ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Assembly on Friday passed a resolution against a US House of Representatives resolution calling for a probe of alleged voting irregularities in the South Asian nation’s February general election.
The Feb. 8 vote, in which no single party won a clear majority, was marred by violence, communication blackouts and allegations by the party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan that the polls were rigged. The country’s election commission denies this.
Ruling party lawmaker Shaista Malik tabled the resolution which was adopted by the National Assembly despite objections from lawmakers from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
In a televised speech, Malik said the US resolution was “completely against the facts” and Pakistan would not tolerate any such interference in its internal affairs.
“The House further regrets that the US resolution does not acknowledge the free and enthusiastic exercise of the right to vote by millions of Pakistanis in the recently held General Election,” the resolution read.
Addressing a weekly news briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch separately said Pakistan “deeply regretted” the resolution, saying it stemmed from an “inadequate and erroneous understanding of the political and electoral processes of Pakistan.”
“It is also an unsolicited interference in Pakistan’s domestic affairs,” she said. “We believe that bilateral relations between countries should be based on mutual respect and sovereign equality … The unsolicited interference from the US Congress is therefore neither welcome nor accepted.”
Baloch said Pakistan wanted relations with the United States “on the basis of mutual trust and confidence and non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs.”
“We also hope that the US Congress would play a more constructive role in strengthening Pakistan-US bilateral relations by focusing on avenues of collaboration for mutual benefit of the relations,” the spokesperson concluded.
Khan’s party won the most seats in Feb. 8 elections but fell short of a simple majority to form a government, paving the way for Khan’s political rivals lead by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to form a coalition government.
Pakistan parliament denounces US congressional resolution calling for probe into general elections
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Pakistan parliament denounces US congressional resolution calling for probe into general elections
- National Assembly adopts resolution despite objections from Imran Khan party lawmakers
- February 8 vote was marred by violence, communication blackouts and allegations of rigging
Pakistani court sentences Christian man to death for posting hateful content against Muslims
- Ehsan Shan, not party to Qur’an’s desecration, was accused of reposting its defaced pages on TikTok
- Shan to appeal death sentence issued by court in Pakistan’s eastern city of Sahiwal, says lawyer
MULTAN, Pakistan: A court in Pakistan sentenced a Christian man to death for sharing what it said was hateful content against Muslims on social media after one of the worst mob attacks on Christians in the eastern Punjab province last year, his lawyer said Monday.
In August 2023, groups of Muslim men burned dozens of homes and churches in the city of Jaranwala after some residents claimed they saw two Christian men tearing out pages from Islam’s holy book, the Qur’an, throwing them on the ground and writing insulting remarks on other pages, authorities said. The two men were later arrested.
No casualties were reported at the time as terrified Christians fled their homes to safer areas. Though the police arrested more than 100 suspects following the attacks, it remained unclear if any were convicted.
Ehsan Shan, though not party to the desecration, was accused of reposting the defaced pages of the Qur’an on his TikTok account, his lawyer Khurram Shahzad told The Associated Press. He also said he would appeal against the death sentence issued Saturday by a court in the city of Sahiwal in Punjab province.
Amir Farooq, a police officer who arrested Shan, said the man shared “the hateful content at a sensitive time when authorities were already struggling to contain the violence.”
Naveed Kashif, a local priest at a church in Sahiwal, said while he didn’t excuse what Shan posted, he wondered ” why the court ordered such an extreme verdict when those linked to the attacks are yet to be punished.”
Blasphemy accusations are common in Pakistan. Under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death. While authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy, often just the accusation can cause riots and incite mobs to violence, lynching and killings.
Earlier this month, 72-year-old Nazir Masih died after he was attacked by an angry mob in May following accusations of blasphemy.
Pakistan’s Muhammad Rizwan appointed captain of Canadian franchise Vancouver Knights for GT20
- Rizwan will lead Pakistan captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir and Asif Ali in Vancouver Knights squad
- This will be the first time Pakistani cricketers will be seen in action after humiliating World Cup exit
ISLAMABAD: Canadian cricket franchise Vancouver Knights announced recently it had appointed Pakistan’s Muhammad Rizwan to lead the franchise in the upcoming season of the Global T20 league, which would feature some of the world’s top cricketing talents in action later this month.
The Global T20 Canada is a professional Twenty20 cricket tournament that is played in the country. The first two editions of the tournament were played in 2018 and 2019 before the league was suspended for three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, returning in 2023.
The fourth edition of the tournament will begin in Canada from July 25 to August 11 and will feature six franchises, the Brampton Wolves, Montreal Tigers, Vancouver Knights, Toronto Nationals, Mississauga Panthers and Surrey Jaguars.
