KARACHI: Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Ltd has announced the longest plant shutdown to date in the current economic crisis amongst the country's automakers, which are struggling to obtain raw materials due to import difficulties.
The company, a unit of Japanese car giant Honda Motor Co Ltd , said its plant would shut from March 9, 2023, to March 31, 2023.
“The company is not in a position to continue with its production,” it said in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), explaining its supply chain had been "severely disrupted."
Other listed-automakers, such as Indus Motor Company Limited (INDU) and Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC), have also been forced to halt production during the past three quarters due to Pakistan's economic difficulties, which have seen central bank foreign exchange reserves drop to a level barely able to cover four weeks of imports.
As a result, letters of credit (LC), used for imports, are facing delays while being processed and priority is being given to essential items such as food and medicine.
Pakistan is currently in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to unlock the next tranche of $1.1 billion of a $6.5 billion bailout agreed in 2019.
“It is worrying because shutdowns not just impact corporate profitability but unemployment as well. The longer these shutdowns continue, it would test the companies' ability to maintain staff strength," says Fahad Rauf, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, a local brokerage firm.
Rauf adds that the situation is not likely to improve any time soon for low priority sectors, such as automobiles, in light of LC constraints.
“Pakistan has limited dollars and until reserves improve to at least two months’ worth of import cover, import restrictions would likely continue.”
Other manufacturing halts in the sector have been between two and 16 days.
Pakistan's Honda Atlas shuts production to end-March on import difficulties
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Pakistan's Honda Atlas shuts production to end-March on import difficulties
- Other listed-automakers, such as Indus Motor Company Limited and Pak Suzuki Motor Company, have also been forced to halt production
- Pakistan's economic difficulties have seen central bank foreign exchange reserves drop to a level barely able to cover four weeks of imports
Three schoolgirls, policeman among five killed in roadside blast in Pakistan’s Balochistan
- The blast appeared to target a police van passing by a girls school in the Mastung district of the province
- Balochistan, home to a long-running insurgency, has witnessed a spike in militant violence in recent months
QUETTA: At least five people, including three schoolgirls and a policeman, were killed in a roadside blast in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Friday morning, police said, in the latest incident of violence to hit the restive region.
The blast appeared to target a police van passing by a girls school in the Mastung district of the province, according to police and local administration officials.
Fateh Baloch, in-charge of the Mastung police station, said the police mobile van came under attack when it was on a routine patrol on Friday morning.
“Five people, including a police constable and three minor schoolgirls, were killed and 13 others injured in the blast,” Baloch told Arab News.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.
“We have cordoned-off the area and are shifting the injured to the hospital,” Baz Muhammad Marri, the Mastung deputy commissioner, told Arab News.
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and is home to major China-led projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine, has been the site of a decades-long separatist insurgency by ethnic Baloch militants. The province has lately seen an increase in attacks by separatist militants.
On Tuesday, five people were killed in an attack by armed men on the construction site of a small dam in Balochistan’s Panjgur district. The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups, claimed responsibility for the attack along with killing of two other persons in Kech and Quetta districts.
This month, 21 miners working at privately run coal mines were killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen.
The separatists accuse the central government of exploiting Balochistan’s mineral and gas resources. The Pakistani state denies the allegation and says it is working to uplift the region through development initiatives.
Besides Baloch separatists, the restive region also has a presence of religiously motivated militant groups, who frequently target police and security forces.
Islamabad says militants mainly associated with the Pakistani Taliban frequently launch attacks from Afghanistan and has even blamed Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers for facilitating anti-Pakistan groups. Kabul denies the allegation.
TikTok bandits terrorize, transfix Pakistan riverlands
- The outlaws parade hostages in clips for ransom or exhibit arsenals of heavy weapons in musical TikToks
- Sweeping police operations and even an army incursion in 2016 failed to impose law and order in the area
RAHIM YAR KHAN: With a showman’s flair and an outlaw’s moustache, the Pakistani gangster dials the hotline on his own most wanted notice — taunting the authorities who put a bounty on his head.
Staring down the lens in a social media clip, Shahid Lund Baloch challenges the official on the phone and his thousands of viewers: “Do you know my circumstances or my reasons for taking up arms?“
The 28-year-old is hiding out in riverine terrain in central Punjab which has long offered refuge to bandits — using the Internet to enthral citizens even as he preys on them, police say.
On TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram he fascinates tens of thousands with messages delivered gun-in-hand, romanticizing his rural lifestyle and cultivating a reputation as a champion of the people.
But he is wanted for 28 cases including murder, abduction and attacks on police — with a 10 million rupee ($36,000) price on his head.
“People who are sitting on the outside think he is a hero, but the people here know he is no hero,” said Javed Dhillon, a former lawmaker for Rahim Yar Khan district close to the hideouts of Baloch, and other bandits like him.
“They have been at the receiving end of his cruelty and violence.”
Baloch is said to dwell on a sandy island in the “Katcha lands” — roughly translating as “backwaters” — on the Indus River which skewers Pakistan from top to bottom.
High-standing crops provide cover for ambushes and the region is riven by shifting seasonal waterways that complicate pursuit over crimes ranging from kidnapping to highway robbery and smuggling.
At the intersection of three of Pakistan’s four provinces, gangs with hundreds of members have for decades capitalized on poor coordination between police forces by flitting across jurisdictions.
“The natural features of these lands support the criminals,” said senior police officer Naveed Wahla. “They’ll hide out in a water turbine, move in boats, or through sugarcane crops.”
Sweeping police operations and even an army incursion in 2016 failed to impose law and order. This August, a rocket attack on a police convoy killed 12 officers.
“In the current state of affairs here there is only fear and terror,” said Haq Nawaz, whose adult son was abducted late September for a five million rupee ransom he cannot afford.
“There is no one to look after our wellbeing,” he complains.
But the gangs are increasingly online.
Some use the web to lay “honey-traps” luring kidnap victims by impersonating romantic suitors, business partners and advertising cheap sales of tractors or cars.
Some parade hostages in clips for ransom or exhibit arsenals of heavy weapons in musical TikToks.
Baloch has by far the largest online profile — irking police with a combined 200,000 followers.
Rizwan Gondal, the head police officer of Rahim Yar Khan district, says that his detectives have a dossier proving his “heinous criminal activities.”
“Police have made multiple efforts to capture him however he escapes,” he added.
“He’s a very media savvy guy. Let him say, ‘I am going to surrender before the state to prove that I am innocent’ and let the media cover it.”
In his clips Baloch protests his innocence whilst casting himself as a vigilante in a lawless land, claiming he chose to fight only after family members were slain in tribal clashes.
“We couldn’t get justice from the courts so I decided to pick up arms and started fighting with my enemies,” Baloch told AFP. “They killed our people, we killed theirs.”
But he also plays off the cycle of state neglect which breeds banditry and in turn relegates the destitute farming communities further to society’s fringes.
“The villagers here are not viewed as human but as animals,” Baloch told AFP. “If they gave us schools, electricity, government hospitals and justice, why would anyone even think of taking up arms?“
In comments sections his viewers call him “beloved brother bandit” and a “real hero.” “You have won my heart,” claims another.
“He is popular in the mainstream because he is giving the police authorities a tough time,” said former lawmaker Dhillon.
“People like that he says the things they can’t say out loud against people they can’t speak out against.”
Police have proposed countering bandits by downgrading mobile phone towers to 2G in the Katcha lands, preventing social media apps from loading.
That has not yet happened and would risk cutting communities off further still.
But more low tech solutions have had some success.
An anti-honey trap police cell cautions citizens against the gangs with the help of billboards and loudspeakers at checkpoints entering the area, preventing 531 people from falling prey since last August, according to their data.
Baloch scoffs at police. But one problem plaguing his bid for online stardom has his attention.
Copycat social media accounts pretend to be him and share duplicates of his videos — earning thousands more followers and views than his legitimate accounts.
He feels robbed. “I don’t know what they are trying to achieve,” he complains.
But for police, his Internet hero status is at odds with the toll of his crimes.
“People will idealize Shahid Lund Baloch but when they ultimately get kidnapped by him, then they will realize who Shahid Lund Baloch really is,” said senior officer Wahla.
Pakistan revenue authority launches advanced system to boost tax collection
- Development comes amid Pakistan’s efforts to prevent tax evasion worth billions of rupees
- Islamabad has set a challenging tax revenue target of $46.66 billion for the new fiscal year
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s tax regulator has launched an advanced Stock Register system to optimize tax administration and boost revenue collection, it said on Thursday, amid efforts to prevent tax evasion.
