LAHORE: Pakistani pharmaceutical companies import more than 50 percent of their raw material from India and China to produce medicines, according to the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).
“A big chunk of the raw material used in locally produced medicines is imported from India since our neighboring country has an established industry of raw materials for medicines,” Khwaja Shahzeb Akram, head of the pharmaceutical committee at the FPCCI told Arab News.
The material bought from India is cheaper than any other part of the world, he said.
According to industry experts, the trade has the nod of Pakistan government, which despite the estranged relations between the two nuclear-capable south Asian neighbors, prefers to rely on its arch rival than revive its own industry.
“Pakistan government allows to import medicines from India that are not manufactured in the country,” Akram said.
Pakistan imported medicines worth Rs1.37 billion from India between January and June 2019, officials of federal health department revealed in a recent meeting of Senate’s Standing Committee on National Health Services Regulations and Coordination.
The meeting was also informed that the imported medicines were lifesaving drugs, including anti-venom vaccines, anti-rabies shots and other tablets and syrups.
“In the committee meeting, employees of the federal health department acknowledged that medicines were being imported from India … The issue was raised by Senator Rehman Malik who asked for a list of imported items. The department officials said they would provide details of imported medicines during the next meeting and the matter was deferred,” Senator Dr. Asad Ashraf, the committee member, told Arab News.
He also added that Senator Malik had asked the government to make it mandatory for Pakistani pharmaceutical companies to produce snake venom serum and anti-rabies vaccines to meet the shortage, instead of importing these items from India.
“India has an established medicine raw material industry which unfortunately Pakistan lacks. We are dependent on imported raw material for medicines,” said Amjad Ali Jawa, former chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. “We import different vaccines and life-saving drugs, mostly related to cancer and don’t have an alternative option,” he added.
Given the low cost of production of medicines in India and the fact that Pakistan’s Ministry of Health often allows the multinational corporations (MNCs) to increase the price of their drugs at will, huge quantities of medicines including antibiotics, analgesics, sedatives, tranquilizers, hormones, anti-hypertensive and contraceptives are smuggled into Pakistan from India, according to the Pharmaceutical Journal, though it is difficult to get reliable statistics in this connection.
The volume of import of medicine from India in 2018 was much higher, said Akram.
Indian drugs continue to flood Pakistani markets despite diplomatic row
Indian drugs continue to flood Pakistani markets despite diplomatic row
- Pakistan imported medicine from India worth Rs1.37 bn in 2019, Senate committee told
- Raw material for medicines, life saving drugs, vaccine for cancer top the list of imports
inflation seen slowing to 5.8 percent-6.8 percent in November, ministry says
- Inflation may further slow to 5.6 percent-6.5 percent in December, says ministry
- Pakistan slashed interest rates by 250 basis points earlier in November
KARACHI: Inflation in Pakistan is expected to slow to 5.8 percent-6.8 percent in November, and then further to 5.6 percent-6.5 percent in December, the finance ministry said in its monthly economic report on Wednesday.
The South Asian country slashed interest rates by 250 basis points earlier in November in a bid to revive a sluggish economy amid a big drop in the rate of inflation.
Inflation clocked in at 7.2 percent in October, a sharp drop from a multi-decade high of nearly 40 percent in May 2023.
Why is Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan in jail?
- Khan first arrested in May 2023 over allegations he received a land bribe through a trust created when he was in office
- Khan, now in jail since August 2023, also faces charges of terrorism and is accused of revealing state secrets
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s capital Islamabad was gripped by violence on Tuesday as protesters demanding the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan clashed with security forces near the parliament.
Here is a look at some of the allegations against the 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician — named in dozens of cases since he left office in 2022 — that have kept him behind bars for more than a year.
GRAFT ALLEGATIONS
Khan was first arrested in May 2023 in relation to allegations that his wife, Bushra Bibi, and he received land worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25 million) as a bribe through a trust created in 2018, while he still held office.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has maintained the land was donated for charitable purposes.
Khan was released on bail after three days in prison, during which his supporters attacked and set fire to military and other state installations, with eight people killed in the violence.
ABETTING VIOLENCE
Khan is facing anti-terrorism charges in connection with the violence that followed his arrest in May last year, and in relation to which several of his supporters have already been sentenced.
