ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the Finance Bill 2024-25 into law, state-run media reported on Sunday, with the newly announced tax-laden budget to go into effect from tomorrow, Monday, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
Parliament passed the government’s finance bill on Friday amid an annual inflation projection of up to 13.5 percent for June. The bill comes ahead of more talks with the IMF for a loan of up to $8 billion to avert a debt default for Pakistan, the slowest-growing economy in South Asia.
“President Asif Ali Zardari has given assent to the Finance Bill 2024-25 under Article 75 of the Constitution for next year’s federal budget,” Radio Pakistan said on Sunday. “The Finance Bill will be applicable from July 1.”
The government presented the national budget on June 12 with a challenging tax revenue target of 13 trillion rupees ($46.66 billion) for the year starting July 1, up about 40 percent from the current year, to strengthen the case for a new rescue deal with the international money lender.
The budget is gearing the country toward “an era of sustainable and inclusive growth,” a finance ministry report issued on Friday said, projecting 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 has projected a sharp drop in its fiscal deficit for the new financial year to 5.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), from an upwardly revised estimate of 7.4 percent for the current year.
Since 2022, Islamabad has taken painful measures demanded by the IMF for the last bailout loan, which included hiking fuel and energy prices, causing prices of essential commodities to skyrocket. Inflation surged to 38 percent in May 2023 before dropping to a 30-month low of 11.8 percent in May 2024.
With inputs from Reuters
Pakistan president gives assent to tax-laden budget coming into effect tomorrow
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Pakistan president gives assent to tax-laden budget coming into effect tomorrow
- Bill comes ahead of more talks with IMF for fresh bailout loan
- Opposition parties, major trade bodies have rejected the budget
Experts warn of challenge to state writ as northwestern Pakistan becomes ‘epicenter’ of militant violence
- New report shows Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province saw highest number of militant attacks, deaths between April to June 2024
- Federal government has announced new counter-terrorism operation, Azm-e-Istehkam, but opposition parties largely oppose it
KARACHI: Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has become an “epicenter of violence,” according to a new report released this week, with security experts warning that militants could likely challenge the writ of the state in parts of the province as the federal government lacks the public and political support to launch military operations.
Released by the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), the report titled, “Overview of Pakistan’s Security Landscape in Q2 2024,” says Pakistan reported 380 deaths and 220 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws in the second quarter of this year, which took place due to 240 incidents of terror attacks and counter-terror operations.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province saw the highest number of deaths, 67 percent, followed by Balochistan, 25 percent, between April to June 2024, the report added, while the remaining regions of the country were “relatively peaceful.”
“This aligns with reports of widespread insecurity across the province and a significant influx of TTP fighters from Afghanistan into Pakistan. At this rate, the control of the Pakistani state in various parts of the province is likely to be challenged,” Dr. Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert at the US Institute of Peace, said about the report’s findings of increasing militant violence in KP.
Islamabad has blamed the recent surge in militant attacks on neighboring Afghanistan, which it says allows Pakistani Taliban militants to hold camps and train insurgents to launch attacks inside Pakistan, which Kabul denies.
Despite Afghanistan’s denial, the TTP’s presence in Afghanistan was documented by the UN and the rest of the world, Mir said.
Pakistani forces were able to effectively dismantle the TTP and kill most of its top leadership in a string of military operations from 2014 onwards in the tribal areas, driving most of the fighters into neighboring Afghanistan, where Islamabad says they have regrouped. Kabul denies this.
The spike in attacks pushed the federal government to announce last week that it would launch a new counter-terrorism operation, Azm-e-Istehkam, but the campaign has so far been opposed by opposition parties.
Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, who runs the online security publication, The Khorasan Diary, said the announcement of Azm-e-Isthekhan itself indicated the “severity” of the worsening security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Over the years, militants have regrouped, and launched a spate of attacks routinely, returning the situation to the pre-2014 era,” Mehsud told Arab News, referring to the year when Pakistan launched the full-scale Zarb-e-Azb military offensive against militants in the regions bordering Afghanistan.
“Locals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially those from the former FATA region, are once again trapped in a showdown between Pakistani Taliban factions and the government,” Mehsud said. “Ironically, this time the government lacks political and public support for a fresh military offensive, posing a significant challenge to effectively carrying out counter terrorism operations against militants.”
And while militant factions, both the Pakistani Taliban and Baloch separatists, had increased their revenue in recent years through “border trade, extortion, and Iranian oil smuggling,” in contrast the government faced increasing “financial difficulties.”
Pakistani leaders were also in a “difficult position” due to the Afghan Taliban, Mir said, who kept insisting the government negotiate with the TTP for a ceasefire.
