ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's National Assembly on Thursday passed a supplementary finance bill and a legislation on the autonomy of the central bank with majority vote amid protest by opposition parties, meeting the International Monetary Fund's prerequisites for the revival of a $6 billion loan package.
The government tabled the bills in the lower house of parliament last month to impose a uniform 17 percent general sales tax, withdraw tax exemptions on a number of items, and grant autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan.
The passage of the two bills was to ensure that Pakistan's sixth review for the IMF's Extended Fund Facility would get clearance from the international financial institution's executive board.
The IMF was originally scheduled to review Pakistan's progress on January 12 in its board meeting to release a $1 billion tranche. However, it postponed the process until the end of the month after a delay in the passage of the bills.
Pakistan's finance chief Shaukat Tarin said during his speech on the floor of the house on Thursday it was "painful" for the government to undertake economic reforms amid the COVID-19 pandemic, soaring international commodity prices and crisis in neighboring Afghanistan while urging the opposition to endorse the bills.
“We were forced to go to the IMF,” he said. “There was no escape from the IMF.”
Listing the government's economic achievements, he said the revenues were registering a 35 percent growth while foreign remittances and exports would each reach $31 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.
"We'll have to fix the structural problems of the taxation system," he continued, adding the IMF was pushing Pakistan to levy a uniform rate of general sales tax across the country.
Tarin noted the legislation would help document the economy and increase the government's revenue.
"Everyone wants to escape the documentation [of the economy] since their incomes will be taxed after that," he said, as he dismissed the opposition's claim that the legislation would bring an "inflationary storm" in the country.
The minister said Rs280 billion out of a total of Rs350 billion of new taxes were refundable and the government would only be collecting Rs70 billion by imposing additional taxes.
The finance chief informed the house that only Rs3.5 trillion out of Rs20 trillion of retail sales were documented, adding there was always an outcry when the government tried to document that money.
He said that taxes on milk, laptops, food and bakery items were withdrawn to facilitate the public.
About the central bank's autonomy, Tarin dismissed the opposition's concerns that the legislation would undermine the government's control over the bank.
The minister said the government would appoint the bank's board of directors and have "full power" over it.
Earlier, the opposition parties tried to introduce amendments in the bills, though they were all rejected by the government.
Members of the opposition parties chanted slogans against the proposed legislations and displayed anti-government placards.
"The friends of IMF are traitors," they said while chanting slogans.
Pakistan passes IMF-backed supplementary finance bill amid opposition protest
https://arab.news/6bgud
Pakistan passes IMF-backed supplementary finance bill amid opposition protest
- The passage of mid-year budget along with a bill on State Bank autonomy will help revive a $6 billion IMF loan program
- Pakistan's finance chief says the government was forced to go to the international lender for loan since it had no alternative
Eight killed as protesters storm US Consulate in Karachi after Iran confirms Khamenei killed
- Protesters smashed doors, set fire to property as police used tear gas to disperse crowds
- Protests spread to Shia-majority areas of Gilgit-Baltistan, UN office torched, curfew imposed
ISLAMABAD: At least eight people were killed in clashes near the US Consulate in Karachi on Sunday, the Edhi Foundation said, as protests erupted across parts of Pakistan following Iran’s confirmation that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US–Israeli strikes.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the consulate on Sunday morning, with some attempting to storm the compound and vandalizing property, according to footage circulating on social media and international news reports.
Videos showed protesters armed with sticks smashing doors and windows. Separate footage appeared to show property inside the consulate premises set on fire. International media outlets reported that police used tear gas and baton charges to disperse the crowd.
“The number of people killed during the firing and unrest near the American Consulate on Mai Kolachi Road has risen to eight,” the Edhi Foundation, a major charity and rescue organization, said in a statement.
Speaking to Arab News, Edhi Foundation Chairman Faisal Edhi said over 30 people were injured apart from the eight killed. He said some of the injured were critically wounded, adding that the death toll could increase.
Edhi said protesters were shot by the security personnel from inside the US consulate.
Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar directed authorities to strengthen security around sensitive installations as unrest intensified.
“No one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands,” Lanjar said in a statement issued by his office.
He added that law enforcement agencies were fully alert and monitoring the situation, and vowed that action would be taken in accordance with the law against those disturbing public order.
The violence came hours after Iranian authorities confirmed Khamenei was killed in coordinated strikes carried out by the United States and Israel, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East and triggering protests in several countries.
PROTESTS SPREAD
Demonstrations were also reported in Skardu, in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, where hundreds of people staged a sit-in on a main road to protest Khamenei’s killing.
Shabbir Mir, spokesperson for the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister, told Arab News that a United Nations office in the district had been set on fire.
“The protesters have torched an UN office in Skardu,” Mir confirmed.
The unrest in Pakistan follows a sharp escalation in the Middle East after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes in Iran on Saturday.
According to US officials, the operation targeted Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. The US military said it suffered no casualties and reported minimal damage to its bases despite what it described as “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.”
Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and targeting US military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Israeli ally UAE said its air defense systems intercepted dozens of Iranian missiles and drones, but debris from the interceptions caused material damage in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and at least one civilian, including a Pakistani national, was killed.
The UAE government condemned the strikes as a “blatant violation of national sovereignty and international law,” and issued rare emergency alerts urging residents to seek shelter, underscoring how the conflict has rippled far beyond Iran’s borders.
The Israeli military said dozens of Iranian missiles were fired toward Israeli territory, many of which were intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said a woman in the Tel Aviv area died after being wounded in a missile strike.
