Lawyers beat man in LHC premises

 

As per detail, Muhammad Shakil, after getting interim bail in a case exchanged harsh words with the rival group’s counsel Shabir Ahmad.

 

On this, Shabir Ahmad started beating Shakil along with his colleagues. Shakil ran to main gate and tried to escape but lawyers chased him and started beating him again.

 

On intervention of some lawyers, Shakil was freed after apologising from Advocate Shabir.
 

No economic growth without Pak structural changes: IMF

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has concluded the 2011 Article-IV consultation and proposals for post-programme monitoring regarding Pakistan s overall economic situation.

 

Giving the current state of Pakistani economy, the IMF says that Pakistan s economic performance has weakened and external pressures are mounting. “In 2010/11, real GDP expanded by 2.4 percent—far below the estimated 7 percent required to absorb the two million new labor market entrants annually—with inflation persistently in double digits”, it pointed out.

 

“Unemployment is high when underemployment and unpaid employment are taken into account, while poverty incidence and measures of human development are at worrisome levels”, the report reads adding that the efforts to boost revenue mobilization were once again frustrated by a lack of political support, and the fiscal deficit widened to 6.6 percent of GDP in 2010/11.

 

While the economy is recovering from the floods, the external position, until recently a source of strength on booming exports and workers’ remittances, is deteriorating. “The rupee has come under some pressure, prompting State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) exchange market intervention. The SBP’s foreign exchange reserves have declined by about $2 billion in the last six months”, the report outlines.

 

Making predictions about Pakistan s economy, based on the on-ground situation, IMF says that “on current policies, Pakistan’s near- and medium-term prospects are challenging. Growth would remain too low to absorb the large number of new entrants into the labor force, inflation would remain high, and the external position would weaken further”.

 

Notwithstanding the official figures, “IMF estimates that in 2011/12, real GDP growth is projected at 3.4 percent and average Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation at 12 percent”. “Monetary policy has become more accommodative, with the SBP directly or indirectly (through liquidity injections via open market operations) financing fiscal deficits (which is likely to increase inflation)”, it argued.

 

“A deterioration in the current account balance due to lower cotton/textile prices and a sharp slowdown in remittances growth, continued difficulties in attracting external financing, and the beginning of repayments to the IMF will likely put further pressure on the balance of payments this year, with reserves projected at $12.1 billion by end 2011/12″, the report mentions.

 

In the absence of corrective measures, the fiscal deficit was likely to reach 7 percent of GDP, much higher than the government’s revised budget target of 4.7 percent. “Moreover, there are considerable downside risks to this already difficult baseline, particularly in the context of an increasingly difficult global environment and concerns about policy weakening ahead of senate elections in 2012 and parliamentary elections in 2013″, it informed.

 

The report does take into account the background and difficulties faced by the Pakistani economy in the recent past, including external and domestic economic shocks, political uncertainty, and security problems. Despite these challenges, the economic policymakers have taken policy actions and implemented several reforms, including those under the recently expired Stand-By Arrangement with IMF, which helped the economy avoid a full-blown crisis in 2008/09, the report observed.

 

“These actions and reforms include establishment of an interest rate corridor, implementation of a more market-based exchange rate regime, and a strengthening of the enforcement powers of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). In addition, the authorities substantially raised electricity tariffs and domestic prices of the main petroleum products, and the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) provided basic income support to the poor during the various shocks that have hit Pakistan”.

 

Despite the healthy economic outlook and steps taken last year, IMF does forewarn Pakistan about the imminent challenges. “Unresolved structural problems (especially in the energy sector), two major floods, difficulties in implementing key policy reforms, and a more challenging global environment have combined to limit growth and employment creation and made the economy highly vulnerable, with few buffers to absorb shocks”, the Fund suggests.
The IMF Executive Board, that takes policy decisions regarding member countries, has assessed that “Pakistan continues to fall short of its economic potential, and called for a reorientation of macroeconomic and structural policies to stem near-term risks to macroeconomic stability, and to lay the foundation for durable and inclusive growth over the medium term”.

 

In particular, merit in further broadening the tax base, restructuring public enterprises, eliminating poorly targeted subsidies, phasing out commodity procurement operations, strengthening the framework for fiscal devolution and the incentives for provincial governments to raise revenue were recommended.

 

“Monetary and exchange rate policies need to better focus on containing inflation and external risks. Monetary policy is now too accommodative, and should be tightened if inflation or external pressures increase”, the IMF stated.

 

Regarding SBP policies, the report says that “central bank financing of the budget needs to be curtailed, and greater operational independence of the central bank needs to be secured. More exchange rate flexibility needed to facilitate external adjustment and safeguard foreign reserves”.