“They are also not limiting TTP’s violence, which makes them complicit in the TTP’s actions,” Mir added. “On the other hand, the domestic opposition to the recently announced operation will not help.
“Pakistani leadership must be clear-eyed, and it will take time before they find a manageable equilibrium for this complex challenge.”
Midwife on the frontline of climate change on Pakistan’s islands
- Fishing settlement of Baba reportedly one of world’s most crowded islands, around 6,500 people crammed into 0.15 sq km
- Until Neha Mankani’s boat ambulance was launched last year, expectant mothers were marooned at the mercy of the elements
BABA ISLAND, Pakistan: On a densely populated island off Pakistan’s megacity of Karachi, a group of pregnant women wait in a punishing heatwave for the only midwife to arrive from the mainland.
Each week Neha Mankani comes by boat ambulance to Baba, an old fishing settlement and reportedly one of the world’s most crowded islands with around 6,500 people crammed into 0.15 square kilometers (0.06 miles).
Climate change is swelling the surrounding seas and baking the land with rising temperatures. Until Mankani’s ambulance launched last year, expectant mothers were marooned at the mercy of the elements.
At the gate of her island clinic waits 26-year-old Zainab Bibi, pregnant again after a second-trimester miscarriage last summer.
“It was a very hot day, I was not feeling well,” she recalled. It took her husband hours of haggling with boat owners before one agreed to ferry them to the mainland — but it was too late
“By the time I delivered my baby in the hospital, she was already dead,” she said.
Heatwaves are becoming hotter, longer and more frequent in Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather conditions resulting from climate change.
In May and June, a string of heatwaves have seen temperatures top 52 degrees Celcius (126 degrees Fahrenheit) for days.
“Climate change doesn’t affect everyone equally,” 38-year-old Mankani told AFP during the 20-minute boat journey.
“Pregnant women and newborns, postpartum women are definitely more affected,” she said.
“In the summer months, we see a real increase in low-birth weights, preterm births, and in pregnancy losses.”
Women are at higher risk of stillbirth when exposed to temperatures above 90 percent of the normal range for their location, according to experts published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology last year.
“Before we didn’t have the evidence, a lot of it was anecdotal,” said Mankani. “But we’ve been seeing the impact of climate change for a while.”
In Pakistan, 154 women die for every 100,000 live births — a high maternal mortality rate shaped by socioeconomic status, barriers to health care access and limited decision-making powers, especially among young women, according to the United Nations.
Mankani began her 16-year career as a midwife in a Karachi hospital, where she worked at a high-risk ward, often treating women from the five islands dotted off the coast.
She founded the Mama Baby Fund in 2015 and set up the first clinics on the islands for expectant and new mothers. “Everyone opened their homes to us,” she said.
The free 24/7 boat ambulance followed last year, crucially equipped to navigate rough seas in a region increasingly prone to flooding.
Sabira Rashid, 26, gave birth to a girl she named Eesha two months ago, following one stillbirth and a miscarriage at seven months — painful losses she blames on not reaching the hospital in time.
“At the dock, they make us wait because they don’t want to ferry only two or three people. They told us to wait for more passengers, no matter what the emergency,” she said.
Girls on the impoverished islands are often wed as young as 16, with marriage considered the source of security for women in an area where polluted water is killing off the fishing trade.
“Most of these girls don’t know how to take care of themselves, they get severe infections from the dirty water they are constantly exposed to,” said Shahida Sumaar, an assistant at the clinic, wiping the sweat from her face.
The 45-year-old said basic advice is offered to young mothers during heatwaves, such as using dry, clean towels to wrap their newborns in, washing their breasts before feeding and staying hydrated.
But with no access to running water and little electricity, warding off heat stress is a challenge for all the islanders.
Women are at particular risk, typically responsible for cooking over open flames in small rooms with no fans or proper ventilation.
Ayesha Mansoor, 30, has four children and lives on the fringes of Baba, with just four to five hours of electricity a day.
The path to her home is covered by a carpet of discarded plastic bags which disappear underwater when the tide is high.
“Only those who have solar can deal better with the heat. We can’t afford it,” she said, swatting away flies that settled on her baby.
Mariam Abubakr, an 18-year-old assistant at the clinic who has grown up on the island, hopes to become its first full-time midwife.
“I used to wonder why we women didn’t have any facilities here, a clinic that could just cater to us,” she said.
“When Neha opened her clinic, I saw a way that I could help the women of my community.”
