KARACHI: Remittances from Pakistani workers employed abroad increased to $2.3 billion in September, a 31.2% rise year-on-year and up 9% compared to the previous month, the country’s central bank said on Monday.
Remittances remained above $2 billion for a fourth consecutive month, capping a higher than expected inflow of finances in the first quarter of FY2020-21 for the South Asian nation, which has struggled with current account deficits and a depreciating currency.
“The level of remittances in September was slightly higher than SBP’s projections of $2 billion,” the State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement, adding that first quarter figures were 31.1% higher year on year.
Multiple factors contributed to the increase, including Pakistan’s crackdown on illegal channels, Samiullah Tariq, head of research and development at Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company, told Reuters.
Pakistan’s ability to curb illegal financial transactions, including financing of militant and extremist groups, has been under close scrutiny from international financial watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which meets next week in Paris to review the country’s progress on key action points.
“Remittances are consistently increasing due to a combination of factors including limited physical mobility of expats to Pakistani due to COVID-19 resulting in more transfers through official channels,” Tariq said.
“COVID-19 test requirement is still there for the Middle East, UK and US, major countries from where remittances come, so people are traveling less,” Saad Hashemy, Executive Director BMA Capital Management, told Reuters.
“Despite COVID-19 more good news for our economy,” Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted on Monday before the central bank released the numbers.
Remittances to Pakistan top $2 billion for fourth month
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Remittances to Pakistan top $2 billion for fourth month
- Multiple factors contributed to the increase, including Pakistan’s crackdown on illegal channels, says analyst
- Despite COVID-19 more good news for our economy, PM Imran Khan
Pakistan thrash England to win series after Noman, Sajid heroics
- Noman and Sajid knocked over all 10 England wickets to dismiss the visitors for 112 before Pakistan raced to victory before lunch on day three of third Test
- Shan Masood hammered five boundaries in six balls, launching Shoaib Bashir over the ropes to complete a resounding victory, his first series win as captain
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan sealed a memorable Test series win as they thrashed England by nine wickets on Saturday after Noman Ali and Sajid Khan delivered a spin masterclass.
Noman and Sajid knocked over all 10 England wickets to dismiss the visitors for 112 before Pakistan raced to victory in Rawalpindi before lunch on day three of the third Test.
Shan Masood hammered five boundaries in six balls, launching Shoaib Bashir over the ropes to complete a resounding victory, his first series triumph as captain.
Noman finished with figures of 6-42 and Sajid 4-69 after England resumed the day on 24-3 but were dismissed in 37.2 overs for their lowest total in Pakistan.
England won the first Test by an innings and 47 runs while Pakistan took the second by 152 runs, both in Multan.
Pakistan lost opener Saim Ayub for eight but Masood’s six-ball 23 not out ended the match.
The Pakistan captain had lost his previous two series in charge — 3-0 to Australia and 2-0 to Bangladesh — since being appointed last year.
Noman and Sajid were brought into the line-up after England destroyed the hosts in the first Test in Multan by an innings and 47 runs.
The duo have knocked over 39 wickets between them in the subsequent two Tests, turning what looked like an easy England series victory Pakistan’s way.
Joe Root top-scored with 33 while none of the other England batters could last long enough to stop Pakistan’s charge toward a first home series win since beating South Africa in February 2021.
England’s previous lowest total was 130 in Lahore in 1987.
England’s fate was sealed once Noman dismissed overnight batsman Harry Brook caught behind by Mohammad Rizwan for 26 and skipper Ben Stokes leg-before for three.
Stokes once again fell in bizarre fashion as he offered no stroke to a Noman delivery, expecting it to go down the leg side but it struck him in front of the stumps.
England skipper, who missed the first Test with a hamstring injury, managed just 53 runs in four innings.
Sajid made it 6-75, dismissing Jamie Smith who tried to hit him out of the ground only to miss the ball and lose his stumps for three.
Noman completed his sixth five-wicket haul when Root edged a sharp turning delivery to Rizwan, quashing all hopes of an England fightback.
Sajid dismissed Rehan Ahmed for seven while Noman wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Jack Leach, bowled for ten.