 

“Rising non-performing loan ratios and other weaknesses in banks’ balance sheets present risks to financial stability. Stronger supervisory oversight, improved mechanisms needed for resolving problem banks, and the prompt establishment of a bank-financed deposit insurance scheme”, the Fund says about the banking sector.

 

The IMF Directors also urged the authorities to address long-standing deficiencies in the regulatory regimes against money laundering and terrorism financing. They said high priority should be attached to improving the business environment, boosting external competitiveness, and upgrading the power sector to remove its burden on the public finances and provide a reliable electricity supply to support growth.

 

Later, addressing a press conference, IMF mission chief for Pakistan, Adnan Mazarei, conceded that “Pakistan s security problems and general economic health are a problem. External sector deteroriation and remittances are going down because of developments in international economy”, he argued.

 

He pointed out that “cotton prices have come down drastically, and oil prices increasing which will put pressure on Pakistani economy. Demands for Pakistani prices are decreasing. He said that “energy sector will remain struggling unless drastic structural changes are taken and only price increase will not be able to solve the problem”.

 

Commenting of the State Bank policies, he said the central bank had pumped a large amount of liquidity in markets, which will increase prices and will also have an impact on bank profits. “It is quite correct to say that Pakistan economy is facing huge vulnerabilities and risks”, he said when asked to remark on the country s financial health.

 

On a question about Pakistan s expected revenues from granting 3G licenses, he said “Pakistani authorities expect a maximum of 700-800 million dollars from 3G licenses, which will only bring budget deficit down to 6.6 percent”.

 

With current kind of growth rate, job creation was very difficult, he said adding that “investment climate in Pakistan is not very good, and steps need to be taken to attarct it”. “Improving relations with India and WTO tariff exemptions for 75 items recently should help Pakistan in this regard”, he emphasized.

 

The re-payment of previous IMF loan will start this month (February), he said while adding, in response to another question, that Pakistani authorities had not requested any new loan. “In the foreseeable future, pressure on rupee could continue, balance of payments are also affected by political situation in Pakistan”, he concluded.– Contributed by Awais Saleem, News Trends correspondent in Washington, DC

 

IMF warns Pakistan over slow growth, high deficit

 

The International Monitoring Fund said the economy remains deeply at risk to both internal and external shocks.

 

The IMF said Pakistan s economy would speed up to a 3.4 percent growth pace in fiscal 2011-2012, which runs to June 30, compared to 2.4 percent last year.

 

But that was less than half the pace needed to absorb two million new workers in the market every year, it said, while unemployment and underemployment remain higher than the official 6.6 percent rate.

 

At the same time, loose money policies by the State Bank of Pakistan, meant to help the economy grow, continue to feed double-digit inflation.

 

The economy is “highly vulnerable with few buffers to absorb shocks,” the Fund said in an annual report.

 

It noted that political resistance has prevented a needed effort by the government to increase revenues to cover its budget shortfall, with the result that the deficit will expand to about 7.0 percent of gross domestic product this year from 6.6 percent last year.

 

The country s foreign balance is weakening, with exports expected to fall in US dollar value by 1.8 percent percent, partly due to falling cotton prices.

 

Meanwhile the central bank s intervention to support the rupee had led to a $2 billion fall in reserves in the past six months, the fund said.

 

The IMF warned of “considerable downside risks to this already difficult baseline,” citing both the challenging global economic environment and, inside Pakistan, coming senate and parliamentary elections.

 

In their comment on the report, the IMF executive directors urged the government to boost revenues and tighten its “too accommodative” monetary policy.

 

“Central bank financing of the budget needs to be curtailed, and greater operational independence of the central bank needs to be secured.”—AFP
 

FIFA to take steps to reinstate EFA

 

FIFA will take steps to reinstate Egypt s Football Association (EFA), suspended by Cairo after 74 people died in violence at a match in Port Said, FIFA chief Sepp Blatter said on Sunday.

 

Blatter, attending an extraordinary congress of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) at its Paraguay headquarters, said the EFA s suspension after Wednesday s violence was a direct intervention into soccer affairs which FIFA could not accept.

 

“The information we have received at FIFA confirms the number of dead as 74. It was also confirmed that the (Egyptian)
government intervened directly by suspending the football association,” Blatter told a news conference.

 

“We are going to take up the case from tomorrow (Monday) so that this association is reinstated because it is the (body)
that has the responsibility to organise the competitions and it must carry on (its work),” the president of world soccer s governing body said.

 

The incident, when fans invaded the pitch in Port Said after home team al-Masry beat Cairo giants al-Ahli, was Egypt s worst soccer disaster and Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri sacked the EFA board.

 

It was also the incident with the highest number of victims in Egypt since an uprising brought down the government of Hosni Mubarak early last year.

