By: Inter News on June 25, 2023 / comment : 0 NEWS Firstpost » World
By: Inter News on June 25, 2023 / comment : 0 NEWS, The Dawn News - Home
The budget for the new fiscal year sailed through the National Assembly (NA) on Sunday, a day after the government made several changes, including fiscal tightening measures, dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a last-ditch effort to secure critical funding.
The budget was passed during a session that lacked quorum, with only 70 lawmakers on the treasury benches and two on the opposition benches. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, his father Asif Ali Zardari and the leader of the opposition, Raja Riaz, were also absent.
At the outset of the session, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had defended the government’s move to implement various reforms in the pensions scheme.
“If someone has a job on a contract then he will have to choose between the two pensions. This should’ve been corrected a long time ago,” he said. “It is a matter of principle that you have the right to one pension.”
He said that when a pensioner died, their widowed spouse would receive the stipend. But once the spouse died, their dependents would get the pension for 10 years after which it will end, he said.
“Our pension bill went to Rs800bn in this budget. It is a huge amount. It used to be half a few years ago,” Dar said, adding that these reforms were the need of the time.
During the session, Jamaat-i-Islami lawmaker Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali moved a resolution to send the budget to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII). He contended that the budget was based on a “system of interest”, adding that by accepting it the government was going against the directives of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC).
“Not taking the CII’s opinion on the finance bill will be a violation of the FSC’s decision,” he said.
Ayaz Sadiq opposed the move, saying that parliamentarians had to go for Haj and called for wrapping up budget proceedings. The NA speaker put the resolution up for vote after which the the resolution was rejected.
The finance minister then presented the budget for the new fiscal year with amendments for clause by clause approval. Chitrali’s proposed amendment was also accepted, under which the chairman of standing committees would be allowed cars up to 1,200cc.
Under the changes in the budget, the government now aims to generate another Rs215 billion in taxes and cut spending by Rs85bn in the next fiscal year, without reducing the federal development budget or the salaries and pensions of government employees.
This will revise the government’s revenue collection target to Rs9.415 trillion and put total spending at Rs14.48tr. The share of the provinces would be increased to Rs5.39tr from Rs5.28tr.
The allocation for the Benazir Income Support Programme has also been revised from Rs450bn to Rs466bn for FY24. Besides, the petroleum development levy will be raised from Rs50 to Rs60 per litre.
The changes in the budget came a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Global Financing Summit in Paris.
The Fund’s ongoing loan programme agreed in 2019 is set to expire on June 30. Under the $6.5bn facility’s ninth review, negotiated earlier this year, the country has been trying to secure $1.1bn of funding stalled since November.
When Dar presented the budget on June 9, he announced new revenue measures of Rs223bn in addition to all taxes worth Rs500bn introduced in a mini-budget in mid-February. The sum of new tax measures for the coming fiscal year now stands at Rs938bn.
The government hopes to achieve a 28pc higher revenue target for the next fiscal year based on projected economic growth of 3.5pc, average inflation of 21pc and revenue measures.
The autonomous growth in revenue — to come from GDP growth and inflation — is projected at Rs1.76tr in the next fiscal year.
By: Inter News on June 25, 2023 / comment : 0 NEWS Firstpost » World
By: Inter News on June 25, 2023 / comment : 0 NEWS, The Dawn News - Home
The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force will go to Belarus and will not face charges after calling off his troops’ advance on Moscow, the Russian government said, easing the country’s most serious security crisis in decades.
The feud between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s military brass came to a violent head in the past day, with his forces capturing a key army headquarters in southern Russia on Saturday and then heading north to threaten the capital.
Within hours of Prigozhin’s about-face, the Kremlin announced he would leave for Belarus and Russia would not prosecute him or Wagner’s members.
It had been a dramatic day, with President Vladimir Putin warning against civil war, Moscow telling locals to stay off the streets and Kyiv revelling in the chaos engulfing its enemy.
The tide shifted suddenly when Prigozhin made the stunning announcement that his troops were “turning our columns around and going back to field camps” to avoid bloodshed in the Russian capital.
Prigozhin, who has feuded bitterly with Moscow’s military leadership even as his outfit led parts of Russia’s Ukraine offensive, said he understood the importance of the moment and did not want to “spill Russian blood”.
By early Sunday, Wagner had pulled fighters and equipment from Rostov-on-Don, where they had seized the military headquarters, said the regional governor.
