FARUKH SHEHZAD

MULTAN, JUN 14: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday said that the previous government of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) had mishandled Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case.

Talking to media after launching the construction of a park, the minister said Pakistan was implementing the ruling of the International Court of Justice.

“We have taken steps to implement the directive of the International Court of Justice. 

India wants Pakistan to deny consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav so that it could have grounds to go to the ICJ. 

The opposition should not show ignorance by making statements in this regard. It should avoid strengthening the Indian point of view,” he said.

He was referring to the ICJ (Review and Re-consideration) Bill, 2020, passed by the parliament recently. The law will allow fresh consular access to Jadhav under the ICJ ruling.

Qureshi said whoever was going through the process of accountability would be given an opportunity to prove himself innocent.

Reacting to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s criticism of the arrest of Khurshid Shah’s son by NAB, Qureshi said: “We want transparent accountability and not revenge. 

If someone tries to become an obstacle in the accountability process, Imran Khan will not give an NRO to him. 

The prime minister has made it clear that there will be no injustice and concession to anyone who is involved in corruption. 

If Khurshid Shah’s son is innocent, no action will be taken against him. The law is the same for everyone,” he said.

Answering a question about Jahangir Tareen at another event here on Saturday evening, the minister claimed that Imran Khan had neither given nor would give any concession. 

“The investigations are underway and soon everything will be clear,” referring to the apparent relief given to the estranged PTI leader in the sugar scam may not be permanent.

He said that Pakistan had no intention to hand over any airbase to the United States while the CIA chief’s recent visit (to Pakistan) was part of a routine affair and there was nothing to hide.

The foreign minister said by allowing a limited number of locals to perform Hajj, the Saudi government had taken a precautionary measure in connection with the Covid epidemic.

He said that the finance minister had made it clear that there was no intention of a mini-budget.

He said before criticising the government over the defence budget, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal should read the budget document.

Answering a question about G 7 intentions, Qureshi said China was working on CPEC projects and it would continue to do so. 

If the G7 countries also wanted to initiate the same sort of project, it would be a healthy competition.

Reply to a question regarding development works in Multan, the minister said that district coordination committees had been formed on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan in all the districts of Punjab which would supervise development schemes in their respective districts.

“The first meeting of the District Coordination Committee in Multan was held the other day in which the pace of work on the projects was reviewed while the next meeting of the committee would be held on June 26,” he said.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ABU DHABI, JUN 14: Asif Ali and Musa Khan starred as Islamabad United registered an epic 28-run victory against Lahore Qalandars.

While chasing a respectable total of 153, Qalandars went off to a decent start courtesy of 55-run partnership between Fakhar Zaman and captain Sohail Akhtar.

After the departure of Sohail, who scored 34 off 19 balls, Qalandars batting line-up collapsed and they were reduced to 99-7 in 14 overs.

They eventually bowled out for just 124 in the 19th over.

Fakhar was the top scorer for the losing side as he scored 44 off 37 deliveries.

For United, Musa Khan was the star of the show with the ball as he claimed three wickets for 18 runs in his four-over spell.

Earlier, after opting to bat first,  United lost five wickets with just 20 runs on the board.

However, Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Ali made a crucial partnership to guide the side to a respectable total of 152.

Asif finished the innings with top score of 75 off 43 deliveries with the help of six boundaries and five maximums.

And that’s it. United secured an epic 28-run victory, courtesy brilliant spells from Musa Khan.

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COURTESY SAMAA

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 13: Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to visit England next month.

According to The Pakistan Daily, leading digital platform, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson invited PM Imran Khan for the visit and to see the Pak-England one-day cricket match to be held on July 8.

The visit had not been finalized yet. However, the scheduling for the visit is underway and the visit could be finalized after the scheduling, according to The Pakistan Daily sources.

The PM, possibly, will meet his UK counterpart during the visit and talk about the bilateral relationship and trade between the two the country. PM will also meet with other high officials.

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KABUL, JUN 13: Turkey should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan under the 2020 deal for the pullout of foreign forces, a Taliban spokesman has said, effectively rejecting Ankara’s proposal to guard and run Kabul’s airport after the United States-led NATO forces depart.

The development raises serious questions for the US, other countries and international organisations with missions in Kabul about how to securely evacuate their personnel from landlocked Afghanistan, should fighting threaten the capital, reported on Thursday.

It also appeared to dash Ankara’s hopes of using the securing of Kabul airport to help improve ties with Washington – strained by Turkey’s purchase of Russian defence systems – in talks set for Monday between President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Asked in a text message whether the Taliban rejected Turkey’s proposal to keep forces in Kabul to guard and run the international airport after other foreign troops leave, the Taliban spokesman in Doha responded that they should go as well.

