Category: 1. Pakistan

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar (L) and Pakistani Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir (R) greet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (C) upon his arrival for a meeting in Rawalpindi.
| Photo Credit: AFP

READ MORE

President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday constituted the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC) to announce a new award for the sharing of federal divisible resources between the Centre and the provinces.

According to a notification from the Finance Division, the president constituted the commission with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb as the chairman and the four provincial finance ministers as its members.

The commission also includes former bureaucrat Nasir Mahmood Khosa as a member representing the Punjab government, economist and researcher Asad Sayeed as a member representing the Sindh government, former bureaucrat Dr Musharraf Rasool Cyan as a member representing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Farmanullah as a member representing the Balochistan government.

The commission will make recommendations to the president on the distribution between the federation and the provinces of the ““net proceeds of the taxes mentioned in clause (3) of Article 160 of the Constitution”, it read.

The taxes are taxes on income, including corporation tax, but not including taxes on income consisting of remuneration paid out of the Federal Consolidated Fund; taxes on the sales and purchases of goods imported, exported, produced, manufactured or consumed; export duties on cotton, and such other export duties as may be specified by the president; duties of excise as may be specified by the president and other taxes as may be specified by the president.

The body will also recommend the president regarding the grants-in-aid by the federal government to the provincial governments and the exercise, by the federal government and the provincial governments, of the borrowing powers conferred by the Constitution.

The commission will further make recommendations to the president on issues relating to the sharing of financial expense incurred or to be incurred by the federation in respect of subjects and matters falling within the domain of the provinces; issues relating to the sharing of financial expense incurred or to be incurred by the federation or the provinces or both in respect of trans-provincial matters; issues relating to financial expense for national projects to be shared by the federation and the provinces; and any other matter relating to finance referred to the commission by the president.

For several years, policymakers associated with the finance ministry, as well as political actors across different parties at the centre, have spoken about revising revenue transfers to the provinces to improve the federal government’s financial position.

The 10th NFC expired on July 21. The 7th NFC Award has now been in effect for nearly 15 years — far beyond its five-year tenure. The president has extended the award every year due to a disagreement between the provinces and the Centre over the new formula.

The 18th Amendment provided constitutional protection to the share of the federating units, stipulating that a sub-federation’s share in any future award must not be less than its share in the previous award.

New Delhi: Pakistanis have rallied in support of jailed former PM Imran Khan’s nephew, Shahrez Khan, after he was picked up by the Lahore police in connection with a case in which he allegedly had no role. They are calling out PM Shehbaz Sharif and even the Army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, for making Pakistan “a lawless country”.

Shahrez, who is an Oxford graduate, triathlete, and a corporate executive, was arrested on Thursday by Punjab police in connection with the riots on 9 May 2023, in which Imran Khan was granted bail the same day.

It began with a home raid where Shahrez was reportedly “abducted from his bedroom,” according to his mother, Aleema Khan, sister of Imran Khan. She described a scene where men in plainclothes took her son in front of his two young daughters.

“This fascist regime has unleashed a reign of terror,” Aleema wrote in a post on X. “But they have failed to break Imran Khan.”

Who is Shahrez Khan? 

Shahrez, the regional head of Simba Global (a major Australia-based textile company), has no known political affiliations. According to his friends, who took to X to condemn his arrest, he’s better known in professional circles for his business acumen and athletic pursuits, than any activism. Yet his connection to Imran Khan seems to have been enough.

Taimur Malik, a Pakistani X user wrote: “My friend @Shahrez_KhanPK is not just Imran Khan’s nephew or a triathlete, he is an Oxford graduate, a widely liked individual and an active member of various forward looking business communities in Pakistan and the region. His brazen abduction will send the signal that Pakistan is a lawless country. He should be released immediately and afforded due process and his legal rights.”

After public uproar, the Lahore police came out in defence and disagreed with the “abduction” narrative. Speaking to Dawn, DIG Investigation Zeeshan Raza stated that Shahrez was wanted in connection with the May 9 cases and will be produced before a court on Friday.

Raza doubled down, saying, “Those involved in anti-state activities do not deserve any leniency.”

---

Also read: ‘Main narrative-maker’—Pakistani TV analyst gets medal for role during India standoff

---

‘Silencing dissent’

PTI loyalists and civil rights advocates were quick to condemn the move, calling it unlawful and a deliberate act of political vendetta. Lawyer Rana Mudassar Umar, according to a Dawn report, said no FIR existed against Shahrez at the time of his arrest.

Munizae Jahangir, Pakistani journalist and filmmaker, said, in a post on X, that “the unlawful detention … .exposes the purpose of the new amendments made to existing laws which allows the state to detain anyone for 3 months on mere suspicion.”

