Suicide attack kills Afghan’s deputy governor

GHAZNI: A suicide bomber on a motorcycle has killed the deputy governor of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, Mohammad Kazim Allahyar, his son and two bodyguards who were in the same car, a top police official said.

Delawar Zahid, police chief of Ghazni province, which lies around two hours’ drive southwest of the capital Kabul, said that the men were near the airport in Ghazni city when the bomber struck.

“Allahyar was on his way to work when a suicide bomber on a motorbike targeted his car,” Zahid said. AGENCIES

Governor SBP resigns

KARACHI: Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Salim Raza has resigned from office, Geo News reported Wednesday night.

According to official statement, President Asif Ali Zardari has accepted Salim Raza’s resignation. It said the Governor SBP had tendered his resignation due to personal reasons on May 6.

Deputy Governor Shaikh Yasin has been made acting Governor SBP.

Saudi Arabia provides $380mln loan to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia here on Tuesday signed three agreements worth $380 million for time deposit, import of fertilizer and hydropower generation. Of these, two loan agreements pertained to the pledge made by Saudi Arabia during Donors Conference held in Tokyo on the backdrop of Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting in which it pledged US$700 million for Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia here on Tuesday signed three agreements worth $380 million for time deposit, import of fertilizer and hydropower generation.

Of these, two loan agreements pertained to the pledge made by Saudi Arabia during Donors Conference held in Tokyo on the backdrop of Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting in which it pledged US$700 million for Pakistan.

The loan agreements were signed by Vice Chairman and Managing Director Saudi Fund for Development, Eng. Yousef Ibrahim Al-Bassam on behalf of Saudi Arabia and Secretary Economic Affairs Division, Sibtain Fazal Halim and Deputy Governor Sate Bank of Pakistan, Yaseen Anwar on behalf of Pakistan.

The first loan agreement is related to time deposit of US$200 million that Saudi Arabia would keep in State Bank of Pakistan.

It carries an interest rate of three months LIBOR and its repayment would be made in eight years including three years grace period.

On the occasion, Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Aziz Al-Ghadeer and Secretary Chairman WAPDA, Shakil Durani and Deputy Governor were also present at signing ceremony.

The second agreement from the pledged amount was export credit of US$100 million which would be utilized for import of urea fertilizer from Saudi Arabia.

A separate agreement would be inked between Trade Corporation of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), which will execute this agreement.

The loan of $100 million carries an interest rate of one year’s LIBOR plus 85 basis points and will be repayable after a period of two years.

The agreement to this effect was signed by Yousef Ibrahim Al-Bassam and Secretary EAD Fazal Halim.

The third agreement was co-financing of Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project which is regular on-going assistance form Saudi Arabia.

The Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project, with a donor-component of US$75 million, is co-finance by Saudi Arabia, Abdu Dhabi, Kuwait, Islamic Development Bank OPEC Fund and Chinese EXIM Bank.

Saudi Arabia would provide soft loan of US$80 million for this project.

The loan caries an interest rate of two percent and is payable in 20 years including grace period of six years.

Speaking on the occasion, Eng. Yousef Al-Bassam said that Saudi Arabia was keen to continue its cooperation with Pakistan and assist it in financing development projects in various sectors of economy.

He said that the signing of these agreements was a continuing process towards more stronger ties and cooperation between the two countries.

He said that the hydropower project aims to utilize the natural resources to contribute to providing power supply, which will assist in supporting the social-economic development in Pakistan.

Secretary EAD also spoke on the occasion and expressed the hope that the amount provided through these agreements would help promote the respective sectors.

Supreme Court of Pakistan refuses stay on Rs 40/kg sugar rate

ISLAMABAD Pakistan: Supreme Court of Pakistan has refused to grant stay on Lahore High Court’s verdict of fixing sugar price at Rs 40 per kg, reports www.trendpk.com .

However, the court accepted the pleas by the federal and provincial governments of Sindh, Punjab and NWFP to be the parties in the petitions filed by the Punjab Sugar Dealers Association, Pakistan Sugar Mills Association, Makkah Sugar Mills (Pvt) Ltd, Sheikhoo Sugar Mills (Pvt) Ltd and one Abdul Quddus Malik.

The two-member bench of the Supreme Court – comprises of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, resumed Thursday the hearing of identical petitions seeking suspension of LHC’s suo motu order of Sept 3 of fixing the sweetener rate at Rs 40 per kg.

The State Bank’s deputy governor, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and chief secretaries of all four provinces appeared before the bench on court notice.

Deputy Governor SBP informed the court that sugar mills owners’ were in debt of worth Rs 21 billion of various commercial banks of the country.

A report on the investigations into 2006 sugar crisis prepared by the NAB at that time was also presented before the honorable bench which revealed that most of the sugar mills were owned by the key politicians of the country, charging them of creating sugar crisis of 2006 by hoarding the commodity illegally.

CJ Chaudhry during the hearing refused to grant stay on LHC’s verdict, saying that it would be inappropriate to grant any relief at this point of time. He observed that the court is not suspending the sugar rate of Rs 40 per kg and it will remain effective throughout the country.

Rejecting the pleaders’ stance that the crushing of sugar is being hampered by LHC’s verdict that would further dampen the crisis, the CJ observed that no one was restricting the sugar mill owners of crushing the sugarcanes.

The bench ordered the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) to present its report on current sugar crisis on the next hearing set to be held on Oct 1 and adjourned the case till then.

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Supreme Court of Pakistan refuses stay on Rs 40/kg sugar rate was first posted on September 24, 2009 at 4:39 pm.
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