Pakistani PM on official visit to Tajikistan today, will attend twin SCO summits in Kazakhstan
- Islamabad wants to enhance its role as trade hub connecting landlocked Central Asia with rest of the world
- In April, Pakistan opened its trade gateway to Central Asia with the first potato shipment to Tajikistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be on an official visit to Tajikistan from today, Tuesday, the foreign office said, followed by a trip to Kazakhstan for twin summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Pakistan is pushing to enhance its role as a pivotal trade and transit hub connecting the landlocked Central Asian states with the rest of the world, leveraging its strategic geographical position.
In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of visits, investment talks and economic activity between Pakistan and Central Asian states and last week, Sharif chaired a special meeting attended by senior government ministers on how to enhance relations with the region, particularly in the areas of economy and investment.
“At the invitation of President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will undertake an official visit to Dushanbe, Tajikistan from 2-3 July 2024,” the foreign office said.
“In Dushanbe, the Prime Minister will meet President Emomali Rahmon, Chairman of Majlisi Namoyandagon of Majlisi Oli Mahmadtoir Zoir Zokirzoda and Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda.”
The foreign office said the two sides would engage in “wide-ranging discussions on areas of mutual interest” to deepen cooperation, especially in the areas of regional connectivity, trade, people-to-people contacts and energy.
“The two sides will also sign agreements and MoUs in diverse areas of cooperation,” the foreign office added.
After Tajikistan, Sharif will travel to Kazakhstan for twin summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State (CHS) and the SCO Plus from July 3-4 in Astana.
“At the SCO Council of Heads of Summit Meeting, the Prime Minister will share Pakistan’s perspective on important regional and global issues and underline the importance Pakistan accords to regional connectivity and cooperation with SCO member countries,” state-run APP reported.
The PM will also address the SCO Plus summit that brings together SCO member states as well as invited dialogue partners, observer states, guests of the chair and international organizations.
“He would share Pakistan’s perspective on important regional and global issues and underline the importance of strengthening the organization for the benefit of the peoples of the SCO region,” APP added.
On Monday, Sharif also received the ambassador of Kazakhstan to Pakistan, Yerzhan Kistafin, at his office in Islamabad.
“The Prime Minister conveyed his greetings to the President of Kazakhstan, H.E. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and expressed his desire to strengthen the excellent bilateral relations between Pakistan and Kazakhstan,” the PM office said. “He said he was looking forward to his meeting with President Tokayev during his upcoming visit to Astana for the SCO Council of Heads of State meeting on 3-4 July, 2024.”
During the meeting, Sharif emphasized the “need to enhance trade and investment, while also focusing on regional connectivity and security.”
In May, Pakistan’s investment minister reaffirmed the country’s resolve to cooperate with Central Asian states as Islamabad pushes forward an ambitious agenda to bolster trade activities while grappling with a macroeconomic crisis.
“Pakistan has reaffirmed the resolve to cooperate with Central Asian countries to boost economic and trade activities in the region,” the state-run Radio Pakistan reported, quoting Pakistan’s Investment Minister Abdul Aleem Khan.
“He said Pakistan’s Port Qasim and Gwadar port are available for Central Asia’s trade routes.”
In April, Pakistan opened its trade gateway to Central Asia with the first potato shipment to Tajikistan.
Internal strife rocks party of Pakistan’s Imran Khan as forward bloc speculations grow
- Media has widely reported in recent weeks that nearly two dozen PTI lawmakers are considering forming a forward bloc
- Disgruntled PTI lawmaker says party leadership not allowing other members access to Khan in jail, making decisions in his name
ISLAMABAD: A disgruntled lawmaker from the former Prime Minister Imran Khan-backed opposition has said frustrations with how the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was being run had reached a “breaking point” amid widespread reports at least two dozen lawmakers from the party were considering forming a forward bloc.
Speculations about a forward bloc within the PTI have been widely reported by Pakistani media in recent weeks, with reports suggesting up to 24 lawmakers could break off and form a forward bloc due to the party leaders’ failure to secure Khan’s release from jail and their blocking of access to the imprisoned former cricket star.
Last week, Omar Ayub Khan, the leader of the opposition in the national assembly and a close Khan aide, announced his resignation as PTI’s secretary general in a post on X, intensifying speculation about an internal rift within the party. PTI lawmaker Sher Afzal Marwat has recently demanded the resignation of PTI Senator Shibli Faraz, accusing him of preventing access to Khan. Lawmaker Junaid Akbar also resigned from the party’s core committee last week.
Khan has been in jail since August last year and faces a string of legal cases. At least four court convictions against him ruled the 71-year-old out of the February general elections as convicted felons cannot run for public office under Pakistani law. Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says all cases against him are motivated to keep him out of politics.
“Despite being members of the party’s core committee, we were unable to meet Imran Khan [in jail] and a few individuals repeatedly meet with him and come out narrating Khan’s decisions which always suit them but not the party or its supporters,” Junaid, who resigned from the PTI core committee last month, told Arab News in an interview this week.