 

Most of the deaths were among people trampled in the crush of the panicking crowd. Demonstrators who staged anti-government protests after the incident blamed the country s military authorities.

 

“FIFA s number one objective is to protect football, protect the association and naturally ensure these situations are not
repeated,” Blatter said.

 

“But we also need a police (force) or army because in football we don t have the power to intervene directly.”

 

The Conmebol congress attended by Blatter decided to modify its statutes to reduce the intervention of regional governments in football affairs.

 

Its president, Paraguayan Nicolas Leoz, recalled the case in 2008 when FIFA suspended Peru from all football after the
Peruvian government declared the re-election of the country s football federation president Manuel Burga illegal because of allegations of corruption.

“We have had problems in some South American countries because some governments have become involved in issues that are exclusively for the sporting authorities. The new statute follows clear FIFA laws on this matter,” Leoz said.

Blatter also said he was confident Brazil would be ready on time to stage the 2014 World cup finals.

 

“One matter we have (pending) is to obtain all the guarantees from the political authorities. We still lack some
guarantees but at the end of March we will have everything and I m sure Brazil will organise a great World Cup,” he said.

 

Pakistan not supporting regime change, military intervention in Syria

 

Pakistan supported a Security Council resolution with regards to conflict in Syria tabled in the United Nations. The resolution could not be passed eventually when it was vetoed by China and Russia during the voting on Sunday.

 

Senior diplomatic sources, talking to News Trends, explained Pakistan s decision to support Security Council resolution on Syria in UN. They said that Pakistan had made three specific demands during the deliberations process in the Security Council, and all of these were met.

 

“Pakistan had demanded that Syria s territorial integrity, unity and sovereignty will not be violated. Pakistan had also opposed the military intervention and regime change in Syria during parleys in the Security Council,” sources informed.

 

“Pakistan also urged both parties in the conflict to bring killings to an end and respect human rights,” sources revealed adding that all three Pakistani demands were accepted by the members in the lead-up to the SC resolution in UN.

 

When asked about the decision of China and Russia to veto the resolution, diplomatic sources expressed surprise. “Even China and Russia were ready to support this resolution till Thursday after consensus was achieved on the draft. However, they probably had a change in heart on Friday,” they opined.

 

“Pakistan has good relations with China but has its own position on the Syrian issue, particularly when all its demands had also been met. Therefore, Pakistan went ahead with its principled position,” they pointed in response to another question.

 

Drawing attention towards the stance adopted by the Arab League on Syria, they said the entire Arab world was speaking in one voice against the Syrian situation and the Arab League had also supported the resolution. “It is difficult to ignore the Arab voice for Pakistan because of the good relations with them, and also because that is consistent with Pakistani position on the issue,” they asserted.

 

Recalling that the original draft of the resolution had already been changed quite a lot during the last 3-4 days of discussions between member countries of the Security Council, they said “the resolution supported by Pakistan only mentions the political process and human rights situation in Syria.”

 

“Security Council resolution also makes no mention of military intervention or regime change in Syria,” they said while reiterating the Pakistani position in this regard. “Pakistan is monitoring the situation as it unfolds as it is very hard to ignore killings and human rights injustice,” they observed.

 

- Contributed by Awais Saleem, News Trends correspondent in Washington, DC
 

UN fails to record Syria toll

 

The UN said it cannot keep track of the death toll in Syria s months-long unrest that has already cost more than 5,400 lives, as government forces targeted the protest hub of Hama with a major assault.

 

The admission came as European and Arab nations worked on a UN Security Council resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad s government for its continuing deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

 

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay gave a toll of more than 5,000 dead when she spoke to the UN Security Council in early December, but has not updated it.

 

Under secretary general B. Lynn Pascoe told the council on January 10 that at least 400 people had been killed since Arab League monitors arrived in Syria on December 26.

 

After meeting Security Council ambassadors again, Pillay said the toll had risen but added: “We are experiencing difficulties because of the fragmentation on the ground.”

 

“Some areas are totally closed such as parts of Homs, so we are unable to update that figure but in my view 5,000 and more is a huge figure and should really shock the international community into taking action,” she told reporters.

 

Russia said on Wednesday it would consider “constructive proposals” to end the bloodshed in Syria but opposed the use of force or sanctions.

 

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any UN Security Council resolution backed by Moscow “must firmly record that it cannot be used or interpreted to justify anyone s outside military intervention in the Syria crisis.”

 

Russia and China both blocked a previous Western attempt to have the Security Council formally condemn Assad s crackdown and impose stiff sanctions if he refuses to enter direct talks.

 

According to diplomats at the United Nations, European and Arab nations are currently hammering out a Security Council draft resolution condemning the crackdown.

 

They are said to want a vote early next week on a resolution that also hints at sanctions.