PTI said in July that authorities had issued fresh arrest warrants for him in three different cases related to the clashes.
STATE SECRETS
Khan was accused of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington in 2022, while he still held office.
He was acquitted in the case in June.
UNLAWFUL MARRIAGE
Khan and his wife were accused of breaking Islamic law by failing to observe the mandated waiting period between Bibi’s divorce from her previous husband and their marriage in 2018 .
1,000 Pakistan protesters arrested in pro-Khan capital march
- More than 10,000 protesters surged into Islamabad on weekend, defying a ban on public gatherings
- Government has called the protests “extremism,” vowing no mercy for the oncoming marchers
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan police said Wednesday they had arrested nearly 1,000 protesters who marched on the capital demanding the release of jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan, after crowds were evicted from the city center in a sweeping security crackdown.
Khan has been jailed since August 2023, sidelined by dozens of legal cases he claims were confected to prevent his comeback in elections this year marred by rigging allegations.
Since the February vote, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has defied a government crackdown with regular rallies, but Tuesday’s gathering was by far the largest to grip the capital since the poll.
More than 10,000 protesters surged into the city on the weekend, defying a ban on public gatherings and a lockdown to skirmish with 20,000 security forces enlisted to turn them back.
The government said at least one police officer was slain in unrest on Monday, while four state paramilitary personnel were also reported killed when protesters ran them over in a vehicle on Tuesday.
The crowds aimed to occupy a public square outside parliament and the prime minister’s house.
Overnight, security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters wielding sticks and slingshots, as roadblocks were set ablaze.
By early Wednesday, AFP staff saw the main thoroughfare toward Islamabad’s government enclave cleared of crowds, and security forces in riot gear being bussed away from the area.
Islamabad Police Inspector General Ali Nasir Rizvi said 954 protesters had been arrested between Sunday and Tuesday, when the crowds came within one mile (1.6 kilometers) of the government enclave.
“610 of those arrests were made only on Tuesday alone,” he said.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that security forces had “bravely repulsed the protesters.”
Khan had issued a call from his cell outside Islamabad on Tuesday evening, telling more people to join the crowds.
“All Pakistanis participating in the protest must remain peaceful, stay united, and stand firm until our demands are met,” he said in a social media statement released by his party, who often meet him in jail.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the protests “extremism.” Since Sunday, his ministers held regular press conferences in central Islamabad vowing no mercy for the oncoming marchers.
But as they retreated from the capital, there were growing calls for reconciliation to prevent future flare-ups impacting regular citizens in the country of 240 million.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a statement that Khan and Sharif’s parties should “immediately enter a purposeful political dialogue.”
“It is high time that they agree on a peaceful way forward instead of whipping up the emotions of their respective political workers and bringing the country to a standstill,” the organization said.
Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at The Wilson Center, said on social media platform X that “Pakistan’s protests had no winners.”
Anger toward the establishment has increased over the crackdown, he said, while at the same time, PTI was forced to retreat.
“Pakistan on the whole is burdened by a worsening confrontation,” he said.
Khan, a charismatic 72-year-old former cricket star, served as premier from 2018 to 2022 and is the lodestar of PTI.
But in his absence, the protests were led partially by his wife, Bushra Bibi, who was also jailed this year but released last month.
Sharif’s government has come under increasing criticism for deploying heavy-handed measures to quash PTI rallies.
Mobile Internet was cut across Islamabad, schools shut on Monday remained closed on Wednesday, and roadblocks prevented thousands of workers from reaching their jobs.
Amnesty International said that “as protesters enter the capital, law enforcement officials have used unlawful and excessive force.”
Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote after falling out with the kingmaking military establishment, which analysts say engineers the rise and fall of Pakistan’s politicians.
But as opposition leader, he led an unprecedented campaign of defiance, with street protests boiling over into unrest that the government cited as the reason for its crackdown.
PTI won more seats than any other party in this year’s election, but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to military influence shut them out of power.
Pakistan says Afghans can’t live in capital without government certificate after Dec. 31
- Interior minister says Afghans who want to reside in capital after Dec. 31 need no-objection certificate from deputy commissioner
- Nearly 800,000 Afghan nationals that Islamabad says were residing in the country ‘illegally’ expelled since November last year
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Wednesday no Afghan citizens would be allowed to live in Pakistan’s federal capital of Islamabad after Dec. 31 unless they were issued a special certificate by the district administration.