He said party leaders were “under a lot of pressure” from supporters and their “frustration” with the situation had reached a “breaking point.”
“Many of us share these reservations, but we are not forming a forward bloc,” Junaid said. “However, we will not bear public criticism for decisions made by a certain group of individuals.”
He lamented that party members except a select few were not allowed to visit Khan in jail, and decisions were “imposed” on them in the name of the party founder.
Most meetings with Khan are held by PTI Chairman Gohar Khan, who is also his lawyer, and a few others in the party.
Junaid said many others in the PTI were also ready to resign like him over lack of access to Khan and not being involved in party decision-making, without naming the members.
“Party is being run like a public limited company. Our question is: why are these people favored? Do they have more contribution to the party than us?” Junaid said.
“The people who are favored and given high posts in the party haven’t done anything for Khan’s release.”
To ascertain the party’s stance, Arab News reached out to several party leaders including Gohar Khan, Omar Ayub Khan, close Khan aide Asad Qaiser, and Secretary Information Raoof Hassan. Hassan declined to comment while the others did not respond to Arab News queries.
“ONLY KHAN”
A former member of Khan’s cabinet who left the party last year, Fawad Chaudhry, said although rifts within the party were evident, the forward bloc would have little impact as the PTI’s support base was tied to Imran Khan.
He said the current leadership led by Gohar Khan lacked “political stature” and had been unable to maintain party unity.
“Their insecurities have led them to restrict access to Khan, resulting in limited meetings and controlled information flow,” told Arab News.
“These issues [within the party] have surfaced because of their inability to manage the party effectively,” Chaudhry added. “Only Khan has the capacity to control and unify the party.”
Ahmed Bilal Mahboob, president of the Islamabad-based political think tank, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, endorsed Chaudhry’s view, saying the popularity of the PTI and its elected representatives “solely” depended on Khan.
“A forward block is not legally sustainable in our system and I doubt if deserters of the party will have any future,” he told Arab News.
“It is quite normal to have differences within a large political party especially when its prime unifying force, its leader, has been imprisoned for about a year, its officeholders are under pressure from police and intelligence agencies and there is a likelihood that agents of intelligence agencies are subverting the party from within.”
Mehboob advised the PTI to develop a “robust policy-making mechanism” and demonstrate that the leadership was “strongly backed” by Khan to ensure discipline in the party.
Following his removal from office in a parliamentary vote of no-trust, Khan and his PTI have been facing a state crackdown which intensified after May 2023 when the former prime minister was briefly arrested in a land graft case, leading his supporters to pour out on the streets in protests, rampaging government and military properties.
Though Khan was released in less than 48 hours, thousands of party supporters and leaders were arrested, with more than 100 being tried in military courts.
Detention of Pakistan’s Imran Khan violates international law, UN working group says
- Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says Khan should be released immediately
- UN working group says Khan’s legal woes part of “larger campaign of repression” against him and his PTI party
WASHINGTON: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s detention is arbitrary and in violation of international law, a UN human rights working group said in an opinion issued on Monday, adding the jailed politician should be released immediately.
The Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said, opens new tab that the “appropriate remedy would be to release Mr.Khan immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”
The UN working group said Khan’s legal woes were part of a “much larger campaign of repression” against him and his Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf (PTI) party. It said that in the lead up to the 2024 elections, members of Khan’s party were arrested and tortured and their rallies were disrupted. It also alleged “widespread fraud on election day, stealing dozens of parliamentary seats.”
The Pakistani embassy in Washington had no immediate comment. Pakistan’s election commission denies that the elections were rigged.
Khan has been in jail since last August and was convicted in some cases ahead of a national election in February. He is also fighting dozens of other cases which are continuing. Khan and his party say the charges were politically motivated to thwart his return to power.
In recent months, Pakistani courts have suspended Khan’s jail sentences in two cases about the illegal acquisition and sale of state gifts, and also overturned his conviction on charges of leaking state secrets.
However, he has remained in prison due to a conviction in another case in which a trial court ruled that his 2018 marriage was unlawful. Khan also faces a trial under anti-terrorism charges in connection with violence in May last year.
Khan came to power in 2018 and was ousted in 2022 after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military. He alleged the US and Pakistani military played a role in his ousting through a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Both deny the accusations.
Multiple legal cases were brought against Khan after he was ousted which disqualified him as a candidate in February’s election.
Despite not running himself, candidates backed by Khan secured the highest number of seats, but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) formed a coalition government.
The US, Britain and the European Union expressed concern about reported irregularities in the elections and urged a probe while United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about violence and the suspension of mobile communications services during the elections.
