ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s party on Friday filed a petition against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other officials over “firing” on its supporters during last month’s protest in Islamabad, which the party says killed at least 12 people and injured more than a hundred others.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Nov. 24 led thousands of supporters to Islamabad, seeking to pressure the government to release the ex-premier from jail and order an audit of Feb. 8 national election results. The protests resulted in clashes that Pakistan’s government says killed four law enforcers and injured hundreds of others.
The PTI says at least 12 of its supporters were killed and another 38 sustained injuries due to firing by law enforcers near Islamabad’s Jinnah Avenue on Nov. 26, while 139 of its supporters were still “missing.” Pakistani authorities have denied the deaths, saying security personnel had not been carrying live ammunition during the protest.
“On the 26th November, 2024 when thousands of peaceful demonstrators had assembled on the Jinnah Avenue Islamabad, the lights were switched off and the armed personnel/snippers got on top of all the adjacent buildings,” PTI Chairman Gohar Khan said in a complaint filed in a local court in Islamabad on Friday.
“The law enforcing agency persons equipped with teargas machines started profuse firing adulterating the entire atmosphere with tear gas, smoke and suffocation. Flurry of firing by the snippers followed by indiscriminate straight firing at the crowd resulted in bullet injuries causing instant deaths and the panic stricken people started running who too were sprayed with bullet fires.”
The party has named PM Sharif, Interior Ministry Mohsin Naqvi, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar, Islamabad police chief Ali Nasir Rizvi and others as accused persons. It requested the court to accept the complaint, issue non-bailable warrants for the accused persons and punish them as provided by law.
The government has accused Khan’s party of waging a “propaganda” regarding the Islamabad protest, following statements by several PTI members that gave varied accounts of casualties.
The coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed two task forces in the aftermath of the Islamabad protest: one to identify and take legal action against rioters and another to track and bring to justice suspects behind what the government described as a “malicious campaign” to spread “concocted, baseless and inciting” online news, images and video content against the state and security forces.
The PTI has staged several protests this year to demand the release of Khan and to challenge results of the Feb. 8 national election, which it says were manipulated to favor its opponents. The Pakistani government and election authorities deny this.
Last month’s protests were by far the largest to grip the capital since the poll, while Khan, who remains a popular figure in Pakistan despite being in prison and facing several court cases, has also threatened to launch a civil disobedience movement.
Ex-PM Khan party files petition against PM Sharif, others over ‘firing’ at supporters in Islamabad
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Ex-PM Khan party files petition against PM Sharif, others over ‘firing’ at supporters in Islamabad
- Khan’s party on Nov. 24 led thousands of supporters to Islamabad, seeking to pressure the government to release the ex-premier from jail
- The protests resulted in clashes that government says killed four law enforcers, while the party says 12 supporters were killed in crackdown
Pakistan stock market recovers to end weekend session below 115,000 points
- KSE-100 index surged by 121.30 points, or 0.11 percent, to close at 114,301.80 following an intraday high of 115,172.44 points
- Analysts credit the stock market’s bullish run this week to investor confidence regarding possible interest rate cut on Dec. 16
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s stock market continued to extend its rally on Friday and surpassed the unprecedented 115,000-point mark before pulling back during the weekend trading session as investors locked in profits from the recent surge, analysts said.
The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 121.30 points, or 0.11 percent, to close at 114,301.80 points from Thursday’s close of 114,180.50 points. The index hit an intraday high of 115,172.44 points after climbing 991.94 points during the weekend trading session.
Stock analysts attributed the ongoing rally to expectations of a policy rate cut by the Pakistani central bank next week.
“The monetary policy is due on Dec. 16 (Monday) and there are expectations of a sharp rate cut,” Raza Jafri, head of equities at Intermarket Securities, told Arab News. “The stock market is reacting accordingly.”
Arif Habib Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer Ahsan Mehanti said the market reached a new all-time high on Friday due to positive sentiment originating from recent growth projections and lowering inflation.
“Asian Development Bank raising growth projections to three percent and lowering inflation forecast to 10 percent for FY25 played the role of a catalyst in the record surge at PSX,” he said.
Pakistan’s annual consumer inflation also slowed to 4.9 percent in November, lower than the government’s forecast and the lowest in nearly six years. This is down from 38 percent last year.
Commenting on the market’s bullish run this week, Jafri said Pakistani companies were currently trading at a relatively low price-to-earnings ratio of six times their profits, significantly below the 10-year average of 7.5 times and the historical peak of 12 times.
