Day: January 10, 2023

Karachi: President of Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) Mian Usman Zulfiqar on Tuesday lauded the government, countries and aid agencies for making the international conference in Geneva on Pakistan’s post-flood challenges a success. As Pakistan secured around 10 billion dollars in pledges from international financial institutions, donor agencies and development partners for the rehabilitation, recovery and reconstruction of flood-affected areas, during the International Conference on Climate Resilience.

“A big thank you to heads of states and governments, the European Union (EU), our development partners and the United Nations (UN) for making Resilient Pakistan Conference a resounding success,” he said. PBF president also stressed the need for taking serious measures, as the current economic situation, forced commercial banks to be selective in opening LCs even for sectors such as healthcare, as it has been unable to open Letters of Credit (LCs) as per its usual banking cycle.

It’s time to have a consensus on ‘Charter of economy’ of 20 years and it should be a consensus document consists of all stakeholders, political and military. “Signing a charter of economy to achieve that should be one of the top priorities of all political parties. They should put their rivalry and bickering aside to come on the same page for the nation’s economic and social well-being. For without that, no sustainable development was possible”.

He lamented that the economists foresee an imminent humanitarian and healthcare crisis in Pakistan unless prompt actions are taken by the State Bank of Pakistan, Ministry of Finance and other institutions to avert the disaster. He said that the rupee still continues to witness volatile trend in the process of trading against dollar and other major currencies. He observed that having a clear policy to curb the volatility in exchange market, the central bank should be fully geared to act and monitor the movements more vigilantly and should be ahead of the curve as they have more information than an average market player.

PBF President said that the economic activities in the country have already been severely affected. Major industries, including car manufacturing companies, have temporarily closed their plants due to import restrictions which needs to be look after by the government. He said that Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd has extended plant shutdown from Jan 9-13 due to a continued shortage of imported parts. Due to the continued shortage of inventory level, the management of the company has decided to extend the shutdown of the automobile plant from January 9, 2023.

Earlier, the company suspended production activities from Jan 2-6. The firm stated that its supply chain is affecting due to restrictions of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The export consignments are affecting due to the conditional permission, said the company, adding that the restriction damaged the inventory. Previously, the Indus Motor Company had announced to shut down its manufacturing plant for 10 days due to the imposition of a ban on the imports of completely knocked down kits by the central bank.

Pakistan’s biggest agricultural machinery manufacturer, Millat Tractors, said that it would remain closed from January 6 till further notice, citing reduced demand and cash flow problems. A number of auto part vendors have suspended operations in recent months, citing reduced demand and import curbs imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) that were lifted last week – among other issues. Some textile companies have also partially suspended production recently due to demand destruction and market conditions.

PBF president further urged that the “politicians must forget personal interests. They should implement reforms without favoritisms and with full transparency. If favours are to be given to industries, those should not be unconditional. All favours should be conditional to performance and achievement of given targets. None should be given unconditional favours. When reforms are truly implemented with the cooperation of all political parties there would be both, winners and losers”.

Lahore: Lahore High Court on Tuesday suspended work on the Lahore Master Plan 2050 launched by the Lahore Development Authority. The court issued notices to the Punjab chief secretary, LDA DG, environment secretary and other parties seeking replies from them. LHC Justice Shahid Karim heard a petition filed by a citizen, Mian Abdul Rehman. Advocate Shahzad Shaukat appeared before the court on behalf of the petitioner.

Justice Karim expressed his exasperation over the initiation of several mega projects simultaneously in Lahore. “The citizens of Lahore are being killed. They find it hard to breathe. The provincial government is not showing its interest in controlling smog in Lahore,” the judge remarked. Advocate Shahzad said that Lahore’s agricultural land was declared as an urban area without any reason. He said that the developer mafia was involved in getting this plan approved by the LDA. The vicinities which have been declared ‘urban areas’, the developer mafia has already bought them, the lawyer added.