“Turkey was part of NATO forces in the past 20 years, so as such, they should withdraw from Afghanistan on the basis of the agreement we signed with US on 29th Feb 2020,” Suhail Shaheen told Reuters.

“Otherwise, Turkey is a great Islamic country. Afghanistan has had historical relations with it. We hope to have close and good relations with them as a new Islamic government is established in the country in future,” he added.

The State Department and the Turkish foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Thursday with Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar to “discuss bilateral cooperation and regional issues,” the Pentagon said in a statement, which did not specifically mention Afghanistan.

Under the February 2020 deal between the Taliban and the US signed by former President Donald Trump’s administration, all US forces were to be out of Afghanistan by May 1.

But Biden said in April that the pullout would be completed by the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US that prompted the US-led invasion and removal of the Taliban government that sheltered the al-Qaeda group.

Turkish officials say they made the Kabul airport proposal at a NATO meeting in May when the US and its partners agreed to a plan to withdraw their forces by September 11 after 20 years of backing the Afghan government in a war against the Taliban.

With violence raging, many US legislators and current and former officials fear the departure of the foreign forces and stalled peace talks are pushing Afghanistan into an all-out civil war that could return the Taliban to power.

The Pentagon says the US withdrawal is more than 50 percent complete. Turkey, with more than 500 soldiers still in Afghanistan training security forces, now has the largest foreign military contingent there.

Australia closed its embassy last month because of security concerns. The Taliban’s effective rejection of the Turkish plan to secure the airport could prompt other countries to shutter their missions.

The development also poses a quandary for the Biden administration, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken promising as recently as this week at a Congressional hearing to maintain a US diplomatic presence in Kabul.

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COURTESY Al-jazeera

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 13: The Indomie brand instant noodle factory built in Pakistan is expected to start production later this year, not only to supply the country's market but also in the region.

Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan Adam M Tugio said a branch of a company called PT Indofood Pakistan has begun to build an Indomie factory in the Faisalabad industrial area.

"The factory is targeted to operate by the end of 2021 and is expected to be able to supply and sell PT Indofood products in South and Central Asian countries in the future," Tugio said in a press statement at the Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad received by the editors, Thursday (10/6). /2021).

Indomie is one of the Indonesian brands that has penetrated the global market widely. Previously, Indofood also built a factory in the Tekirdag industrial area, Turkey, and is said to have controlled 90% of the instant noodle market share in the country.

Apart from Turkey, PT Indofood also has a factory in Mombasa, Kenya.

The trade balance in 2020 reached US$ 2.5 billion with a surplus for Indonesia of US$ 2.1 billion or, an increase of 8% from 2019 which reached US$ 2.3 billion with a surplus of US$ 1.9 billion, according to data from the Indonesian Embassy. .

The data shows that Indonesia-Pakistan trade is able to grow in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tugio claimed that various efforts had been made by the Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad to improve economic and trade relations, including increasing exports and diversifying Indonesian products to Pakistan.

One of the efforts made is to cooperate with the E-Commerce Pakistan Gateway to hold the Indonesia-Pakistan Virtual Trade Expo 2021 and e-business matching on April 5-9 2021.

The activity was attended by 15 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the country and more than 100 potential buyers from Pakistan.

Several Indonesian companies that attended the exhibition included CV Tanaka Solution Agent, PT United Family Food, CV Tata Niaga Lestari PT Pareto Estu Guna, PT Audie Innovation Indonesia, PT Konimex, PT Bin Affan Exindo, CV Buana Raga, PT Audie Building Industry, and CV Donya Drop Daruet.

"Seeing the enthusiasm of the many participants of the 2021 Virtual Trade Expo, the Indonesia-Pakistan cooperation relationship is expected to be more solid in various fields including politics, education, socio-culture, defense, economy and trade," said Tugio.

The Indonesian Embassy also utilizes technology in an effort to increase exports, in collaboration with the CEO of E-commerce Pvt Ltd, Muhammad Uzair Nizam, who is also the founder of #ecombri.com, in the creation of a digital trade platform .

The platform will facilitate business actors from two countries in an effort to increase bilateral trade.

The #ecombri.com site is Pakistan's first and largest Online Plus Offline business-to-business (B2B) platform that has the potential to simplify the procurement process for buyers and sellers with both online and offline interactions.

The cooperation will be used to promote trade, tourism and investment in various cities in Pakistan, Tugio said.

According to the Executive of the Economic Function of the Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad, Syarief Shahabudin, although promotions abroad have been halted due to Covid-19 in the past year, the Indonesian Embassy's initiative allows economic activities and interactions with prospective importer partners of Pakistan to be realized.

Some of the Indonesian products on display were medical equipment, dried coconut/copra, snacks, coffee beans, medical equipment, building construction equipment, palm sticks, health drinks, cooking oil, handicrafts , sweets, and other agricultural products.

