Finance Minister Ishaq Dar called Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a “disinformation army”.
In a media talk on Thursday, responding to a question by a journalist about him taking Rs72 crore in back salary, the minister said, “This is the disinformation army of PTI who malign everything” and termed them as “imrandos”.
“I didnt take a single penny and don’t have any intention to take any money,” he added.
During the talk, when asked about decreasing petrol prices, he said, “Abhi kal toh ki hai”. (We reduced the prices just now).
The finance minister also addressed the continuous depreciation of the US dollar against the rupee, saying that the greenback depreciated without him doing anything.
He also announced a power subsidy package for Pakistan’s export industries with per unit electricity cost set at Rs19.99.
Dar said the annual burden of the subsidy would amount to around Rs90-100 billion, adding that the “all-inclusive” package was announced for the five major exporting sectors, and not just the textile sector.
Meanwhile, in response to a question on whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was taken into confidence on the package, the finance minister said: “I don’t need to take the IMF into confidence, when I know what I am doing then it is my responsibility to create fiscal space for it and I have done so.”
Moreover, the minister said the market is now going in the “right direction” and correcting itself.
Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, the daughter of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former President Asif Ali Zardari, announced the birth of her second child on Instagram on Thursday.
Her second son is named Mir Sijawal Mahmood Choudhry.
She took to Instagram and made a prayer for his name. “Named by and after his nana baba, sij is Sindhi for sun. Sijawal means the rising sun.”
Her first child, Mir Hakim, was born on October 10, 2021. Back then, Bakhtawar also used Instagram to make the surprise announcement of his birth.
It is likely that her second son, whose name has not yet been revealed, was also born in Dubai as Bakhtawar and her husband, Mahmood Choudhry, are based there.
After Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Pakistan’s sovereign credit rating on Friday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar dismissed worries, stating there is ‘nothing to worry about’.
“There is nothing to be worried about, I spoke with Moody’s yesterday and told them that they shouldn’t have done this. They should have consulted with us,” said Dar while talking to the media.
The announcement follows Moody’s Investors Service’s (Moody’s) Thursday night downgrading the government of Pakistan’s senior unsecured debt rating from B3 to Caa1 for both local and foreign currency issuers.
According to Express Tribune, the senior unsecured MTN program’s rating was similarly reduced by Moody’s, moving from (P) B3 to (P) Caa1. The future remains bleak.
In the wake of the terrible floods that have struck the nation since June 2022, the rating agency said that the decision to lower the ratings to Caa1 was motivated by greater government liquidity, external vulnerability risks, and higher debt sustainability risks.
The floods have significantly increased the need for social spending, compounded Pakistan’s problems with liquidity and external credit, and negatively impacted government revenue.
According to the rating agency, Pakistan’s long-standing credit weakness of extremely weak debt affordability would continue for the foreseeable future.
However, the Ministry of Finance vehemently contested Moody’s rating decision in its reaction. “The rating action by Moody’s is strongly contested by the Ministry of Finance as the rating action by Moody’s was carried out unilaterally without prior consultations and meetings with our teams from the Ministry of Finance and State Bank of Pakistan,” a statement issued by the ministry said.
“Following Moody’s intimation of the rating action, the ministry held two meetings with the agency’s team over the past 24 hours, sharing data and information which clearly show a picture contradicting Moody’s rating action.
“After a regular stock take of the economic and fiscal conditions, the Ministry of Finance informed that government policies over the last few months have helped in fiscal consolidation,” the ministry added.
“The government had adequate liquidity and financing arrangements to meet its external liabilities.”
Dar said that Fitch Ratings recently downgraded the UK from stable to negative. “The ratings from these agencies is essential for issuing bonds and Sukuks in the international market,” he said. He claimed that he informed Moody’s that if the organisation did not change its mind, he would provide a “befitting” response at his meeting with its representatives set for next week.
“They (Moody’s officials) have to meet me. I told them if you don’t [reverse] this, I will give you a befitting response in our meeting next week,” he said.
Musician Abdullah Qureshi has announced that he is quitting his music career for religious reasons.
In a statement shared on his social media accounts, Qureshi revealed his reasons for ‘being lost’.
“I have received a ton of messages in this time asking about where I have been,” he wrote. “I was on a break, pressed the pause button for a while and took this time to find out who I was, where I am headed and who I want to become.” Announcing his decision to quit the music industry, Qureshi said, ” want to take a moment to announce my exit from the music industry as I have decided to stop doing music as a full-time profession. I took this decision purely because of religious reasons.”