The development comes amid Pakistan’s desperate attempts at preventing tax evasion worth billions of rupees and meeting a challenging tax revenue target of Rs13 trillion ($46.66 billion) for the new fiscal year that started July 1, a near 40 percent jump from the last year.
Pakistan last year came to the brink of a default as the economy shriveled amid political chaos, impact of 2022 floods, and decades of mismanagement. Last-minute loan rollovers from friendly countries as well as a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) saved the nation.
The situation prompted Islamabad to introduce institutional reforms, including the digitization of the FBR, to put the economy back on track as the South Asian country grappled shrinking foreign exchange reserves, high inflation, and staggering public debts.
“This robust digital infrastructure grants tax officers real-time, in-depth access to registered persons’ data, bolstering transparency and securing compliance with Income Tax (IT) and Sales Tax (ST) regulations,” the FBR said on X.
The Stock Register functions as a sophisticated information and reporting system, and empowers tax officers to make precise tax assessments and mitigate the risk of tax evasion, according to the revenue authority.
The FBR said it had also launched the Information Center 2.0 portal to enhance its capacity to strengthen the national exchequer.
“Accessible exclusively through the IRIS tax officers’ platform at FBR field formations, Information Center 2.0 features advanced filters and search functionalities, enabling swift data retrieval to support compliance and precise assessments,” it said.
“This initiative represents a pivotal advancement in tax collection efforts. It fosters robust reporting, minimizes tax evasion & strengthens resource & financial management across the business landscape, ensuring adherence to tax regulations through a centralized data ecosystem.”
Since avoiding default last year, Pakistan has reached an agreement with the IMF for a new $7 billion loan. The South Asian country is currently trying to boost trade and investment to revive its fragile $350 billion economy.
Pakistan increases price of petrol by Rs1.35 per liter till next fortnight
- New price of petrol increases from Rs247.03 per liter to Rs248.38 per liter, says Finance Division
- Petroleum prices revised based on price variation in the international market, says notification international market, says notification
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have increased the price of petrol by Rs1.35 per liter till the next fortnight, the country’s Finance Division said in a notification late Thursday.
As per the notification, the new price of petrol has been increased from Rs247.03 per liter to Rs248.38 per liter.
“The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has worked out the consumer prices of petroleum products, based on the price variation in the international market,” OGRA said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the government also increased the price of high speed diesel by Rs3.85 per liter, increasing it from Rs251.29 per liter to Rs255.14 per liter.
The price of kerosene was slashed by Rs1.48 per liter, decreasing it from Rs163.02 per liter to Rs161.54 per liter, and the price of light diesel oil was slashed by Rs2.61 per liter, bringing it down from Rs150.12 per liter to Rs147.51 per liter.
Pakistan revises petroleum prices every fortnight. Petrol is mostly used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers in Pakistan while any increase in the price of diesel is considered highly inflationary as it is mostly used to power heavy transport vehicles and particularly adds to the prices of vegetables and other eatables.
However, the negligible decrease in petrol and diesel prices is unlikely to provide much relief to the inflation-stricken Pakistanis.
Middle East burger chain Salt to begin operations in Pakistan ‘soon’
- ’Salt’ has branches in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UK and Hungary already
- Salt did not mention which Pakistani cities it plans on opening outlets in
ISLAMABAD: International fast food chain “Salt” announced on Wednesday that it will expand its operations into Pakistan, vowing to provide its customers in the South Asian country high quality food “soon.”
Salt is a Middle East fast food chain based in Qatar since 2005 that specializes in burgers containing wagyu beef — a type of high-quality beef that comes from the Wagyu cattle breed native to Japan. The company founded by Qatar-based Ali Ahmed Buhindi has been running branches in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and also Hungary.
“Time to pass the salt, Pakistan! SALT, is coming in hot with all the good vibes and flavors to slide right into your cravings,” the burger joint Salt said in a post on Instagram with a picture titled “coming soon.”
Salt did not mention which Pakistani cities it plans on opening its branches in.
The burger chain offers a wide range of beef burgers that include brisket, truffle, signature, hook and original sliders.
Its chicken burgers include Cheetos, pine chicken and crispy chicken sliders flavors.
International fast food restaurants are quite popular in Pakistan with the likes of McDonald’s, KFC and Hardees operating successfully in multiple cities for decades.
