ISLAMABAD: Pakistan this month will ask Chinese power plants operating in the country to shift to using coal from Pakistan’s Thar region rather than imported coal, the power minister said on Sunday.
Islamabad may also begin talks on re-profiling Pakistan’s energy sector debt during the visit to Beijing, Awais Leghari, head of the energy ministry’s Power Division, told Reuters.
Leghari will be part of the delegation to discuss structural reforms to the power sector suggested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which last week agreed on a $7 billion bailout for the heavily indebted South Asian nation.
Neighbouring China has set up over $20 billion worth of energy projects in Pakistan.
“One of the key purposes of going along is the conversion of our imported coal units to the local coal. That would have a huge impact on the cost of energy, of power in the near future. So that is one of the biggest (items on the) agenda,” Leghari said in an interview.
Such a transition would benefit the Chinese-owned plants in Pakistan by reducing pressure on Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves, he said, making it easier to repatriate dividends and offering a better return in dollar terms.
The transition could save Pakistan more than 200 billion Pakistani rupees ($700 million) a year in imports, translating to a decrease of as much as 2.5 Pakistani rupees per unit in the price of electricity, Leghari said.
In April a subsidiary of conglomerate Engro agreed to sell all of its thermal assets, including Pakistan’s leading coal producer, Sindh Engro Coal Mining to Pakistan’s Liberty Power. Liberty said the decision stemmed from Pakistan’s foreign exchange crunch and its indigenous coal reserve potential.
The minister declined to elaborate on the possible talks with China over re-profiling energy debt.
Pakistan’s power sector has been plagued by high rates of power theft and distribution losses, resulting in accumulating debt across the production chain — a concern raised by the IMF.
The government is implementing structural reforms to reduce “circular debt” — public liabilities that build up in the power sector due to subsidies and unpaid bills — by 100 billion Pakistani rupees ($360 million) a year, Leghari said.
Poor and middle-class households have been affected by a previous IMF bailout reached last year, which included raising power tariffs as part of the funding program that ended in April.
Annual power use in Pakistan is expected to fall consecutively for the first time in 16 years as higher tariffs curb household consumption, despite summer temperatures surging to near records, which typically boosts air conditioning and fan use.
“We have seen a shrinking demand trend in the past year or year and a half, and we are expecting this to continue unless we rationalize the price of power,” Leghari said, adding that the government’s major challenge was get demand to stop shrinking.
He said that since the per-unit tariff for power is more expensive, both urban and rural households are moving toward alternatives such as solar.
“Right now we have close to 1,000 megawatts that are on the grid itself in the form of net metering systems and others. It’s a very conservative estimate that (solar) could be five to six times more than that on the grid right now,” Leghari said.
Pakistan to push Chinese utilities in Pakistan to switch to domestic coal
https://arab.news/8g78p
Pakistan to push Chinese utilities in Pakistan to switch to domestic coal
- Such a transition would benefit the Chinese-owned plants in Pakistan by reducing pressure on Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves
- The transition could save Pakistan over $700 million a year in imports, translating to a drop of as much as Rs2.5 in per unit electricity price
Electric vehicles will account for up to half of auto sales by 2030, BYD Pakistan says
- Warren Buffett-backed Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD last month announced its entry into Pakistan
- Partnership has announced plans to open assembly plant in 2026 but will introduce vehicles for sale this year
KARACHI: Up to 50% of all vehicles bought in Pakistan by 2030 will be electrified in some form in line with global targets, BYD Pakistan, a partnership between China’s BYD and Pakistani car group Mega Motors, said.
Warren Buffett-backed Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD last month announced its entry into Pakistan, making the South Asian nation of 250 million people one of its newest markets.
The partnership has announced plans to open an assembly plant in early 2026, but will introduce vehicles for sale later this year, after launching three models in August.
“I see conversion to new energy vehicles NEV at up to 50 percent,” Kamran Kamal, BYD’s spokesperson in Pakistan, told Reuters in an interview at his office on Thursday.
Kamal is also the CEO of Hub Power, which owns Mega Motors.
The target is an ambitious one for Pakistan’s auto sector, which has been largely dominated by Japanese automakers Toyota, Honda and Suzuki, with vehicle sales hitting a 15-year low in the fiscal year to June.
Recently South Korea’s KIA has begun challenging for market share along with Chinese companies Changan and MG, all of whom offer hybrid vehicles. BYD Pakistan is the first major new energy vehicle entrant in the Pakistani market.
Hybrid electric vehicle sales in Pakistan have more than doubled in the past year. While reaching 30 percent NEV adoption by 2030 is feasible, achieving 50 percent may be more challenging due to infrastructure hurdles, said Muhammad Abrar Polani, auto sector analyst at Arif Habib Limited.
