ISLAMABAD: The risks associated with cryptocurrencies “far outweigh” the benefits, the Pakistani central bank governor has said, weeks after a mega crypto scam hit the country and the State Bank recommended banning virtual payment systems.
Thousands of Pakistanis lost life savings in a $100 million cryptocurrency scam, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said last month, with investigators estimating that some 37,000 people, mostly from middle-class households in Punjab’s Faisalabad, had been defrauded after investing money in a scheme which promised to multiply funds.
Speaking at the recent MASIC Annual Investment Forum in Riyadh, Pakistan central bank chief Reza Baqir said cryptocurrencies posed a risk to financial and monetary stability due to acute price fluctuations and their distributed and decentralized nature.
“In Pakistan, we as the central bank have reached the conclusion as of now that, for us and in terms of the core objectives of the central bank, the potential risks far outweigh the benefits,” Baqir said, according to a transcript of the speech released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) this week.
“As many of you would be aware, we are not alone in reaching this conclusion. Many large emerging markets, including China, India, Russia, among others have reached similar conclusions.”
Virtual currencies were prone to be used for illegal economic activities and posed the risk of widening the gray economy, capital flight and consumer protection issues, the SBP governor added.
Speaking about why advanced economies had a more “permissive” attitude toward virtual currencies, the governor said: “One reason may be that in many of the advanced economies there is little practical threat that their currency, in many cases one of the major currencies of the world in which trade and finance is denominated, would be replaced by a new virtual currency.”
Another valid concern, according to him, was the impact of virtual currencies on promoting capital outflows, and more generally, capital volatility.
“Since by definition such currencies cannot be monitored, regulators are at a loss to determine the impact on the balance of payments, representing another key risk,” he added.
Pakistan’s central bank declared in 2018 that virtual currencies like Bitcoin were not legal tenders issued or guaranteed by the country’s government.
But despite not being recognized by the SBP, interest in cryptocurrencies has been on the rise. The country ranked third in the global crypto adoption index in 2020-21, after India and Vietnam. The federal chamber of commerce said in a report last year Pakistan had recorded around $20 billion in cryptocurrency value in 2020-21, showing an abnormal increase of 711 percent.
The central bank has not commented on FPPCI’s findings so far but in January recommended banning cryptocurrency, arguing that allowing it would cause capital flight. A committee formed by the Sindh High Court to deliberate on virtual currencies also urged imposing a “complete ban.”
The recommendations came as the court last year heard a constitutional petition filed in 2019, which sought to overturn the central bank’s guidance from 2018 advising banks and payment system operators against processing and investing in virtual currencies.
But proponents of cryptocurrency trade in Pakistan argue that the risks, and scams such as the one unearthed last year, are caused by the absence of a legal framework.
Waqar Zaka, a Pakistani TV host and activist who has filed a court petition in favor of allowing digital currencies, said regulation would help keep fraud at bay.
“I pleaded with the court that people have invested billions of rupees in crypto trade and the government should not declare it illegal,” he told Arab News in an interview last year. “Instead, it should devise a mechanism to legalize the business, and keep a check on transactions.”
Cryptocurrency risks ‘far outweigh’ benefits, Pakistan central bank chief says at Riyadh forum
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Cryptocurrency risks ‘far outweigh’ benefits, Pakistan central bank chief says at Riyadh forum
- Thousands of Pakistanis recently lost life savings in $100 million cryptocurrency scam
- In the wake of the scam, State Bank has recommended banning virtual currencies in Pakistan
Pakistan, China to build expressway linking Gwadar port to airport
- Starts of operations at Chinese-funded airport in Balochistan was pushed back for a security review in August after deadly militant attacks
- Airport will handle domestic and international flights, according to Civil Aviation Authority, and be one of the country’s biggest airports
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad and Beijing have agreed on the construction of an expressway connecting Pakistan’s southern deep-sea port of Gwadar with a new airport being developed by China in the coastal town, state-run APP news agency said on Friday.
In a statement earlier this month, the Pakistan Airports Authority reiterated its commitment to opening the New Gwadar International Airport by the end of December, after the start of operations at the Chinese-funded airport in Pakistan’s Balochistan province was pushed back for a security review following deadly attacks by separatist militants in the area in August.
The airport will handle domestic and international flights, according to Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, and will be one of the country’s biggest airports.
“Pakistan and China on Thursday agreed on the construction of an expressway connecting the Gwadar Port with the new Gwadar Airport,” APP reported on Thursday after meetings between Chinese officials and Pakistani Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is on a visit to China.
“Additionally, feasibility studies for new motorways, including the Mirpur-Muzaffarabad and Karachi-Hyderabad routes, were agreed to be initiated at the earliest.”
China has pledged over $65 billion in infrastructure, energy and other projects in Pakistan under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, the program in Pakistan is also developing the deep-water port close to the new $200-million airport in Gwadar, a joint venture between Pakistan, Oman and China that is close to completion.
Although no Chinese projects were targeted in the latest militant attacks in August, they have been frequently attacked in the past by separatists who view China as a foreign invader trying to gain control of impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan, the site of a decades-long insurgency.