But before they left, dozens of residents were cheering and chanting “Wagner! Wagner!” outside the military headquarters they had captured.
Authorities in the southern Lipetsk region announced the lifting of restrictions after earlier reporting Wagner fighters in their territory, where the local capital is 420 kilometres south of Moscow.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he had negotiated a truce with Prigozhin, drawing thanks from Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters that the “criminal case against him (Prigozhin) will be dropped. He himself will go to Belarus.” Peskov also said that members of Wagner who had taken part in what authorities termed an “armed rebellion” would not be prosecuted.
“Avoiding bloodshed, internal confrontation, and clashes with unpredictable results was the highest goal,” Peskov added.
In Ukraine, government officials said the situation had “humiliated” Putin. “Prigozhin humiliated Putin/the state and showed that there is no longer a monopoly on violence,” presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.
While Russia claimed the rebellion had no impact on its Ukraine campaign, Kyiv said the unrest offered a “window of opportunity” as the nation pressed its long-awaited counter-offensive.
Analysts said there were likely to be consequences for Prigozhin and Wagner.
“There has to be, otherwise the message is that a military force can openly challenge the state, and others have to learn that the Russian state indeed has a monopoly on violence inside the country,” Samuel Bendett, a researcher at the Center for Naval Analyses, tweeted.
Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, said cooperation between Wagner and the Russian military was likely to suffer.
“Putin and the security services will likely try to weaken Wagner or remove Prigozhin,” Lee tweeted.
“Given Wagner’s presence overseas, the greatest effects from this event may be felt in MENA/Africa”, where Wagner has a large presence.
While the Kremlin appeared to have been caught on the back foot, US spy agencies picked up signs days ago that Prigozhin was planning to act, US media reported.
They began tracking indications that Prigozhin and his mercenary force intended to move against the military leadership in mid-June, the Washington Post said, adding US spy agencies believed Putin was informed the Wagner chief was plotting his rebellion at least a day before it happened.
The United States and its allies publicly stayed on the sidelines as officials waited to see how the revolt would play out.
US President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain amid concerns that Putin’s control over the nuclear-armed country could be slipping.
Moscow issued a stiff warning to the United States and allies to stay back. “The rebellion plays into the hands of Russia’s external enemies,” the foreign ministry said.
Before Prigozhin’s climbdown, Russian regular forces had launched what one regional governor called a “counter-terrorist operation” to halt the Wagner advance northwards up a main highway towards Moscow.
In the capital, the mayor urged Muscovites to stay indoors and declared Monday a day off work.
Security was tightened in the city centre, with armed men in flak jackets guarding the parliament building and Red Square closed off to the public.
“I don’t know how to react. In any case it’s very sad this is happening,” 35-year-old Yelena told AFP, declining to give her last name.
All road traffic restrictions that had been imposed in Rostov, Lipetsk and other regions during the crisis have been lifted, state-run TASS reported, citing the federal road agency.
The measures came after Prigozhin announced his troops had taken control of the military command centre and airbase in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the nerve centre of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
Russia’s Federal Road Agency urged residents of the Moscow region to refrain from travelling along the M-4 “Don” major expressway until 10am (7am GMT).
The agency had said earlier in the day on the Telegram messaging app, in a post now deleted, that traffic restrictions on the highway in the Moscow and Tula regions remained.
Responding to the challenge in a televised address, Putin accused Prigozhin of a “stab in the back” that posed a threat to Russia’s very survival.
“Any internal turmoil is a deadly threat to our statehood and to us as a nation. This is a blow to Russia and to our people,” Putin said, demanding national unity.
“Extravagant ambitions and personal interests led to treason,” Putin said, referring to Prigozhin, who began building his power base as a catering contractor.
As the insurrection force headed north through Voronezh and Lipetsk towards Moscow, the capital’s mayor announced that “anti-terrorist” measures were being taken.
Critical facilities were “under reinforced protection”, TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source.
While Prigozhin’s outfit fought at the forefront of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, he repeatedly blamed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, for his fighters’ deaths.
Muscovites on Saturday expressed unease or dismissed as political theatre a standoff pitting the Kremlin against Wagner mercenaries who had vowed to descend on the capital in a “march of justice” denouncing the conduct of the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainians, on the other hand, were clearly satisfied, sometimes gleeful, at the prospect of a split in Russian ranks 16 months after the Kremlin’s troops invaded their country.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, had declared that a “counter-terrorism regime” was in force, before the leader of the Wagner private militia announced that his fighters would turn back to avoid bloodshed.