Mehanti said the stocks rallied to new highs this week over Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s assurance of achieving macroeconomic stability, apart from surging global crude oil prices.
Pakistani stocks have performed significantly well this week on the back of investor confidence regarding a possible interest rate cut by the central bank at the next monetary policy meeting. The central bank has already slashed interest rates by 700 basis points (bps) in four consecutive meetings since June, bringing it to 15 percent.
According to a poll by Topline Securities, 71 percent of participants expect the central bank to announce a minimum rate cut of 200bps next week.
Trade data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics also supports positive investor sentiment as the trade deficit narrowed by 7.39 percent during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year, standing at $8.651 billion, compared to $9.341 billion during the same period last year.
Exports rose by 12.57 percent to hit $13.69 billion, while imports increased by 3.90 percent to $22.342 billion during this period. November’s trade deficit narrowed even further, dropping by 18.60 percent year-on-year to $1.589 billion compared to $1.952 billion in November 2023.
Pakistan all-rounder Imad Wasim retires from international cricket
- Wasim played 75 T20 internationals after making debut against Zimbabwe in 2015
- He scored 554 runs in T20s and also took 73 wickets with his left-arm spin bowling
ISLAMABAD: Imad Wasim has announced his retirement from international cricket, six months after the Pakistan all-rounder made a comeback and played at the T20 World Cup.
“After much thought and reflection, I have decided to retire from international cricket,” Wasim wrote on X on Friday. “Representing Pakistan on the world stage has been the greatest honor of my life, and every moment wearing the green jersey has been unforgettable.”
The 35-year-old Wasim played 75 T20 internationals after making his debut against Zimbabwe in 2015. He scored 554 runs in T20s and also took 73 wickets with his left-arm spin bowling. Wasim also played 55 ODIs for Pakistan and took 44 wickets while scoring 986 runs.
Wasim quit international cricket in November 2023 after selectors ignored the all-rounder because of his fitness issues. Wasim changed his mind and made himself available for June’s T20 World Cup where Pakistan made an early exit after losing to archrival India and United States in group matches.
Wasim struggled to make a mark and finished the tournament with only three wickets in three games and could score only 19 runs.
The all-rounder said he will continue to play in domestic cricket and franchise cricket around the world.
“While this chapter comes to an end, I look forward to continuing my journey in cricket through domestic and franchise cricket, and I hope to keep entertaining you all in new ways. Thank you for everything. Pakistan,” he said.
Pakistan postpones anti-polio drive in northwestern district amid fragile security situation
- Kurram has a long history of violent conflicts and recent clashes between Shiite, Sunni communities, which began on Nov. 21, killed 133 people
- The development comes as the South Asian country reports four new cases of the polio virus that have brought the nationwide tally to 63 this year
PESHAWAR: Pakistani authorities have postponed a planned anti-polio vaccination campaign in the northwestern Kurram district, a senior health official said on Friday, citing a fragile security situation after weeks of deadly sectarian clashes in the region.
The development came as the South Asian country reported four new cases of the polio virus that brought the nationwide tally to 63 this year. Pakistan and the neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains an endemic.
Kurram, a former semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, has a long history of violent conflicts and the recent clashes between Shiite and Sunni communities, which began on Nov. 21, killed 133 people in the restive region.
Though a council of tribal elders, or jirgah, backed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, this month managed a ceasefire between the warring tribes, security situation remains fragile in the district where road closures have led to shortage of medicines and food.
“Yes, the anti-polio campaign in Kurram has been postponed delayed for now. After improvement in the security environment and reopening of roads, new dates for polio eradication campaign will be announced for the district,” Dr. Qaisar Khan, the Kurram district health officer (DHO), told Arab News.
Pakistan will launch its next anti-polio vaccination campaign from Dec. 16 till Dec. 22 to reach more than 44 million children under the age of five in 143 districts across the country, according to the official.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, but Kurram has a large Shiite population, and the communities have clashed for decades. Provincial authorities last Sunday dispatched a batch of essential medicines via helicopter to the volatile district to ease the suffering of residents.
Pakistan’s chief health officer said on Nov. 10 an estimated 500,000 children had missed polio vaccination during the last countrywide inoculation drive.
This year, the country’s polio program has confirmed 26 polio cases in Balochistan, 18 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 in Sindh, and one each in Punjab and the federal capital of Islamabad.
Poliovirus, which can cause crippling paralysis particularly in young children, is incurable and remains a threat to human health as long as it has not been eradicated. Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain.