Recent attacks, including one in which two Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing in Karachi, have forced Beijing to publicly criticize Pakistan over security lapses and there have been widespread media reports in recent weeks that China wants its own security forces on the ground to protest its nationals and projects, a demand Islamabad has long resisted.
Washington says hopes to continue ‘constructive’ engagement with Pakistan on nuclear issues
- The US said this week it was imposing new sanctions related to nuclear-armed Pakistan’s long-range ballistic-missile program
- State Department spokesman says latest designations based on concerns on missile program, didn’t affect other areas of cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Vedant Patel, a spokesman for the US Department of State, said on Thursday Washington hoped to continue to engage “constructively” with the Pakistani government on nuclear issues, including its concerns with the South Asian nation’s long-range ballistic missile program.
On Wednesday, the US said it was imposing new sanctions related to Pakistan’s long-range ballistic-missile program, including on the state-owned defense agency that oversees the program, the National Development Complex. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the measures slapped on the NDC and three firms were imposed under an executive order that “targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.” The sanctions freeze any US property belonging to the targeted entities and bars Americans from doing business with them.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry has called the US actions “unfortunate and biased” and said they would harm regional stability by “aiming to accentuate military asymmetries,” an apparent reference to the country’s rivalry with nuclear-armed India.
“The US is committed to maintaining the global nonproliferation regime, and Pakistan is an important partner in that. However, we have been clear and consistent about our concerns with Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile program,” Patel told reporters at a press briefing, adding that it was a longstanding policy by Washington to deny support to Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile program.
“The Department of State will continue to use sanctions and other tools to protect our national security and ensure that US exporters and US financial systems cannot be abused by proliferators. And it’s our hope to continue to engage constructively with the Pakistani Government on these issues,” the spokesman added.
He said the latest designations were based on US concerns regarding Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile program, but didn’t affect other areas of US-Pakistan cooperation.
A State Department factsheet said the Islamabad-based NDC had sought to obtain components for the country’s long-range ballistic-missile program and missile-testing equipment. It said the NDC “is responsible for the development of Pakistan’s ballistic missiles,” including the Shaheen family of missiles.
The other entities slapped with sanctions were Affiliates International, Akhtar and Sons Private Limited and Rockside Enterprise, all located in Karachi, the factsheet said. It said the companies worked with the NDC to acquire equipment.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists research organization says the Shaheen series of missiles is nuclear-capable.
Pakistan conducted its first nuclear-weapons test in 1998, becoming the seventh country to do so. The Bulletin estimates Pakistan’s arsenal at about 170 warheads.
Separately, US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer on Thursday said Pakistan was developing long-range ballistic missile capabilities that eventually could allow it to strike targets well beyond South Asia, making it an “emerging threat” to the United States.
The senior White House official’s surprise revelation underscored how far the once-close ties between Washington and Islamabad have deteriorated since the 2021 US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. It also raised questions about whether Pakistan has shifted the objectives of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs long intended to counter those of India, with which it has fought three major wars since 1947.
Speaking to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Finer said Pakistan has pursued “increasingly sophisticated missile technology, from long-range ballistic missile systems to equipment, that would enable the testing of significantly larger rocket motors.”
If those trends continue, Finer said, “Pakistan will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including in the United States.”
The number of nuclear-armed states with missiles that can reach the US homeland “is very small and they tend to be adversarial,” he continued, naming Russia, North Korea and China.
“So, candidly, it’s hard for us to see Pakistan’s actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States,” Finer said.
With inputs from Reuters
Pakistan court orders arrest of senior police officers accused of staging blasphemy suspect’s murder
Pakistan court orders arrest of senior police officers accused of staging blasphemy suspect’s murder
- Shahnawaz Kunbhar, a medical doctor accused of online blasphemy, was killed by police in an encounter in September
- Government inquiry later said officers, including a deputy inspector general of police, had staged the encounter
KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Pakistan’s Sindh province this week issued arrest warrants for six police officers, including a deputy inspector general of police, over accusations they had staged the murder of a doctor accused of blasphemy, but the suspects had not yet been arrested, his family said on Friday.
Dr. Shahnawaz Kunbhar, accused of sharing blasphemous content online, was arrested in Karachi and killed by police in Mirpurkhas on Sept. 18, 2024. Police said the killing was unintentional and happened when officers attempted to stop two men on a motorcycle, and one of them started shoooting, prompting them to return fire. Authorities said it was only after the shooting that they realized the man they had killed was the doctor they had been seeking in a blasphemy case.
Mass protests in Sindh province and widespread social media outrage followed the doctor’s killing, leading to the formation of a government committee that concluded that Kunbhar was killed in a “staged encounter.” The Sindh provincial government subsequently suspended 10 officers, including a deputy inspector general, and filed charges against 34 suspects. It is rare in Pakistan for government action over violence against people accused of blasphemy.
Ibrahim Kunbhar, the cousin of the deceased, confirmed to Arab News that the ATC had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for six officers, including former DIG Javed Jiskani, on Thursday.
