Religio-political party, traders announce Pakistan-wide strike today over power bills and inflation

Activists and supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party take part in a demonstration against the country's rising inflation in Islamabad on July 26, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 28 August 2024
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Religio-political party, traders announce Pakistan-wide strike today over power bills and inflation

  • Jamaat-e-Islami party threatens march to Islamabad if government fails to withdraw taxes, cut power prices
  • Traders urge government to withdraw “regressive taxes” they say are scuttling economic growth and business

ISLAMABAD: A major Pakistani religio-political party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and traders have announced a nationwide strike today, Wednesday, over rising electricity prices and brisk inflation, as the country embarks on a tricky path to economic recovery.

A two-week-long sit-in by the JI in Rawalpindi, a twin city to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, to pressure the government to cut electricity bills and retract new taxes imposed in the budget 2024-25 was called off earlier this month after the party reached an agreement with the federal government. 

As per the deal, the government promised to form a mechanism to reduce electricity prices and review contracts with independent power producers (IPPs) within 45 days. IPP agreements have come under scrutiny in recent weeks as households have received steep electricity bills. Many members of the public and independent policy analysts say Pakistan has been saddled with electricity bills it has no possibility of paying because of faulty contracts signed with IPPs, which produce expensive power. 

Tough measures that are part of a 37-month $7 billion loan program IMF bailout deal signed last month, such as raising tax on agricultural incomes and raising electricity prices, have also prompted concerns about poor and middle class Pakistanis grappling with rising inflation and the prospect of higher taxes.

“We are holding a nationwide strike tomorrow [Wednesday] to tell the government to implement the agreement and extend relief to the public as early as possible,” top JI leader Liaqat Baloch told Arab News on Tuesday.

Baloch said his party was extending support to the country’s business community, which had announced a shutter-down strike to protest inflation, high electricity prices and additional taxes on traders.

“If the government fails to listen to genuine demands of the public and extend relief, we will be left with no option to start a long march toward Islamabad,” he said.

Baloch said his party had given “ample time” to the federal government to negotiate with IPPs to bring down electricity prices and review other options to reduce inflation and cut taxes, especially on the salaried class.

“We postponed our fourteen-day sit-in in Rawalpindi following the government’s promise to extend relief to the public,” Baloch said. “If the government fails to keep the promise, we will resume our nationwide protests.”

Traders have also announced a nationwide shutter-down strike against “hefty taxes” imposed on retailers through a Tajir Dost Scheme, a voluntary tax compliance program under which businesses can declare their assets and incomes and potentially receive benefits like reduced tax rates and simplified tax compliance procedures.

“Our businesses have reduced around seventy percent in a year due to the deteriorating economy while the government is imposing heavy taxes on traders who are struggling to keep afloat,” Ajmal Baloch, President of Markazi Anjuman Tajran Pakistan, a traders’ union, told Arab News.

“We have been demanding the government to withdraw these regressive tax measures that would adversely affect the economic growth in the country.”

Ajmal said traders would march toward Islamabad if their demands were not met through the one-day shutter-down strike.

 “Every businessman in Pakistan is already paying hefty taxes,” he added, “so the government should immediately withdraw these additional tax measures.”

The government raised power prices 26 percent during the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, before tacking on another 20 percent increase on July 13. Officials say the increases were needed to meet conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for a $7 billion loan deal reached last month.

The government has also added a confusing bevy of taxes on top of the base price, adding up to a bill that has more than doubled for some Pakistanis.


Pakistan and Indonesia conclude week-long, joint military exercise to counter militancy

Updated 16 September 2024
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Pakistan and Indonesia conclude week-long, joint military exercise to counter militancy

  • Pakistan routinely holds joint air, ground and sea exercises with friendly nations
  • These military exercises help foster interoperability and joint deployment concepts

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Indonesia have concluded a week-long, joint military exercise, Elang Strike-II, to counter militancy, the Pakistani military said on Monday.
This was the second exercise between the two countries in the counter-terrorism domain, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
It began on September 8 and continued for a week at the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) in Pabbi town of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
“The exercise was aimed at mutually beneficial sharing of experience and training methodology between the two armies which have strong brotherly relations,” the ISPR said in a statement.
Senior officials of Pakistan Army and Col. Budi Wirman, defense attaché of Indonesia, attended the closing ceremony.
Pakistan routinely holds joint air, ground and sea exercises with friendly nations. These drills help foster interoperability and joint deployment concepts to counter threats to regional and global peace.
The South Asian country, which has fought back militancy for decades, also hosts cadets from these brotherly nations each year to undergo specialized military training.


Pakistani man to appear in US court on assassination plot charges

Updated 16 September 2024
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Pakistani man to appear in US court on assassination plot charges

  • Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Asif Merchant, 46, spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot
  • Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the US, prosecutors said

NEW YORK: A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran is set to appear in US court on Monday on charges of scheming to assassinate an American politician in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards top commander Qassem Soleimani.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Asif Merchant, 46, spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot.
Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the United States, prosecutors said.
The defendant named Donald Trump as a potential target but had not conceived the scheme as a plan to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Court papers do not name the alleged targets, and no attacks were made. As president, Trump had in 2020 approved the drone strike on Soleimani.
There are no suggestions that Merchant was tied to an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course on Sunday, or a separate shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.
Merchant faces one count of attempting to commit terrorism across national boundaries and one count of murder for hire.
He is expected to enter a plea before US Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT). Merchant was arrested in Texas on July 15.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in August that the “modus operandi” described in Merchant’s court papers ran contrary to Tehran’s policy of “legally prosecuting the murder of General Soleimani.”