Kamal said the challenge of charging infrastructure would be addressed by government plans to incentivise its construction.
Local media reported in August that standards for EV charging stations had been drafted by the power ministry, with the government considering offering them affordable electricity.
Kamal said BYD Pakistan is collaborating with two oil marketing companies to establish a charging infrastructure network and aims to establish 20 to 30 charging stations within the initial phases concurrent with the rollout of its cars.
BYD Pakistan will initially sell fully assembled vehicles, which are subject to higher import charges than vehicles shipped in parts and assembled locally.
“Our main focus is to have locally assembled cars on the roads as soon as possible,” said Kamal, citing difficulties in importing and selling fully assembled units under Pakistan’s current duty structure.
Kamran said BYD Pakistan is deciding on the size of a new plant, but details about the investment and partnership with power utility HUBCO will be disclosed later.
Pakistan calls for collective effort to combat ‘misuse of Islam’ to foment militancy
- Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi meets religious affairs minister, religious scholars to form joint strategy
- Pakistan has recently seen a huge surge in violence by religiously motivated and separatist militants
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday called for action against individuals and groups misusing Islam to incite “terrorism,” urging unity among all segments of society to defeat militancy amid a surge in attacks across the country in recent months.
Earlier this week, Naqvi had announced plans to consult religious scholars from different sects to develop a unified narrative in the war against terror. The efforts come nearly two weeks after separatist militants killed over 50 people in the country’s largest province of Balochistan in a string of coordinated attacks on army and paramilitary camps, police stations, railway lines and highways on the night of Aug. 25-26.
Elsewhere in the country, particularly the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, religiously motivated groups like the Pakistani Taliban have also stepped up attacks, daily targeting security forces convoys and check posts, and carrying out targeted killings and kidnappings of security and government officials.
“The most important thing is that we unite as Pakistanis. Paths of those who are leading people astray by misusing Islam to foment terrorism should be stopped,” Naqvi said on Friday as he addressed a meeting of religious scholars.
“We have to get out of this fire [of terrorism] which we can’t without your help [religious scholars].”
Pakistan has also been wracked in recent years by so-called blasphemy protests by hard-line religious groups, and lynchings over the issue are common in the Islamic republic where blasphemy can legally carry the death penalty. Legal processes are frequently preceded by vigilante action based on rumors or complaints and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a report on Pakistan last December that in many cases the perpetrators operate with impunity.
Speaking about these issues, Naqvi stressed the importance of involving religious scholars from all schools of thought to formulate a strategy against “extremism.” He reiterated the government’s stance that anyone taking up arms against the state would be considered a “terrorist” and killing individuals in the name of Islam was neither permitted by the religion, nor Pakistani laws.
Naqvi announced that Religious Affairs Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain would accompany him on a trip to all provinces along with ulema leaders to spread the “true message” of Islam.
“We have to give the same message that using Islam for wrongful purposes needs to be stopped,” he said.
“The interior and religious ministry will work with you [ulema] together and follow your suggestions. We have to give a strong message in this regard.”
Pakistan has blamed the recent surge in attacks on regional neighbors, including Afghanistan, where it says the coming to power of the Afghan Taliban in 2021 has emboldened anti-Pakistan groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Kabul says it does not allow its territory to be used by terror groups.
Pakistan also says that India and Afghanistan are fomenting militancy in Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and has been the site of a decades-long separatist insurgency. Ethnic Baloch militants say they are fighting for secession due to what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral and gas wealth by the federation, which denies the charge.
Pakistan court restores changes to accountability laws, widely seen as blow to anti-graft efforts
- Sharif-led coalition government had passed the legislation in 2022 which was challenged in Supreme Court by ex-PM Imran Khan
- New ruling will benefit Khan in £190 million land bribe case and investigation involving illegal sale of state gifts while he was PM
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday restored amendments to the country’s anti-graft laws approved in 2022 and accepted the federal government’s appeal against another judgment by the top court last year in which it had struck down the changes passed by parliament.
The 16-page ruling released on Friday morning is being widely seen as a setback to holding public office holders and bureaucrats accountable for corruption and misuse of authority.
The National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2022 limited the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) jurisdiction to cases involving corruption of over Rs500 million, reduced the term of the chairman of the bureau and prosecutor general to three years and transferred all pending inquiries, investigations and trials to other authorities. The amendments were passed by the then coalition government led by Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif during his first term as PM from 2022-2023.