"Prospective importers from Pakistan are also enthusiastic about participating in the Virtual EXPO," said Syarief.

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COURTESY beritasatu.com

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COURTEYS smartjobs.pk

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 13: The National Comm­and and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday placed strict restrictions on travellers from 26 countries including India, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Indonesia and South Africa by placing them in C category.

In a separate development, the number of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals has fallen by around 60 per cent, with the positivity ratio remaining below 4pc.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) said Pakistan had introduced three categories to deal with Covid-19. 

He said: “Countries in A category are exempted from the mandatory Covid-19 test, travellers from areas in B category require a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that must be taken within 72 hours of the travel date while countries in C category are restricted and people can travel only under specific NCOC guidelines.”

According to a document available with Dawn, the NCOC revised the inbound air/land travel categories with an immediate effect.

The document mentioned India, Iran, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Iraq, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Tunisia, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Namibia, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago as well as Uruguay in the C category list.

All other countries have been included in B category and passengers from these countries will be required to present a negative PCR test result.

Meanwhile, the NCOC data reported 1,194 new cases and 57 deaths in the last 24 hours.

As many as 2,990 patients are currently admitted to hospitals compared to around 7,000 in April, indicating a drop of around 60pc. According to the official data, there were 42,717 active cases across the country on June 12, while 325 patients were put on ventilators.

Moreover, the country has been witnessing a positivity ratio of less than 4pc since May 30 when a rate of 4.05pc was reported at the national level.

Earlier on June 11, the NCOC had extended walk-in vaccination facility to around 39 million people in the age group of 18-30 years.

NHS ministry spokesperson Sajid Shah told Dawn that the government wanted to inoculate people at the earliest so that herd immunity could be achieved. 

He said public sector employees would have to be vaccinated by June 30 and to facilitate the vaccination all relevant centres would remain open from 8am to 10pm daily, except Sundays.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 12: AAA Associates and Real estate/Builder community held a press conference in press club Islamabad in which they requested Government to take action against the culprits behind Bahria Town Karachi incident. 

The Press Conference attended by AAA Associate's Chairman Mr. Sheikh Fawad Bashir and Leaders from Real estate community including Sardar Tahir, Ejaz Khan, Rana Ahsan and Adeel Malik to raise their voices against Karachi incident which has shocked the real estate community across the country.

Speaking on the occasion, AAA Association Chairman said” Pakistan has seen remittance increase of approx 27 bn in 11 months which is highest ever and major part of it is from Real estate. 

COAS also stated in a meeting with Business community that security of the Country depends on Economic security. 

Real estate industry is appreciating govt policies which is helping in a lot of inflow or Revenue. 

Incidences like BTK cause major blows to the industry which indirectly effects 40 connected industries as well. 

4 lac daily wagers are working in different Bahria Towns accross the Country. Hampering the flow of work effects their daily earnings. 

At this crucial juncture, Incident like this will prove counterproductive for the booming Industry and shatters Investor Confidence in Pakistan’s real estate sector."

CEO of Estate GuideMr. Rana Ehsan and CEO AD Real estate Mr Adeel Malik also supported the stance by requesting Concerned Authorities to bring perpetrators to justice and constitute complete security plan to prevent these violent attacks on Real estate and builder community within the country.

The construction industry in Pakistan is expected to expand by 3% in real terms in 2021, recovering from a decline of 6.2% in 2019. 

In support of construction sector, and boost employment and economic output, Government has announced a construction stimulus package by fixing tax rate for the construction industry, a subsidy worth PKR30 billion (US$191.5 million).

These Incentives will not be able to bear fruits until law and order situation is improved and complete protection is provided to the stakeholders.

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 11: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has taken the floor of the National Assembly to present Budget 2021-2022. The total outlay is Rs8,400 billion.

The government has allocated the following amount for different programmes.

• Rs260 billion for the Ehsaas programme.
• Rs900 billion for public sector development programmes, which has been increased by 40%. The amount will be spent on water distribution, road infrastructure, special economic zones, combatting climate change, among others.
• Rs12billion for agriculture.
• Rs23 billion for Diamer and Bhasha dams.
• Rs14 billion for Neelum-Jhelum hydro-power plant.
• Rs244 billion for Gwadar airport and highway.
• Rs25 billion for small dams in Sindh.
• Rs118 billion for energy and power projects.
• Rs22 billion for Jamshoro coal power plant.
• Rs16 billion for KI, KII projects in Karachi and Tarbela power plant.
• Rs100billion for special development packages for the development of poorer cities.
• Rs54 billion for the development of KP’s merged districts.
• Rs14 billion for tree plantation programmes and combatting climate change.
• Rs739 for Karachi transformation plan.
• Rs1.1 billion for the procurement of coronavirus vaccines. Government aims to vaccinate 100 million people by June 2022.