The move is the latest blow to Afghans living in Pakistan, with nearly 800,000 that Islamabad says were residing in the country ‘illegally’ expelled since November last year when the government launched a deportation drive that has drawn widespread criticism from international governments and rights organizations.
Authorities began expelling illegal foreigners from Nov. 1, 2023, following a spike in bombings which the Pakistan government says were carried out by Afghan nationals or by militants who cross over into Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan. Islamabad has also blamed illegal Afghan immigrants and refugees for involvement in smuggling and other crimes. The Taliban government in Kabul says Pakistan’s security and other challenges are a domestic issue and cannot be blamed on the neighbor.
Now, Pakistan is also accusing Afghan nationals of taking part in anti-government protests led by the party of jailed former premier Imran Khan. The Islamabad police chief said in a press conference on Wednesday that at least 19 Afghans were among over 900 rioters arrested during the latest protests in Islamabad that ended on Tuesday evening.
“If they [Afghans] want to live here, they need a NOC [no-objection certificate] from the deputy commissioner’s office,” Interior Ministry Mohsin Naqvi told reporters, “but after Dec. 31, no Afghan citizen can live in Islamabad without an NOC.”
Until the government initiated the expulsion drive last year, Pakistan was home to over four million Afghan migrants and refugees out of which around 1.7 million were undocumented.
Afghans make up the largest portion of migrants, many of whom came after the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, but a large number have been present since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Islamabad insists the deportation drive is not aimed at any particular nationality but all ‘illegal aliens’ but the drive has disproportionately hit Afghans.
Karachi business leaders plan new airline amid rise of private operations in Pakistan
- Air Karachi, inspired by Sialkot’s Air Sial, aims to raise Rs5 billion from 100 shareholders
- The move follows PIA’s financial struggles amid government’s privatization efforts
ISLAMABAD: Business leaders in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi will soon launch a new airline inspired by the success of Air Sial, which was established by their counterparts in Sialkot, a Pakistani city renowned for its cottage industries, according to a former leader of the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan on Wednesday.
The development comes as Pakistan witnesses the rise of private airlines amid the financial and administrative troubles faced by its national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which the government is working to privatize.
Hanif Gohar, who until recently was the association’s chairman, said the idea resonated with Karachi’s business community when he shared it following the launch of Air Sial.
“When I discussed the idea of an airline with Air Vice Marshal Imran Qadir, the recently retired Southern Commander of the Pakistan Air Force, he offered his expertise,” he told Arab News. “Subsequently, I presented it to the business community, which also supported it.”
Air Sial was launched with contributions of Rs10 million ($35,900) each from 300 businessmen, raising a total of Rs3 billion ($10.8 million) before its inauguration and the launch of its first domestic flight in December 2020. The airline began international operations in March 2023 with a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The proposed carrier, Air Karachi, plans to pool Rs50 million ($179,502) from each of its 100 shareholders, totaling Rs5 billion ($18 million).
“The response was so enthusiastic that some business families proposed multiple shareholders,” Gohar said.
He added that the process of launching the airline has already begun.
“We have registered Air Karachi with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and completed other formalities,” he said. “Once the government issues the license, which is expected soon, we will acquire three aircraft to launch domestic flights.”
Gohar further said that after the mandatory one year of domestic operations, the airline will expand its fleet to seven and begin international flights to the Middle East.a
He informed that Air Vice Marshal Qadir had been appointed the chief operating officer of Air Karachi, while a team of retired Air Force officials with extensive aviation experience has been assembled to support the initiative.
Notable shareholders in the venture include Pakistani business tycoons Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, Arif Habib, S.M. Tanveer, Bashir Jan Muhammad, Khalid Tawab, Zubair Tufail and Hamza Tabani.
The idea of a Karachi-based airline gained attention earlier this month after former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif advised his daughter and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to acquire PIA and rename it Air Punjab.
Following offers from the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to purchase PIA, Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori revealed that Karachi’s traders were also interested in acquiring the national airline.
“Karachi’s businesspersons are constantly contacting me to talk about the airline’s matters,” Tessori wrote on the social media platform X on Monday. “Karachi’s businesspersons want the PIA to be given to them for a year, and they are also interested in starting a new airline.”