Imran Khan, who had at the time recently been ousted as prime minister through a vote of no-confidence in parliament, petitioned the top court against the amendments, claiming they were passed to benefit the influential, including top politicians, and would legitimize corruption in the country. In September last year, the Supreme Court, led by then Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, declared changes to the National Accountability Ordinance unlawful and ordered the restoration of corruption cases against public office holders that were withdrawn after amendments in the law came into effect.
The federal government led by PM Sharif and other parties filed intra-court appeals against the judgment, which were accepted by a five-member Supreme Court bench led by the current chief justice, Qazi Faez Isa. On Friday, the bench announced that it was restoring all the changes to the accountability law.
“We allow these appeals by setting aside the impugned judgment, and dismiss the petition,” the Supreme Court said, adding that Khan had failed to prove that amendments made to the accountability law were unconstitutional.
“We are also not persuaded by Mr. Niazi [Khan] and learned Senior Advocate Khawaja Haris Ahmed that the Amendments violated the Constitution,” the court said.
The judgment noted the amendments had not “criminalized any offense” and had “only changed what may be investigated by NAB itself and the forum of the criminal trial.”
“No person can be adversely affected with regard to such procedural changes,” the judgment said.
Interestingly, Khan, who has been in jail since August last year in a slew of cases, has become a direct beneficiary of the restored amendments as he can move the courts for his acquittal in at least two major corruption cases, namely a land bribe case involving a 190-million-pound bribe and an investigation involving the illegal sale of state gifts.
“Detailed verdict is awaited but in the light of short order, it’s safe to say new Toushakhana [state gifts] case against Imran Khan can no longer continue as it exceeds Rs500 million cap, making it ineffective, as per the new amendments,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said in a statement to media. “It will also impact the £190 million case.”
Family pardons suspect in headline-grabbing Karachi road accident that killed father, daughter
- Wife of man killed calls incident “unfortunate accident,” says affidavit submitted in court without any pressure, force, enticement
- Deals that involve “blood money” paid as compensation to victims’ families are common under Pakistan’s criminal code
KARACHI: The family of a father-daughter duo who were killed in a headline-grabbing hit-and-run accident in Karachi last month have pardoned the main suspect Natasha Danish, according to an affidavit released to the media on Friday.
The case sparked widespread public and media outrage, with people alleging the police were not investigating it properly as the suspect was from a wealthy and influential family.
CCTV footage of the accident was widely circulated on social media, showing a Toyota Land Cruiser allegedly driven by Iqbal hitting a motorbike, killing a woman and her father. Five others were also injured in the incident. The vehicle’s alleged driver is the wife of well-known businessman Danish Iqbal. She is the CEO of Metro Capital (Private) Limited and JSDN Electric Limited, two companies owned by her husband under the Metro Power business group.
Iqbal’s lawyers initially used long-term psychiatric treatment as a defense but the suspect’s urine sample later tested positive for methamphetamine or ‘ice.’
“I, Romana Imran, widow of Imran Arif [...] do hereby state on oath. I say that we face amicable patch-up with the matter and I being the widow of the deceased have forgiven the above-mentioned accused person Natasha Danish and Muhammad Danish Iqbal in the name of Almighty Allah who is very kind and merciful,” the affidavit submitted in court and seen by Arab News said.
Bearing Imran’s signature, the affidavit quoted her as saying she had no objection if the court granted bail to Iqbal as the “unfortunate” incident was an “unintentional accident.” Romana said she was filing the affidavit “without any pressure, force, compulsion, coercion and enticement.”
Although the affidavit did not mention if any money exchanged hands, deals that involve “blood money,” called diyat, as compensation paid to victims’ families are a common and accepted practice in Islamic law and Pakistan’s criminal code.
Pakistan team to participate in World Youth Scrabble Championship this week
- Pakistan won 2022 championship but finished second behind Sri Lanka in 2023 championship played in Thailand
- Pakistan team led by Tariq Pervez, director Youth Program of Pakistan Scrabble Association, comprises 12 boys and 4 girls
ISLAMABAD: A 14-member Pakistan team will compete in the 19th World Youth Scrabble Championship to be played in Sri Lanka from September 6-8 this week, state news agency APP said on Friday.
Pakistan was the winner of the 2022 championship but finished second behind Sri Lanka in the 2023 championship played in Thailand.
“The team led by Tariq Pervez, Director Youth Program of Pakistan Scrabble Association, comprises 12 boys and 4 girls,” APP said on the 2024 Pakistan team.
The first World Youth Scrabble Championships were held in Wollongong, Australia 2006. Competitors from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, England, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and United States have competed in the annual tournament so far.
WYSC is open to anyone under the age of 18 on January 1 of the year of each tournament. So far the WYSC tournament has been held in Malaysia five times, Australia twice, Dubai twice and the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom once each.