He added, “I had a great time making music, playing at concerts for thousands of people, getting loved and appreciated, facing controversies, making some wrong decisions, spreading some positivity, making some amazing friends, working with people who were my idols, learning from the best and doing what I loved doing.” Sharing how he now believes that the actual purpose of his life is “way bigger than all of this”, Qureshi remarked, “We have very little time in this world to make our afterlife better.”
He explained, “Alhamdulillah, I am very satisfied with this decision and I am on my way to find the real truth and I pray that Allah makes this new journey easy for me.”
He asserted that he will no longer perform in concerts or appear in ads. “I would appreciate it if I am not contacted for those. However, if I am needed for any appearance events, social media campaigns or work that interests me and falls in the folds of our religion, I’d be happy to do it.” He concluded his statement with gratitude for endless support and love.
Qureshi’s decision was welcomed by many on social media. However, around the same time, singer Natasha Baig, without naming names, presented an imperative point to ponder. “I will never accept those musicians or actors who leave behind their career in the name of awakening,” Baig shared on social media. “Because that proves the wrong narrative that has been attached with music.”
She added, “So, please go ahead and congratulations on your awakening but do not make us look like villains in the process. Your acts might be something that Islam never appreciates, but music is divine and it has nothing to do with any sinful act unless you are unable to control your nafs and nafs can become a problem in any profession.”
Even actor Hamza Ali Abbasi shared his take on Qureshi’s decision. Hamza tweeted, “May God give u the strength & persistence in ur iman, ikhlaaq & deeds brother. Just want to share my discovery that Music is not completely haraam in Islam. If u have time, please watch this 1 program https://youtu.be/VizbnlNBLvQ OR this detailed 10 part series.”
Last year, Qureshi took to his Instagram stories to respond to a girl’s accusations about him sliding into her inbox with inappropriate messages. Qureshi In this apologised and stated that he is sorry to everyone that he has hurt or harmed in any way and requested the removal of anything related to ‘this’ because it has affected his career and is likely to affect his daughter.
His apology read, “I apologise to everyone for all this. I won’t blame my drunken state because it was me at the end of the day. But yes, I did have a drinking problem and I do have fetishes. But everyone has fetishes.”
He went on to clarify that his apology “is not about that [his fetishes],” but about “messaging randoms.” He further stated, “Yes, I did have that problem too but I stopped when I had my daughter. I apologise to her for being the worst dad.” Qureshi added that he had discussed all of this with his wife a year ago and the matter was settled between them.
“We are happy and I’m a changed man.” The Dastaan crooner continued, “I am sorry to everyone I have hurt or harmed in any way and I request removal of anything regarding this because it has already affected my career and most importantly, it’s going to affect my daughter.”
Actor Adnan Siddiqui recently wrapped up his hosting stint on Pakistan’s biggest reality show, Tamasha. The reality show was inspired by the global format of Big Brother show, which is adapted as Bigg Boss in India.
Adnan had dinner with the Tamasha inmates in the last week of the show. Now in the first week of Bigg Boss 16, host Salman Khan enters the house to have dinner with the contestants.
The Ahista Ahista star took notice of Salman’s latest act and took to his Instagram stories to share a cryptic post.
The actor shared a collage showing how he dined with his contestants first and the Ek Tha Tiger star followed it later.
Siddiqui captioned his post as, “My dear friends/critics, I rest my case.”
Earlier Adnan and Tamasha’s makers were scrutinised for copying Bigg Boss, and the lack of novelty in the show’s basic format.
The World Bank has said that catastrophic monsoon flooding linked to climate change may push between six and nine million Pakistanis into poverty.
Unprecedented monsoon rains that hit Pakistan this year resulting in 1,700 fatalities, two million destroyed homes, and a third of the country being under water.
In shabby tent cities and dispersed settlements close to the still waters that devoured their possessions and way of life, eight million people are still without a home.
“The recent floods are expected to have a substantial negative impact on Pakistan’s economy and on the poor, mostly through the disruption of agricultural production,” said Najy Benhassine, the World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan. “The Government must strike a balance in meeting extensive relief and recovery needs, while staying on track with overdue macroeconomic reforms. It will be more important than ever to carefully target relief to the poor, constrain the fiscal deficit within sustainable limits, maintain a tight monetary policy stance, ensure continued exchange rate flexibility, and make progress on critical structural reforms, especially those in the energy sector.”
As many as 33 million people of the 220 million South Asian nation have been affected in some way by the floods that swept away houses, roads, railways and bridges and submerged around 4 million acres of farmland.