 

A first draft of the new resolution, obtained by AFP, notes Arab League sanctions ordered against Syria and “encourages all states to adopt similar steps and fully to cooperate with the League of Arab States in the implementation of its measures.”

 

On the ground, Syrian security forces continued their campaign against the central city of Hama, long a hotbed of resistance against Assad s rule.

 

“The Syrian army is bombarding Hama with heavy weapons, using rocket-propelled grenades,” said a statement on Wednesday from the Local Coordination Committees, which organises anti-regime protests on the ground.

 

Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the authorities, said the military had launched an offensive aimed at retaking several districts in Hama that were controlled by insurgents.

 

“The competent authorities have decided to resolve the matter in a definitive manner in order to relieve the city of armed militias,” it said.

 

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross has demanded a probe into Wednesday s murder of top aid worker Abdelrazak Jbeiro in the northwestern province of Idlib.

 

It said Jbeiro, the Syrian Red Crescent s secretary general and president for Idlib, was shot dead near Khan Sheikun on the Halab-Damascus highway.

 

The Red Cross said the Syrian Arab Red Crescent president, AbdulRahman al-Attar, had “officially requested the Syrian authorities to launch an investigation into the death of Dr Jbeiro.”

 

On the economic front, Canada on Wednesday announced new sanctions against four banks, three oil companies and 22 people linked with the Assad regime — Ottawa s fifth round of sanctions against Syria since May.

 

“We want to make sure we are doing everything we can to isolate this reprehensible regime,” Foreign Minister John Baird said in a statement.

 

“Assad and those supporting him must get the message that peace-loving nations of the world are working together to end the regime s oppressive rule,” he added.

 

Canada has already banned imports from Syria and new investment there, and imposed an assets freeze prohibiting economic dealings with individuals and entities associated with the Assad regime. 

Bribery charges dropped against former US Vice President Dick Cheney

According to the Nigerian media, the bribery charges against former US Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton have been dropped after the energy firm agreed to pay up to $250 million in fines.

The charges stem from a case involving millions allegedly paid in bribes to Nigerian officials by Halliburton and other firms to win a contract to build a $6 billion liquefied natural gas plant in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta. The move reportedly followed the intervention of the former president George H.W. Bush and the former secretary of state James Baker, according to press reports. Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission this month charged Cheney, the former US Vice President, who ran Halliburton in the 1990s and nine others with conspiracy and distribution of gratification to public officials. Houston-based engineering firm KBR, a former Halliburton unit, pleaded guilty last year to U.S. charges that it paid $180 million in bribes between 1994 and 2004 to Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion in contract. The Texas engineering firm KBR, a former unit of Halliburton, pleaded guilty in 2009 to US charges that it paid $180 million in bribes between 1994 and 2004 to Nigerian officials for the contracts for the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas project in the Nigeria delta. KBR and Halliburton reached a $579 million settlement in the US, but Nigeria conducted its own investigations into the case.

Everyone has equal right to corruption: Jatoi

Federal Minister for Defence Production Abdul Qayyum Jatoi has vowed to confront any conspiracy against democracy.
Speaking at a press conference in Quetta, Abdul Qayyum Jatoi castigated the chief justice and also slated hearings of fake degree cases.
He also said that Pakistan Peoples Party would not deter from Army intervention and opined that everyone has an equal right for corruption.
Senior Analyst Mujibur Rehman Shami while talking to Dunya News said that Qayyums statements were unfortunate. He strongly condemned his criticism of the Chief Justice.

Everyone has equal right for corruption: Jatoi

Federal Minister for Defence Production Abdul Qayyum Jatoi has vowed to confront any conspiracy against democracy.
Speaking at a press conference in Quetta, Abdul Qayyum Jatoi criticized the chief justice and also slated hearings of fake degree cases.
He also said that Pakistan Peoples Party would not deter from Army intervention and opined that everyone has an equal right for corruption.
Senior Analyst Mujibur Rehman Shami while talking to Dunya News said that Qayyums statements were unfortunate. He strongly condemned his criticism of the Chief Justice.

Japan intervenes for 1st time in six years to cap yen

TOKYO: Japan stepped into the currency market on Wednesday for the first time in six years, selling yen to stem a rise that is threatening a fragile economic recovery.

The dollar extended its gains after intermittent yen selling and was up 2 percent on the day and nearly two yen above a 15-year low. But it was unclear whether Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s government had the stomach for a prolonged campaign similar to Japan’s last foray into foreign exchange markets in 2003-2004.

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda confirmed the intervention, saying Tokyo was also communicating with authorities overseas but indicating that Japan acted alone.

U.S. officials at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury declined to comment immediately about Tokyo’s action.

Noda would not say whether the authorities were buying dollars in the first intervention since March 2004, but

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