“But why do they need non-bailable arrest warrants to apprehend them? They should have been arrested long ago as their guilt has been proven in the official inquiry,” Ibrahim said in a telephone interview on Friday. “We demand that they be immediately apprehended and tried for the murder of Shahnawaz.”
The court also ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to present the accused officers before the court by January 8, 2025. Ibrahim said the FIA had recorded statements from five medical board members who exhumed Kunbhar’s body. One of them, Professor Dr. Waheed, confirmed signs of “torture,” including five broken ribs.
Accusations of blasphemy, sometimes even just rumors, can spark riots and mob rampages in Pakistan. Although killings of suspects by mobs are common, extra-judicial killings by police are rare, as is action against perpetrators of violence in blasphemy cases.
Human rights groups and civil society organizations have urged the Pakistani government to repeal the country’s blasphemy laws, which they argue contribute to discrimination and violence. They have also called for a comprehensive review of law enforcers’ response to blasphemy accusations.
Pakistan joins world leaders in condemnation of Israel on D-8 summit sidelines
- Pakistani PM Sharif, Turkish President Erdogan and Iranian President Pezeshkian discuss Gaza in separate meetings
- More than 46,000 people including women and children have been killed during the 14-month war in Palestine
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has joined world leaders in condemning Israel’s ongoing military offensives in the Middle East as he attended a summit of D-98 developing nations in Cairo this week, his office said.
On the sidelines of the forum, Sharif separately met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian after a special session was held on the conflict in the Middle East, where over 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, have been killed since Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza in October last year. Israel has since carried out attacks on Lebanon as well, killing over 3,000 after accusing Hezbollah of targeting its military. This month, it took control of Syria’s buffer zone and bombed key military and strategic assets after the overthrow of the Bashar Assad regime by opposition forces.
“While condemning the Israeli genocidal actions against the innocent Palestinians, particularly the worsening situation since Oct. 7, 2023, the two leaders reaffirmed their unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspirations for a promised homeland,” Sharif’s office said in a statement after he held a bilateral meeting with Erdogan.
Sharif also separately met with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the D-8 summit.
“Both leaders showed grave concern at the genocide of innocent Palestinians by Israel and agreed to continue raising their voice for the oppressed Palestinians,” the PM Office said in another press release. “The PM reiterated that Pakistan stands in complete solidarity with their brothers and sisters from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.”
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, Pakistan has repeatedly raised the issue at the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other multilateral platforms and demanded international powers and bodies stop Israeli military actions.
Islamabad does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and has for decades called for an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Pakistan in good shape for Champions Trophy after winning ODI series in South Africa
- Rizwan and Azam’s half-centuries along with Afridi’s 4-wicket haul sealed Pakistan’s 81-run victory
- Pakistan will play their last match of the ODI series against South Africa on Sunday in Johannesburg
CAPE TOWN: Pakistan won a second straight major one-day international series away from home when it beat South Africa by 81 runs at Newlands on Thursday.
After beating Australia 2-1 last month, Pakistan has taken the Proteas 2-0 with a game to spare. Half-centuries by Babar Azam, captain Mohammad Rizwan and allrounder Kamran Ghulam staked Pakistan to 329 all out.
Heinrich Klaasen hit 97 but South Africa’s chase was strangled by Pakistan, and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi ended the last meaningful resistance with three wickets in three overs. Klaasen was the last man out on 248 in the 44th over.
Pakistan’s fifth successive bilateral ODI series win puts it in good stead for the Champions Trophy it will host in February.
It was unchanged from the three-wicket win on Tuesday in Paarl, made to bat first, and minus both openers in the first 10 overs.
Rizwan was smashed on the back of his helmet by debutant pacer Kwena Maphaka but gathered his senses with Azam in a steady but safe stand of 115.
The partnership was broken when Azam was caught at midwicket for 73 off 95 balls, his first half-century in any format for Pakistan since May, and his first in ODIs in 13 months.
When Rizwan followed three overs later for 80 off 82, caught and bowled by Maphaka when he was accelerating, Pakistan was forced to reset at 192-4 with 14 overs to go.
Amid four dropped catches by South Africa, Ghulam piled more misery on the host by smashing a 25-ball half-century on his fifth six. Ghulam was the last batter out for 63 off 32, the main plunderer as Pakistan scored 105 runs off the last 10 overs.
“Kamran Ghulam’s innings was absolutely fantastic,” Rizwan said. “We were looking for 300 but we got 300-plus, must give credit to him. I had trust in him but not like that ... that was something different.”
Set 330 to win, openers Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi gave South Africa a promising start in the first 12 overs.
But spinners Abrar Ahmed and part-timer Salman Agha chipped out three top-order wickets and slowed the scoring so the run rate required gradually climbed.
Klaasen and the fit-again David Miller were reviving the chase and starting to charge when Miller was caught behind off Shaheen for 29, ending a stand of 72 runs in 12 overs with Klaasen.
Klaasen soldiered on, out three runs short of a fifth ODI century, as Shaheen grabbed 4-47 and fellow pacer Naseem Shah took 3-37.
The last ODI is on Sunday in Johannesburg.