He said it would cause an irreparable damage to the environment if the agricultural area was declared an urban vicinity. He requested the court to declare the LDA’s Lahore Master Plan, 2050 null and void and order the authorities to stop executing the plan till the final decision of the court. Punjab Additional Advocate General Ali Tipu opposed the petition saying that it was not maintainable.

Islamabad: At the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan held in Geneva, the world community has so far pledged 10.7 billion dollars for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of flood affected areas. In a video message from Geneva on Tuesday, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal termed the pledges as an extraordinary achievement made possible due to the strenuous efforts made by Prime Minister Shehbaz led team.

He said it was estimated by the international partners that Pakistan would require 16 billion dollars for the reconstruction phase. He said it was decided that Pakistan will meet fifty percent of these expenditures. He said the pledges made by the international community are beyond our expectations. The Minister also thanked the UN Secretary General for making all this possible.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the Climate crisis has severely threatened nations’ capacity to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). In his tweets on Tuesday, he said return to business-as-usual is out of question. He said the world needs to employ vision and solidarity to transition to a sustainable future of hope. Darkness of disasters should be replaced by light of opportunity.

The Prime Minister said that he outlined recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction needs of Pakistan over medium to long terms during his address at Resilient Pakistan Conference in Geneva on Monday. He said he explained how flood ravages have caused learning, health and infrastructure losses. He said he alerted the world to spectre of food insecurity.

Larkana: Health Department, Government of Sindh, has finally constituted a Medico-Legal Complaints Committee to resolve the complaints with regard to the medico-legal aspects, PPI learnt here on Tuesday. The committee comprises Special Secretary (Admin) Muhammad Nawaz Soho as chairman, Chief Technical Officer-II Dr Shabnam Karim, Police Surgeon Karachi Dr Summalya Tariq as the medico-legal expert, Deputy Secretary (General) Ghulam Abbas Jhatial as members and Chief Technical Officer (Litigation) Dr. Sikandar Ali Memon as secretary.

The Terms of References (ToRs) of the Committee shall include resolution of complaints received against Medico-Legal Officers (MLOs) from the victims/injured/delayed provision of final Medico-Legal Certificates/mismatch reports in context of physical injuries, with the already issued Medico-Legal Reports/dissatisfaction over Medico-Legal Reports/false report deliberately issued/poor/incomplete documentation of the MLCs. To resolve the complaints, received from the office of the Ombudsman, pertaining to the Medico-Legal grievances, against the MLOs. To conduct the inquiry in case of allegation of corruption in terms of bribery by MLOs. To address issues in case of non-compliance of court summons by MLOs and any other with the permission of the chair.

The committee will be limited to departmental medico-legal issues and it is not intended for inquiry of individual cases of rape/domestic violence cases etc. In this context when Dr. Abdul Qayoom Rajper, Police Surgeon, Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Larkana, was contacted who said that the posts of Police Surgeons be made independent in Sindh like Karachi, Hyderabad and Nawabshah with allocation of a separate annual budget, posting and proper training of male and female MLOs with incentives as they have no proper stationary supply and provision of proper security.

He said that Chief Justice Sindh High Court may also be convinced to direct subordinate judicial officers to call MLOs only when their evidence is needed or recorded. He said TA/DA be also paid to MLOs when they are called by courts outside their place of posting. He said police surgeons be provided better facilities to ensure better results of justice.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the pledges of nine billion dollars made at Geneva Conference on Monday are a great victory of Pakistan. He was addressing the members of Pakistani delegation in Geneva on Tuesday. The Prime Minister said credit of this success goes to the team of Pakistan comprising cabinet members, envoys and other officials who worked with the sincerity of purpose.

Shehbaz Sharif said the whole world saw for itself the demonstration of unity by Pakistan on a foreign land. He said the provinces were also taken along and they were encouraged to present their case at the moot. Shehbaz Sharif said the real challenge now is to materialize these pledges into action. He said some amounts will provide us the budgetary support but a major chunk of the pledges will go to the projects. He said we will have to enhance our technical expertise and deliver on the ground with the same spirit of teamwork.