“Silencing dissent by using terror laws is a violation of the right to fair trial & will be counter productive in the fight against terror,” she added.

Pakistanis are now ranting against the entire establishment. 

Faryal Ishfaq wrote on X that “victimizing family members is the worst thing about politics in Pakistan.” 

Another questioned the state’s priorities. 

“While half the country floods, the state is busy abducting people and silencing dissent,” X user Areeb Khan wrote.  Another user, Sadia agreed: “While half the country floods, the state is busy abducting its own people. Disaster outside, repression inside. Priorities couldn’t be clearer.”

Even PM Shehbaz Sharif was called out directly.

An X user, Dr Javaid Khan, wrote: “@CMShehbaz… what you are doing with children of political leaders will not be forgotten. Are you not scared of Allah?”

Another took a dig at Pakistan Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling him a “petty person” for being behind this, but without taking his name: “I wonder if a 3 or 5 star can be this petty. Truly amazing times to be alive in.”

Still, not everyone was sympathetic. Some insisted that anyone even remotely connected to the events of May 9 — when PTI supporters rampaged through military installations following Imran Khan’s arrest — must face justice.

“He may be an excellent athlete, but he cannot run from the law. May 9 will always haunt them,” X user Faisal Latif said. 

Another disgruntled person, Zar Hussain, simply summed it up by saying, “Comedy state”. 

(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said that Pakistan had not requested anyone to make India sit down for talks of any kind.

“Pakistan did not ask anyone to arrange talks with India. Pakistan is ready for comprehensive talks with India, including on the Kashmir issue,” he told journalists at Parliament House.

Talking about the May conflict between the two countries and the subsequent ceasefire, he said the latter was still underway.

The military confrontation between India and Pakistan came in May as the former, without evidence, linked the Pahalgam attack to Islamabad, which strongly denied the allegations. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes on Pakistan, killing at least 40 civilians. Both sides then exchanged missiles, which stretched over the week, before a US-brokered ceasefire had both sides agree to stop the hostilities.

Talking about the halt in hostilities, Dar said: “India had requested the US for a ceasefire. I received a call from the US for a ceasefire. I had made it clear that Pakistan did not want war.”

The foreign minister said that Pakistan had been suggested to sit down at a neutral venue for talks, to which he had expressed his willingness to do so.

“I had made it clear that there will be no discussion on any single-point agenda with India. We will discuss all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir issue with India,” he said, adding that “unnecessary rhetoric” continued flowing from India meanwhile.

He also said a visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Pakistan was not yet scheduled.

Tarar lauds media’s role during conflict with India

Separately, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar lauded the media for its role in countering Indian narratives during the military confrontation and praised it for delivering the country’s message to the world in the face of a much larger media apparatus in India.

Addressing a meeting of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) in Islamabad, Tarar labelled that period as “extraordinary circumstances”.

“Right from the beginning, it was a war of narratives,” he highlighted. “The enemy had greater resources, international interest, lobbying and PR firms. International media outlets had employees of Indian origin because of their greater population.”

The minister stated that Pakistan’s strength was not in numbers or resources, but in “having the truth”.

“The truth cannot hide or be countered,” Tarar stated. “While the prime minister asked for an inquiry into the Pahalgam attack at Kakul, India was levelling allegations without evidence.”

Tarar then described a “synergy” between the armed forces and the information ministry during wartime, noting that the ministry’s “state-of-the-art data centre was maybe made for this purpose so that we could fight a war of narratives”.

He thanked the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations “for this synergy”.

“This war was fought by everyone together, with your help and your content. The way things were written and disseminated was a team effort,” he stated.

Tarar said that due to the media’s coverage during the fighting, Pakistan experienced a resurgence on the international stage.

“Across the world, people have greater respect for Pakistan and take us seriously,” he said.

“There was this false glorification of ‘rising India’, how it was this big economy and rising power in South Asia. That same Modi has to give fake medals in countries whose names we have never heard of.

“However much factual information we were spreading, they (India) were spreading as many lies,” he added.

“Their media has been terribly exposed, while our media became part of our diplomatic effort and spokespersons for our foreign policy. They took every step for our defence.”

Stating that the Pakistan Navy was ready for any Indian engagement, the minister quipped that “when the enemy found they could not destroy Karachi port, they destroyed ports in Multan and Lahore instead”.

“An Indian channel said that Indian media is a spokesperson for foreign policy and Pakistani media is adrift. I’d like to say to that person that they should be ashamed of the lies and propaganda and how they are being mocked globally,” Tarar stated.

“The whole country played a role in this effort, as did the CPNE, which will be remembered fondly for its role as a wartime body,” he said, stressing the need to acknowledge the CPNE’s “wartime cabinet” and how the council “played a role in narrative building and defeating the enemy during this war”.