Pakistan dispatches 13th aid consignment for war-affected people in Gaza
- The consignment includes 100 tons of winterized tents, blankets to be sent via Amman, Jordan
- The South Asian country has so far dispatched 1,381 tons of relief goods for Gaza and Lebanon
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has dispatched a 13th consignment of relief goods for people affected by Israeli military actions in Gaza, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Saturday.
The consignment included 100 tons of winterized tents and blankets that were sent to Amman, Jordan to be further dispatched to the people of Gaza, according to the NDMA.
The send-off ceremony was held at the Islamabad International Airport, which was attended by Palestinian Ambassador to Pakistan Zuhair M. H. Darzaid and Pakistani officials.
The Palestinian ambassador expressed his gratitude for the unwavering support and generous humanitarian assistance to Gaza from the people of Pakistan.
“He added that the humanitarian aid from Pakistan is not just a lifeline of essential supplies but a powerful message of compassion and unity,” the NDMA said in a statement.
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, Pakistan has repeatedly raised the issue at the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and other multilateral platforms and demanded international powers and bodies stop Israeli military actions in Gaza.
The South Asian country has so far dispatched 1,381 tons of relief goods for Gaza and Lebanon, besides establishing the ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Gaza and Lebanon’ that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.
Justice Yahya Afridi takes oath as 30th chief justice of Pakistan
- He was nominated by a 12-member parliamentary panel that was empowered to make the appointment under the recently passed 26th constitutional amendment
- President Asif Ali Zardari administered oath to the new chief justice at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior officials in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court judge Yahya Afridi on Saturday took oath as the 30th chief justice of Pakistan at a ceremony held at the President House in Islamabad.
Chief Justice Afridi was nominated for the top judicial post by a 12-member parliamentary committee that was empowered to make the appointment under the recently passed 26th amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan.
President Asif Ali Zardari administered oath to the new chief justice at the ceremony, attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior officials as well as former and serving judges of the Supreme Court.
“I, Justice Yahya Afridi, do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan, that I, as chief justice of Pakistan, I will discharge my duties, and perform my functions, honestly to the best of my ability and faithfully in accordance with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the law,” Chief Justice Afridi said as he took the oath at the televised ceremony.
“I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions, that I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and that, in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will. May Allah Almighty help and guide me, Ameen.”
Chief Justice Afridi replaces Qazi Faez Isa who retired on Friday after serving on the post for more than a year.
Born in Dera Ismail Khan on Jan 23, 1965, Chief Justice Afridi attended Aitchison College and Government College, Lahore and later acquired a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Punjab University. He completed his LLM from Jesus College at the University of Cambridge.
Chief Justice Afridi was elevated to the Peshawar High Court (PHC) as an additional judge in 2010 and was confirmed as a PHC judge on March 15, 2012.
On Dec 30, 2016, he became the first judge from Pakistan’s erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to assume the office of the PHC chief justice. He served in that office until his elevation to the Supreme Court on June 28, 2018.
Pakistan judicial reforms see next top judge passed over
- Parliament narrowly passed amendments granting lawmakers the power to select top judges
- The government said the amendments were designed to bring a wayward judiciary into line
ISLAMABAD: The judge next in line to lead Pakistan’s Supreme Court was pushed aside by the military-backed government this week, right after it rushed through judicial reforms.
Just before dawn on Monday, parliament narrowly passed constitutional amendments granting lawmakers the power to select top judges.
The government said the amendments were designed to bring a wayward judiciary into line.
Critics see it as power grab driven by the military establishment’s desire to rein in the political influence of the Supreme Court, which has issued a series of recent decisions favoring jailed opposition leader Imran Khan.
“Over the last couple of years, the judiciary has been a thorn in the side of the government of the day, particularly the military, which supports the present government,” senior lawyer Salahuddin Ahmed told AFP.
“Eventually, they came up with this scheme to subjugate the judiciary through the constitutional amendment,” he added.
The details of the amendments were kept secret from the press and public until they were read out in parliament in a late-night session.
In addition to picking the chief justice, the government will also now have increased representation in the judicial commission responsible for appointing, assessing and removing top judges.
New benches formed of senior judges from across the country will weigh exclusively on constitutional issues, which are at the core of the legal tussle between the government and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Santiago Canton, the head of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), called it “alarming that a Constitutional Amendment of great significance and public interest was passed in such a secretive manner and in less than 24 hours.”