“Hear ye, hear ye! The Vancouver Knights have chosen their captain for GT20 Season 4: Sir Mohammad Rizwan,” Vancouver Knights wrote on social media platform X on Sunday. “With his mighty batting skills and sharp wicketkeeping, he’s ready to lead our charge to victory.”
Rizwan will captain fellow Pakistani teammates Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir and Asif Ali, who are also part of the 18-member Vancouver Knights squad. Azam is the T20I captain of Pakistan’s national squad and will play under Rizwan’s leadership for the first time.
The Canadian domestic league will also feature other international stars such as Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, West Indian cricketers Sunil Narine, Carlos Brathwaite, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Namibia’s David Wiese and Australian cricketer David Warner.
The Pakistani cricketers will be seen in action for the first time after their humiliating first-round exit from the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024 in June. The South Asian team crashed out of the World Cup without qualifying for the second round of the tournament after, successive losses to minnows United States and India.
Squad:
Babar Azam, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Jeremy Gordon, Rishiv Joshi, Sandeep Lamichhane, Dwaine Pretorius, Michael Rippon, Dipendra Singh Airee, Harsh Thaker, Ruben Trumpelmann, Paul van Meekeren, Sarmad Anwar, Mandeep Girdhar, Yuvraj Samra, Shubham Sharma, Ajayveer Singh
Pakistan united against ‘terrorism,’ says PM after militant attack kills two security personnel
- Militants kill police officer, FC personnel in attack on police checkpost in northwestern Pakistan
- Pakistan last month announced launching new anti-terror operation to eliminate militants from country
ISLAMABAD: The entire nation is united in its resolve to eliminate “terrorism” from the country, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday after militants killed two security personnel in an attack in northwestern Pakistan.
A police officer named Ejaz and Frontier Constabulary (FC) official Shahzad were killed on Sunday after militants attacked a police checkpost in Khyber district. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that the slain security personnel thwarted the militants’ attack.
In a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Sharif praised the two officials for laying down their lives for Pakistan, recognizing the country’s armed forces, police and law enforcers’ sacrifices for the nation.
“The Pakistani nation is proud of its martyrs and their families,” Sharif was quoted as saying in a statement. “The entire nation is united to eliminate the scourge of terrorism.”
Pakistan’s top national security forum last month announced it was launching a new military operation, “Operation Azm-e-Istehkam” or “Resolve for Stability,” to root out militants in the country. Sharif clarified that the government was not considering a large-scale military operation that would displace people within the country, adding that Azm-e-Istehkam would mobilize military operations that have already been launched against militants.
The decision was criticized by two main parties in Pakistan’s militancy-wracked northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamiat Ulama-e-Pakistan Fazl (JUI-F), who accused the government of not taking them into confidence about the military operation.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif assured the opposition that the operation would be enforced after it is discussed and debated in parliament. He said the government would address all concerns regarding the military operation by the JUI-F and the PTI and build a national consensus over it.
Thousands of people in Pakistan’s tribal areas were displaced during the late 2000s when the Pakistan Army launched operations to clear the area from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Pakistani Taliban militants.
The TTP, who seek to enforce their own brand of strict Islamic law, have carried out some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces since 2007.
Pakistan, which has suffered a surge in militant attacks since a fragile truce between the government and the TTP broke down in November 2022, has blamed the Afghan government for not doing enough to rein in TTP militants whom it accuses of using Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan.
Kabul denies this. Since last November, the Pakistan government has also launched a deportation drive under which over 600,000 Afghan nationals have been expelled from Pakistan.
Pakistan’s tax-heavy budget goes into effect today ahead of IMF loan talks
- Pakistan’s parliament passed federal budget last week despite protests from opposition
- Economists say budget in line with IMF recommendations, to help Pakistan secure bailout package
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s tax-heavy $67.76 billion budget for the new fiscal year takes effect from today, Monday, which Islamabad hopes will prove instrumental in securing another bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stave off a macroeconomic crisis.
President Asif Ali Zardari signed the Finance Bill 2024-25 into law on Sunday after the country’s parliament passed it last week amid an annual inflation projection of up to 13.5 percent for June. The bill comes ahead of more talks with the international lender for a loan of up to $8 billion to avert a debt default for Pakistan, the slowest-growing economy in South Asia.
The ambitious budget, with a challenging tax revenue target of Rs13 trillion ($46.66 billion) has drawn the ire of the government’s allies and opposition alike, who have demanded relief for the salaried class and the poor. The revenue collection target for FY25 is almost 40 percent higher from the last fiscal year, drawing criticism from the business community as well.
“I have already said we are moving in a positive way,” Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Sunday, speaking about the fresh IMF program during a media interaction in the federal capital. “During July we should get into a good agreement.”
Pakistan began discussions about a new loan with IMF officials soon after completing a $3 billion program that helped the country stave off a sovereign debt default last year. The international lender sent its delegation to Pakistan in May to hold negotiations with the new government which did not materialize into a staff-level agreement.