Pakistan says global commodities trader Gunvor Group ‘keen’ to invest in petroleum sector

Updated 16 September 2024
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Pakistan says global commodities trader Gunvor Group ‘keen’ to invest in petroleum sector

  • Last month, Gunvor Group signed an agreement to acquire 50 percent shares of Pakistan’s Total Parco oil marketing company
  • PM Shehbaz Sharif informs Gunvor Group chairman of reforms undertaken to increase foreign investment in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Global commodities trader Gunvor Group has expressed its “keen” interest in investing in Pakistan’s petroleum sector, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said on Monday.
The statement came after Sharif’s meeting with Gunvor Group Chairman Torbjorn Tornqvist and Total Energies Vice President Oceania & Southeast Asia Mehmet Celepoglu
During the meeting, the prime minister highlighted the rapid reforms that were underway to increase investment and business activities in Pakistan, according to PM Sharif’s office.
“Chairman Torbjorn Tornqvist expressed the Gunvor Group’s keen interest in investment in the petroleum sector of Pakistan,” it said in a statement.
The prime minister was informed that the Gunvor Group had signed an agreement in August to acquire 50 percent shares of Total Parco Pakistan Limited, a subsidiary of French oil giant Total Energies.
A joint venture between Total Energies and Pak-Arab Refinery Limited in Pakistan, Total PARCO Pakistan Limited has a retail network of more than 800 service stations and is involved in fuel logistics and lubricants.
“The prime minister directed the relevant authorities to provide all possible facilities to the Gunvor Group,” Sharif’s office said.
Since avoiding a default last year, Islamabad has been making attempts to boost foreign investment and trade to drive economic growth in the South Asian country.
In recent months, Pakistan has reached multiple investment deals with a number of countries, mainly the Gulf states, in infrastructure, energy, maritime, ports and other sectors.


Pakistan reports sixth case of mpox virus in Islamabad

Updated 16 September 2024
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Pakistan reports sixth case of mpox virus in Islamabad

  • Patient admitted to the isolation ward of Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
  • Mpox is mild but people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complication

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities on Monday confirmed a sixth case of mpox virus in the federal capital of Islamabad, saying the patient was admitted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital.

The Border Health Staff (BHS) detected mpox symptoms in a 44-year-old man during screening at the Islamabad International Airport, according to the federal health minister.

Since confirming its first mpox case last month, Pakistan has implemented stringent screening protocols at all airports and border crossings for the screening of travelers.

“The sixth case of mpox has been reported in Pakistan,” a health ministry spokesperson said in a statement. “The travel history of the 44-year-old man is from Gulf countries.”

Patients who contract mpox get flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Mpox is usually mild but can kill. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complications from the infection.

On Sept. 8, health authorities declared Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province mpox-free after all four patients previously infected with the virus recovered.

Dr. Mukhtar Bharath, the prime minister’s coordinator for health, said the health ministry was working closely with provincial authorities to monitor new cases and around 630,000 passengers had so far been screened at airports.

“Effective measures are being taken to protect people from mpox,” Dr. Bharath said.

The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over the spread of a new mutated strain of mpox named clade I, which first emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has since spread to several countries, leading to increased monitoring and preventive measures worldwide.


Sindh minister orders security for polio worker who says she was raped on duty

Updated 16 September 2024
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Sindh minister orders security for polio worker who says she was raped on duty

  • The polio worker testified before a local court on Friday that she was raped while she was on duty
  • But the woman later retracted her statement amid threats by her husband for being an ‘adulteress’

KARACHI: Provincial Health Minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho on Monday took notice of alleged rape of a polio worker in the Jacobabad district of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province and instructed police to provide her round-the-clock security.
The incident occurred in Allah Baksh Jakhrani village of Jacobabad. The polio worker testified before a local court on Friday that she was raped while on duty, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported. A day later, the polio worker retracted her statement and said she was robbed, reportedly amid threats by her husband for being a ‘Kari,’ an adulteress, who deserves death. 
The Sindh health minister has instructed police to provide security around the polio worker’s current residence and requested Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to provide the woman with monetary compensation to help her take care of her children.
“Our female polio workers are the backbone of the polio program and protecting them has always been the utmost priority of the program,” Dr. Pechuho said. “I am taking every necessary action to ensure that she gets the justice she deserves.”
On Sept. 9, Pakistan launched a week-long, nationwide polio campaign amid a spike in militant attacks. The potentially fatal, paralyzing disease mostly strikes children under the age of five and typically spreads through contaminated water.
Two days later, a roadside bomb hit a vehicle carrying officers assigned to protect health workers conducting polio immunization in the northwestern South Waziristan district, in the same province, wounding six officers and three civilians. The militant Daesh group later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marred by violence. Militants target vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Since January, Pakistan has reported 17 new cases of polio, jeopardizing decades of efforts to eliminate polio in the country. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in which the spread of polio has never been stopped.