In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
In July 2019, a vaccination drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thwarted after mass panic was created by rumors that children were fainting or vomiting after being immunized.
Public health studies in Pakistan have shown that a lack of knowledge about vaccines, together with poverty and rural residency, are also factors that commonly influence whether parents vaccinate their children against polio.
43 militants killed in Pakistan’s restive northwest and southwest this week — military
- Security forces gunned down 18 militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 25 in Balochistan
- Pakistan has struggled to curb militancy, blaming Afghanistan for the surge in recent years
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed 43 militants in intelligence-based operations (IBOs) this week in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces that border Afghanistan, the Pakistani military’s media wing said on Friday, as the South Asian nation steps up its fight to curb militancy.
On night of December 12-13, security forces conducted an IBO in KP’s Lakki Marwat district and killed six militants. Since 9 December, 18 militants have been killed in the province, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
Security forces, after an intense fire exchange, neutralized 10 militants in two separate IBOs in Musa Khel and Panjgur districts of Balochistan on Dec. 13, leaving 25 militants dead in the region this week.
“These operations will continue till peace in the area is restored and khawrij [militants] are eliminated, as the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR said in a statement.
Pakistan has struggled to contain surging militancy in KP since November 2022, when a fragile truce between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or the Pakistani Taliban, and the state broke down. Since then, the TTP has increased attacks against Pakistan’s security forces.
The remote Balochistan province, which is home to the Gwadar Port, built by China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, has seen an increase in strikes by separatist militants this year.
Pakistan’s military has a huge presence in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, and has long run intelligence-based operations against insurgent groups, which 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.
Pakistan has frequently accused neighboring Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting militant groups, urging the Taliban administration in Kabul to prevent its territory from being used by armed factions to launch cross-border attacks. Afghan officials deny involvement, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.
Ex-PM Khan party denies any dialogue with Pakistani government to ease political tensions
- Reports of talks between two sides surfaced after Khan’s party members met National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq
- Ex-PM Khan this month announced his party will launch a civil disobedience campaign against government on Dec. 14
ISLAMABAD: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has not held any talks with the government to ease political tensions, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said on Friday, denying media reports suggesting a dialogue having taken place between the two sides.
Pakistani media reported this week that the PTI and the government had agreed to ease political tensions in the country after PTI’s Qaiser and Salman Akram Raja met ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) member and National Assembly speaker, Ayaz Sadiq, this week to offer condolences on his sister’s death.
Reports of negotiations surfaced after Khan earlier this month announced the PTI would launch a civil disobedience campaign from Dec. 14, if the government did not meet their demands release of political prisoners and to set up judicial commissions to investigate May 9, 2023 and Nov. 24 protests, in which the government says his supporters partook in violence and caused vandalism.
In a message to supporters on Dec. 5, Khan, who has been in jail since August last year, said he was setting up a five-member negotiations committee to hold talks with the federal government. PM Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to the speaker’s residence for condolences, following Qaiser’s meeting with Sadiq, also fueled speculation that the reported negotiations were discussed between Sadiq and the Pakistani premier.
“It is being reported in media that some dialogue, some talks have been taking place [with the government] and that I have had this kind of discussions with the speaker,” Qaiser said, while speaking in the National Assembly.
“I only went to the speaker’s residence to offer Fatiha, we did not have any dialogue, any talks.”
He said the PTI committee would hold talks with the government only if the latter demonstrated “seriousness.”
“Yes, we have definitely formed a committee and when that committee deemed appropriate and the government demonstrated seriousness, then we will see and we will formally take instructions from our founding chairman and only then things will proceed further,” Qaiser added.
Khan’s party alleges the Sharif-led coalition government came to power after rigging polls with the help of Pakistan’s all-powerful military and has staged several protests this year to demand the release of Khan and to challenge results of the Feb. 8 national election. The government and the military deny the allegations.
Rana Sanaullah, a member of Sharif’s PML-N party, said they always encouraged political dialogue and a month ago, PM Sharif, in an interaction with opposition members in the National Assembly, had offered to hold a political dialogue with them, but Opposition Leader Omar Ayub did not respond to the offer positively.
“Now they have formed a committee but they have not conveyed us this message that ‘we want to talk to you’,” Sanaullah said on a Geo News show Friday morning.
“If they sent this message to the government or the prime minister that ‘we are ready to hold talks with you,’ then it is my assessment that the PML-N will never refuse to hold a political dialogue.”