Some features of the budget:

• Pakistan reduces sales tax on locally manufactured electric cars to only 1%. Previously, it was 17%.
• Pakistan reduces sales tax on locally manufactured cars from 17% to 12.5%.
• No federal excise duty on 850cc locally produced cars.
• Action to be taken against those harassing taxpayers. Government to use tax machinery against those not paying taxes and those not filing them.
• No new tax on salaried people.
• FBR to form special retail cells to facilitate people.
• Special technology zones will be formed in the country. Plants, machinery and other equipment will be tax-free in these zones.
• The government has reduced the Capital Gain Tax from 15% to 12.5%.
• Sales tax on locally made electric cars has been reduced to 1% from 17%.
• Withholding tax reduced by 40%. There will be no withholding taxes on banking transactions, margin financing, air travel services, debit card and credit transactions and discovery of minerals.
• Withholding tax on mobile phones will be reduced by 10%, and then to 8%.

“Many challenges came our way this year but we tackled them all under the leadership of PM Imran Khan,” said Tarin. When the PTI came into power, the previous governments had taken many loans. No government had faced such a situation before. The current account deficit was $20 billion.

Coronavirus proved to be a big challenge for us but we combatted three waves of the deadly virus. Pakistan survived the devastating effects of the pandemic and continued the progress towards economic growth. “We even increased the capacity of our hospitals and provided them with the necessary equipment.”

The government also provided relief to people who suffered because of the coronavirus pandemic through cash programmes. In the first phase, aid was given to 12 million people.

We tried to promote e-commerce and online marketing too. Despite, Covid-19 outbreak, our per capita income increased by 15%, he said. “This shows that incomes have increased.”

Pakistan’s agricultural sector performed well. All crops, including wheat, rice, sugarcane, and corn, witnessed exceptional growth despite locust attacks. Only our cotton crops suffered because of pest infestation.

The country received historic levels of remittances. Majority of remittances were sent by low-income people. It improved their purchasing power. It will reach $29billion.

‘Sustainable growth’

The Budget 2020-21 seeks inclusive and sustainable growth. We hope to increase our growth rate to 4.8%.

We want to focus on the poorer segments of society and can’t let them at the mercy of the trickle-down effect again. “We want them to be able to fulfill their dreams.”

The government will focus on a bottom-up approach under which we will provide Rs500,000 loans to the poor, and Rs150,000 loans to farmers.

Under our low-cost housing scheme, we will give Rs2 million loans to them so that they are able to build their houses. They will be given Sehat cards and technical training.

Food security

Pakistan controlled its current account deficit despite heavy imports of food items. “We should accept that inflation is mostly because of the increase in imports of food items.”

Pakistan has become a food deficit country because not paying any attention for the last 10 to 15 years.

Wheat price increased because one-fourth of the wheat supplies were imported to meet our consumption needs. Internationally, sugar price increased by 56%, but in the country, it increased by only 18%. “We had to rely on imports to control sugar prices.”

Edible oil prices increased 76% internationally. In the domestic market, it increased by only 21%. “We have to make our country food sufficient.”

Relief for salaried people

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary has said that salaried people would get a relief in taxes in the Budget 2021-22.

He said this on SAMAA TV’s morning show NayaDin ahead of the Rs8,400 billion federal budget, which the government will present in the National Assembly later today.

The government officials are saying this budget will be “growth-oriented” and incentives will be given to agriculture, industry and IT sectors.

After contracting 0.4% last year, the economy recovered and is expected to grow at 3.9% this year, nearly double the government’s own target of 2.1%. For the next year, it is targeting a growth rate of 4.8%.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said earlier this week that they would use the bottom-up approach, which would include marginalized and lower-income segments. They would be given business loans, health cards and technical training, he added.

The government has not released official data for unemployment, but Tarin said about 20 million people lost work last year as the coronavirus pandemic compelled the government to shut the economy for three months. Even now 2.5 million people are out of work, according to Tarin.

Other reports suggest an additional 20 million have slipped below the subsistence level, thanks in part to inflation that remained in high single digits throughout the year, higher than the annual target of 6.5, and was recorded in the double digit in the last two months.

The government has decided to increase the size of the Public Sector Development Programme by 38%, according to the finance minister. It will spend Rs900 billion on the PSDP in the next fiscal year.

The government has set a tax collection target of Rs5,829 billion for the next fiscal year, but it remains unclear where this money will come from.

News reports suggest the International Monetary Fund wants it to impose new tax measures, but the government is reluctant. Its top ministers are saying they will neither introduce new taxes nor increase the current ones, and rather go for expanding the tax net, which means the government will go after tax evaders with a focus on retail sector.

Tarin said they would take additional revenue by selling some of the government-owned enterprises, which are not making any profits.

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COURTESY SAMAA

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