According to Dr Murtaza Syed, deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan would probably reach its 5-7 per cent inflation target by the start of the following fiscal year because of a positive base effect and ‘tighter’ macroeconomic regulations.
According to Dawn, the SBP deputy head said that inflation in Pakistan quadrupled from 13–14 per cent to around 25–27 per cent since June as a result of an increase in POL costs during a Zoom session hosted by the World Bank.
Although Pakistan does have an issue with inflation, it has lately started to decline and showed a “greater than expected” decline in the past month, he noted.
Dr Syed claims that inflation has “kind of crested” and will begin to drop for the remainder of the year.
The SBP deputy chief also referred to worries over Pakistan’s economic outlook as “exaggerated” and claimed that Pakistan was at least $10 billion over-financed as a result of inflows from friendly nations and pledges made by development partners in the wake of floods.
According to a central bank official, Pakistan needed about $31 billion in external financing, but had $37 billion in accessible funding, which was $6 billion more than it needed. The recent floods, he said, “may have some effects on the current account deficit, but this is before taking into account the floods.”
An ex-policeman identified as Panya Kamrab has killed at least 37 people, most of them children, in a gun and knife attack at a childcare centre in north-east Thailand.
Trigger warning
At least 22 children were among the dead in the mass killing. Some victims, aged as young as two, were attacked as they slept.
Police say that the attacker then killed himself, his wife and his son after the horrific incident. According to Thai police, the attacker mostly stabbed his victims before fleeing the scene.
“The shooter came in around lunchtime and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first,” a local official told Reuters.
“After inspecting the crime scene, we found that the perpetrator tried to break in and he mainly used a knife to commit the crime by killing a number of small children,” said Police Chief.
“Then he got out and started killing anyone he met along the way with a gun or the knife until he got home. We surrounded the house and then found that he committed suicide in his home.”
The country’s Prime Minister (PM) Prayut Chan-o-cha described the incident as “a shocking event”.
The attacker was a police lieutenant colonel before he was dismissed last year for drug use.
A video showing plainclothes police officers whipping Muslim men who are strapped to a pole has gone viral in India. The video shows large crowds of people present at the incident cheering and applauding police for the flogging.
The crowd can also be heard chanting, “maro, maro” (beat them).
The video footage is thought to have been shot on Tuesday in the Kheda area of western Gujarat. It surfaced on social media and spread like wildfire.
A group of police officers in civilian attire can be seen beating a group of at least four or five men with sticks as they are each tied to an electricity pole. One of them is using a holstered pistol. The pistol is customary for Indian police officers.
The muslim men were accused of attacking a garba celebration in Undhela hamlet in the district on Monday. Police arrested a dozen people and cases were registered against 150 people, including women.
Addressing a joint session of the parliament on Thursday, President Dr Arif Alvi stressed on empowerment of women in Pakistan, saying that opportunities should be made for them.
Addressing a sparsely attended session, the President said that women should feel safe in public spaces and men in society can contribute to that. He pointed out that women in Pakistan can contribute a greatly to society.
Moreover, the president said that women should be given chances to work in public offices and urged lawmakers to work on eliminating harassment.
His remarks were addressed to a mostly empty hall, with legislators from both treasury and Opposition benches choosing to skip the session.
Dr Alvi warned against neglecting youth as he called for the inclusion of children who were out of school and urged lawmakers to focus on it.
“I have spoken to ulema that mosques should have sessions to provide school education. If you can’t provide education to children, give them skills,” he highlighted.
Talking about the flood situation in Pakistan, the president, “I want to felicitate the Pakistan Army for helping victims while sacrificing their lives. The federal and provincial governments, PDMA (Provincial Disaster Management Authority), and NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) all worked hard on the ground. I thank all of them.”
He said that the recent floods had, once again, raised the demand for building dams. Furthermore, he pointed out that if the relief work is not done on time, human and economic losses from the floods would be higher.
“The Netherlands is 19 times smaller than Pakistan but it has progressed in agriculture, and my country should have progressed more in this field. If we adopt a scientific approach, Pakistan can beat the world,” he stated.
Talking about foreign affairs in his speech today, the president lauded the government for improving ties with the United States (US). On China, the president said, “I believe the Pakistan-China friendship is a real one and CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is an example of it.”
At one point during his address, the president also called for the continuation of the work on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), saying “We shouldn’t delay this”.
President Alvi was set to address the joint session on August 14, but due to the apprehensions of the coalition government, the address was postponed.
