction on the basis of age, is not based on an intelligible criteria having nexus with the object of the law,” the court ruled.
“The definition is indeed a special provision for the protection of women but in the process it tends to afford greater protection to males by keeping their age of marriage higher than females.”
Pakistan PM urges increase in renewable energy resources to cut oil import bill
- Pakistan lacks adequate resources to run its oil- and gas-powered plants and imports most of its energy needs
- The country is currently faced with a balance of payments crisis, record inflation and steep currency devaluation
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed the Pakistani energy ministry to maximize utilization of renewable energy resources in order to reduce the country’s oil import bill, Pakistani state media reported.
The remarks came at a meeting he presided over to review the country’s power sector, according to a report published by the Radio Pakistan broadcaster.
The prime minister said that oil imports worth billions of dollars could be controlled by using alternative resources like solar, wind and hydel power.
“The country currently imports oil worth 27 billion dollars to meet its power and transportation needs,” Sharif was quoted as saying in the report.
“In the future, only clean and low-cost hydropower and renewable plants will be installed in the country.”
Pakistan, which has been struggling with a balance of payments crisis, record inflation and steep currency devaluation, lacks adequate resources to run its oil- and gas-powered plants and imports most of its energy needs.
The South Asian country is currently looking to secure cheaper energy imports and alternate ways to lessen the cost of power generation.
The prime minister asked authorities to speed up efforts for foreign investment in solar energy projects as well as to accelerate the process of privatization of power generation companies and auction of inefficient power houses.
He lauded the performance of the Punjab government in the ongoing drive against power theft and expressed hope that other provinces would also follow suit to overcome the challenge.
“All possible measures are being taken to reduce the per unit price of electricity for the common man,” PM Sharif added.