Pakistan has sought IMF loans in recent years due to a combination of economic challenges, including significant fiscal and current account deficits, declining foreign exchange reserves and rising public debt.
These economic vulnerabilities have been exacerbated by external shocks like fluctuating commodity prices and internal challenges such as political instability and policy inconsistency.
The government has maintained the country’s economy is on the mend but considers the new bailout important to ensure a substantial financial cushion.
TAX-LADEN BUDGET
Pakistan’s finance ministry said in a report on Friday that the budget is gearing the country toward “an era of sustainable and inclusive growth.” It projected an annual consumer price inflation for June 2024 between 12.5 percent to 13.5 percent, up from 11.8 percent in May.
The rise in the tax target is made up of a 48 percent increase in direct taxes and a 35 percent hike in indirect taxes over revised estimates of the current year. Non-tax revenue, including petroleum levies, is seen increasing by 64 percent.
The tax would increase to 18 percent on textile and leather products as well as mobile phones besides a hike in the tax on capital gains from real estate.
Workers will also get hit with more direct tax on income. Opposition parties, mainly parliamentarians backed by the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and top trade bodies have rejected the budget, saying it will be highly inflationary and lead to industry shutdowns.
Pakistan’s central bank has also warned of possible inflationary effects from the budget, saying limited progress in structural reforms to broaden the tax base meant increased revenue must come from hiking taxes.
The upcoming year’s growth target has been set at 3.6 percent with inflation projected at 12 percent.
Pakistan’s tax authority says surpassed revenue collection target for FY24
- Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) says it collected Rs9,306 billion ($33.55 billion) as opposed to target of Rs9,252 billion ($33.36 billion) for FY24
- FBR says ready to put in “best efforts” to achieve ambitious revenue target of Rs13 trillion for this fiscal year
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) announced on Sunday it had surpassed its revenue collection target of Rs9,252 billion ($33.36 billion) by collecting Rs9,306 billion ($33.55 billion) for the previous fiscal year, saying it is ready to achieve the ambitious revenue target for the current fiscal year.
Pakistan’s narrow tax base and enduring tax evasion issue leads to the problem of insufficient revenue collection for the country’s fragile economy each year. The shortfall exacerbates the government’s tendency to run a high fiscal deficit, often financed through domestic and international borrowing, increasing the nation’s debt burden.
The FBR announced on social media platform X it had “comfortably achieved” its revenue collection target for the previous fiscal year, collecting Rs9,306 billion ($33.55 billion) in total and thus exceeding its target by Rs54 billion ($190 million).
“The growth in revenue collection is 30 percent as compared to the last year,” the FBR wrote on X.
The FBR said it had collected Rs1,183 billion ($4.27 billion) in June alone, adding that the target was despite imports being compressed from $55 billion ($200 million) to $53 billion ($200 million).
“For the FY 2023-24, FBR collected income tax amounting to Rs4,528 billion ($16.33 billion) as compared to Rs3,270 billion ($11.79 billion) during the same period last year, depicting an increase of 38.4 percent,” the tax authority wrote.
“Similarly, under the head sales tax Rs3,098 billion ($11.17 billion) was collected as compared to Rs2,593 billion ($9.35 billion).”
The FBR said it collected Rs576 billion [$2.08 billion] in Federal Excise Duty (FED) compared to Rs370 billion ($1.33 billion) last year while the revenue collection under the Customs Duty tax head was recorded at Rs1,104 billion ($3.98 billion) compared to Rs931 billion ($3.36 billion) last year.
“FBR collected Rs6,128 billion ($22.09 billion) in domestic taxes and Rs3,178 billion ($11.46 billion) in import taxes, thereby depicting a growth of 37 percent in domestic taxes and 18 percent in imports despite import compression during the current financial year,” it said.
The tax authority said it had disbursed refunds amounting to Rs469 billion during FY 2023-24 compared to Rs331 billion ($1.19 billion) during FY 2022-23, with the amount being 42 percent more than last year.
“In addition to exceeding the annual revenue target, the Tax System of Pakistan also witnessed significant structural improvements, which were a direct result of the interest of the Honorable Prime Minister and Finance Minister,” it said.
The FBR said that despite all odds, it remains committed to achieving targets “under all circumstances.”
“It is reiterated that for the assigned revenue collection target for the FY 2024-25, the team FBR is ready to deliver and put in their best efforts to achieve it and serve the nation,” it added.
Pakistan has set a challenging tax revenue target of Rs13 trillion ($46.66 billion) for the current fiscal year, a near 40 percent jump from the previous one, to strengthen the case for a new bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pakistan’s new administration has decided to digitalize the tax collection system to prevent leakages, even as a large segment of the national economy remains undocumented.