The overhaul was made on the cusp of Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s retirement on Friday, with his scheduled replacement sidelined by the government in favor of another judge.
Under the previous laws, he would have automatically been replaced by Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, generally considered politically impartial.
But Shah sealed his fate in July when he overruled the Election Commission and awarded a handful of non-elected seats reserved for women and religious minorities to Khan’s PTI, which won the most seats in February’s election.
The verdict would have made Khan’s party the largest in parliament — a killer blow to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s shaky coalition government.
With Shah sidelined and the third in line, Yahya Afridi, elevated to top position, analysts say the allocation of the non-elected seats can be reconsidered by the new constitutional bench.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the reforms gave the government “a dangerous advantage.”
“The manner in which constitutional benches are to be established, as well as their composition, raise serious concerns that, in practice, the credibility of these benches may be compromised by direct political influence,” it said in a statement.
Constitutional lawyer Salahuddin Ahmed predicted a future “rat race among the senior judges” who will lean their rulings toward the government in order to get promoted to the top job.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said the amendments were passed “without broad consultation and debate” which “will seriously undermine the independence of the judiciary.”
Pakistan’s foreign office on Thursday rejected the statement, calling it based on “misinformation and inaccurate understanding.”
Throughout Pakistan’s history, the Supreme Court has had massive influence in charting the country’s political course — deciding whether to remove, disqualify or even hang prime ministers, as in the case of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1979.
The top court’s perceived political force has recently unnerved members of the establishment.
In a fiery speech in parliament, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the grandson of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the son of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, accused judges in Pakistan of growing accustomed to “interfering in matters of politics, foreign policy and the economy.”
Legal expert and Supreme Court lawyer Osama Malik said the judiciary’s activism has “provided the justification for an amendment that will not only erode the independence of the judiciary but also threaten civil liberties.”
“While the government presents this argument as a sugar-coated explanation, its underlying goal is to bring the judiciary under its control,” he told AFP.
Beijing’s envoy urges Islamabad to arrest perpetrators of attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan
- China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan that has pledged over $65 billion in various projects
- But the Chinese investment and nationals have been a target of militant attacks in recent years
ISLAMABAD: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong has urged the Pakistani government to arrest perpetrators of attacks on Chinese nationals working in the South Asian country, Pakistani state media reported on Friday.
China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan that has pledged over $65 billion in investment in road, infrastructure and development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. CPEC is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive China-led infrastructure project that aims to stretch around the globe.
Though time-tested allies, recent security challenges have put a slight strain on Pakistan’s ties with China, with separatist and religiously motivated militants attacking Chinese projects in Pakistan in recent years. A suicide blast claimed by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) killed two Chinese nationals in Karachi this month, while five Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing in March in northwest Pakistan.
Beijing has called on Islamabad to ensure security for its citizens in Pakistan and the South Asian nation has in turn sought to ease Chinese fears, vowing to provide fool-proof security to Chinese nationals working in the country.
“The Chinese people who come to Pakistan are helping build its infrastructure,” Ambassador Jiang was quoted as saying by the Pakistani state-run APP news agency. “They are innocent and their families deserve protection.”
He reiterated President Xi Jinping’s stance that “security is the guarantee for development” and stressed the need for strict action against militant groups responsible for attacks against Chinese nationals and projects in Pakistan, according to the report.
The ambassador noted that CPEC had entered a new phase of development, with cooperation extending into emerging sectors such as electric vehicles and renewable energy. He expressed China’s desire to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan in multilateral forums.
The development comes as Pakistan, which has been reeling from a prolonged economic crisis, has sought to enhance bilateral trade and investment cooperation with friendly countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, UAE and others, to bolster its fragile economy.
Earlier this month, Pakistani state media reported that a Chinese development association would invest up to $13 billion in a free trade zone in Pakistan in the next five years.
“China Asia Economic Development Association (CAEDA) will make an investment of 13 billion dollars in free trade zone of Pakistan in the next five years,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“The initial layout of this investment is between 8 to 13 billion dollars while it is expected to reach 30 billion dollars.”
The free trade zone is aimed at catering to Pakistan’s domestic needs and those of the global market, while a duty-free shopping mall will also be a part of the zone where international goods will be available for Pakistani citizens.