Prigozhin had said he wanted to oust the army’s top brass and “restore justice”, while Putin had promised to crush the mutiny.
One Moscow resident who gave his name as Nikolai — declining like others to give his surname — watched the military take up positions to protect the city.
“It’s frightening of course — you sit at home thinking about what might happen,” he told Reuters. “It’s disturbing, both for you and your loved ones.”
Some residents found it hard to grasp the scale of events.
“It’s really tough news, really unexpected. I’ve just come back from university. I’ve just done my last exam — and the news was really unexpected as I was prepping (for the exam) last night,” said Vladimir, a student.
“I don’t really know how to react. I haven’t really got my head around it yet.”
In Kyiv’s Independence Square — packed with residents enjoying a stroll — Natalia Tanich, 48, acknowledged a certain pleasure in watching the Russian standoff.
“I enjoy what is happening in Russia. The inevitable conflict between Prigozhin and Putin was expected,” she said. “I don’t know what may come out of it. But I wish for them to shoot each other and die.”
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city subjected to frequent shelling since the invasion, Ivan said the confrontation was a consequence of volatile politics and the protracted conflict.
“They started the war and now they are getting it back. The harder you compress a spring, the harder it comes back,” he said.
“The situation was compressed to such an extent in Russia that it became hopeless. I consider what happened a natural event. It will influence the war but I think it will not be over in a day. We will have to endure a bit.”
By: Inter News on June 24, 2023 / comment : 0 NEWS, The Dawn News - Home
Lahore’s Special Court (Central) on Saturday granted PTI President Parvez Elahi post-arrest bail in a money laundering case, days after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested him and he was sent to jail.
On June 21, Elahi was taken into custody from the district jail in the said case. The FIA had requested physical custody, but a district court denied it and he and was sent to jail on judicial remand. He has been accused of money laundering via five companies and frontmen.
The same day, his son Rasikh Elahi had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking details of all cases against his father as well as a protective bail.
The next day, a special court for banking offences had issued notices to the FIA on Elahi’s post-arrest bail petition while confirming the interim pre-arrest bail of his son and two daughters-in-law.
During today’s court proceedings, Advocate Rana Intizar appeared as Elahi’s counsel while Elahi was in jail. Meanwhile, the FIA had opposed the acceptance of his bail plea.
Later, judge Bakht Fakhar Bahzad’s court issued an order for the PTI president’s release from the District Camp jail, which states that Elahi is to be released “if not wanted in any other case and after confirmation of surety bonds”.
The court accepted Elahi’s bail plea for surety bonds worth Rs10,000.
Elahi’s son, Rasikh, had filed a petition in the LHC on June 21 seeking details of all cases against his father as well as a protective bail.
Rasikh had made Punjab’s caretaker government, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), the FIA, Punjab Inspector General Dr Usman Anwar, the capital city police officer and the deputy inspector general respondents in the petition.
The plea, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, asked the LHC to direct the respondents to “produce all the details of criminal cases/FIRs registered against the petitioner’s father which have not been disclosed by the respondents”.
It had also sought protective bail for Elahi in the money laundering case that the PTI president was booked in on June 20.
Rasikh had also requested the LHC to direct the respondents to not arrest Elahi “while being released from the Camp Jail Lahore till the petitioner has been provided with the copies of the FIRs lodged against” Elahi, as well as till Elahi has been provided with a “reasonable opportunity of at least three days to apply for anticipatory/protective bail”.
The petition alleged that Elahi was being “politically victimised by the law-enforcing agencies” of Punjab and that he has been falsely implicated in various cases by the ACE.
It had further said that false cases have been registered against Elahi on the “instructions and connivance of sitting federal government”. The plea argued that the respondents — the police, FIA and the ACE — were not discharging their duties in accordance with the law.
It described the manner of raids conducted at Elahi’s house on April 28 as being similar to “conducting an operation in the tribal (katcha) areas of district Rahim Yar Khan, without showing any regard to the dignity and privacy of the family of the petitioner”.
The plea had recalled a May court order to not arrest Elahi in “any of the cases registered against him till today” and stated that five cases have been filed against the PTI president by the ACE.
By: Inter News on June 24, 2023 / comment : 0 NEWS Firstpost » World
By: Inter News on June 24, 2023 / comment : 0 NEWS Firstpost » World