Category: 1. Pakistan

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed sorrow over devastating floods in northern Pakistan that have killed hundreds and displaced millions.

“The Secretary-General is profoundly saddened by the recent floods in northern Pakistan, which have reportedly claimed more than 400 lives,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

The disaster, caused by a “severe monsoon exacerbated by climate change,” has affected some 1.5 million people, leaving hundreds of thousands in need of humanitarian aid, according to the statement.

It further noted that “more than 3,000 homes, over 400 schools, and some 40 health facilities have been damaged.”

The UN chief commended Pakistan’s response efforts, adding that he “commends Pakistani authorities for relocating more than one million people in Punjab.”

He also “expresses his solidarity with the Government and people of Pakistan, extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives, and wishes a swift recovery to those who have been injured.”

The statement said the UN and its partners are “working closely with Pakistani authorities to rapidly assess the humanitarian impact of the floods, identify needs, and address gaps in the response.”

It added that “the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has released $600,000 from the Regional Humanitarian Pooled Fund to support relief and recovery efforts, and discussions are underway with the Government on a response plan.”

A total of 605 terrorist incidents were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the first eight months of the year, claiming 138 civilian lives and leaving 352 injured, according to a Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) report highlighting a surge in militancy.

The report stated that 79 police personnel embraced martyrdom, while 130 sustained injuries in attacks and encounters. Out of 351 suspects named, 32 were killed in operations and five arrested.

August witnessed a sharp escalation with 129 incidents, resulting in 17 civilian deaths and injuries to 51 others.

Security forces also lost 13 police officials, while 46 were wounded in confrontations with militants.

Bannu was the worst-hit district in August with 42 incidents, followed by North Waziristan (15), South Waziristan (14), Dir (11), and Dera Ismail Khan and Kurram (8 each).

The CTD confirmed that eight terrorists were killed in encounters during the month.

When churning flood waters swept away a group of tourists in Pakistan’s Swat Valley in June, the whole country felt a sense of déjà vu.

Just three years ago, extensive floods had swallowed entire hotels and families vacationing in the “Switzerland of Pakistan” and caused more than 1,700 deaths and billions in damage in other districts. Today, extreme rainfall has once again inundated swathes of the country, underscoring its status as among the world’s most climate-vulnerable.

Pakistan on Wednesday dispatched 105 tonnes of humanitarian relief to Afghanistan following a telephone call between Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The consignment includes food, medicines, tents, blankets and bubble mats to support victims of the recent earthquakes, according to the government.

“We extend our deepest condolences and prayers for the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Dar said in a statement, adding that “Pakistan stands in solidarity with the brotherly people of Afghanistan in this difficult time.”

A magnitude-6.0 earthquake hit the Afghanistan on Sunday, leaving residents huddled in the open air for fear of powerful aftershocks and desperately trying to pull people from under flattened buildings.

The earthquake killed more than 1,400 people and injured over 3,300, Taliban authorities said, making it one of the deadliest in decades to hit the impoverished country. The vast majority of the casualties were in Kunar province, with a dozen dead and hundreds hurt in nearby Nangarhar and Laghman provinces.

In Kunar’s Nurgal district, victims remained trapped under the rubble and were difficult to rescue, local official Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told AFP on Wednesday.

“There are some villages which have still not received aid,” he said. Landslides caused by the earthquake stymied access to already isolated villages. The non-governmental group Save the Children said one of their aid teams “had to walk for 20 kilometres (12 miles) to reach villages cut off by rock falls, carrying medical equipment on their backs with the help of community members”.

The World Health Organization warned the number of casualties from the earthquake was expected to rise, “as many remain trapped in destroyed buildings”.

In two days, the Taliban government’s defence ministry said it organised 155 helicopter flights to evacuate some 2,000 injured and their relatives to regional hospitals.

In the Mazar Dara village of Kunar, a small mobile clinic was deployed to provide emergency care to the injured, but no tents were set up to shelter survivors, an AFP correspondent said.

On Tuesday, a defence ministry commission said it had instructed “the relevant institutions to take measures in all areas to normalise the lives of the earthquake victims”, without providing further details on the plans to do so.

Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said a camp had been set up in Khas Kunar district to coordinate emergency aid, while two other centres were opened near the epicentre “to oversee the transfer of the injured, the burial of the dead, and the rescue of survivors”.

According to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people could be affected by the disaster. Multiple countries have pledged assistance but NGOs and the UN have voiced alarm that funding shortfalls after massive aid cuts threaten the response in one of the poorest countries in the world.

ISLAMABAD:

The central bank said on Wednesday that restrictions under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), including the maximum annual limit of $100,000, will apply to foreign transfers of digital currencies. The statement underscores challenges in introducing a new digital currency regime in Pakistan.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also said it is working on launching a new digital currency. It would be used for trading in digital assets. But this can happen only after the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) Bill is passed, the State Bank of Pakistan Act is amended, and a regulatory framework is put in place.

Appearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, SBP Acting Deputy Governor Dr Inayat Hussain said FERA would be applicable to digital assets. He said the law’s limits will apply, including the maximum outbound transfer of $100,000 by an individual in a year.

The committee, headed by PPP Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, began clause-by-clause discussions on the proposed PVARA Bill. The government has already issued a PVARA Ordinance and is now seeking parliamentary approval to give permanent legal cover to the authority.

However, the Ministry of Law and Justice, which helped draft the Ordinance, underlined that there will be challenges in implementing FERA on digital assets.

“Some amendments will be needed in FERA, as it cannot be implemented on digital assets in its present form,” said Shehroz Bakhtiyar, legal consultant to the Law Division, while briefing the committee.

Legislators backed his view. “It is simply not possible for the SBP to monitor any outbound digital transaction due to the nature of these transactions,” said PML-N Senator Afnanullah Khan. He said Pakistanis have invested more than $21 billion in digital assets and that it is high time the government enacted a law to regularise trading.

Bakhtiyar said it would be binding on licensees to implement the $100,000 limit. But he agreed that enforcing the limit would be difficult in practice, given how these markets work.

PVARA provides the broader legal framework for the sector, said the acting deputy governor. He added that the detailed regulatory framework would be finalised later.

Both the government and the SBP have expressed concerns about the implications of the new regime for the economy and the country’s international commitments. The law ministry said these issues would be addressed through appropriate legislation.

Laws and regulations like FERA, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act would apply to digital assets to make the regime air-tight, Law Secretary Raja Naeem Akbar told the committee.

He said foreign firms dealing in digital currencies, such as Binance, would have to set up offices in Pakistan and FERA would be applicable to them too.

Akbar said the PVARA Bill had been discussed at the Pakistan Crypto Council. He rejected the impression that the bill was copied from anywhere.

Dr Hussain said the SBP would issue a digital currency that could be used to buy any digital asset. He said the value of the digital currency would be equal to the value of the rupee. A bank account holder would be able to deal with both currencies in the same account.

He said that once the digital currency is issued, the central bank will ask commercial banks about their needs for digital assets. Customers would have the option to receive rupees or digital rupees from their bank accounts, he added.

“The gold standard should be the central bank digital currency, and it should be under the control of the SBP,” said Senator Afnanullah Khan.

Bakhtiyar said the central bank digital currency would be regulated under the SBP Act. He said PVARA would not have any regulatory authority for managing the central bank digital currency.

On a proposal by PML-N Senator Anusha Rahman, the committee set the upper age limit of 55 years for appointment as chairperson of PVARA. The candidate must have at least five years’ experience in digital finance and technology. The committee also included one member of the National Assembly and one senator as members of the authority.

To a question, the acting deputy governor said restrictions on banks and dealers to deal in digital currencies would remain in place until the new legal framework is in place.

In the first PVARA meeting, the SBP blocked a move to immediately declare digital currencies legal. It cautioned that allowing transactions without a regulatory framework could create serious challenges.

The SBP’s 2018 instructions also declared dealings in cryptocurrencies illegal and required banks to report such transactions as suspicious to the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU).

The circular stated that digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Pakcoin, OneCoin, DasCoin, Pay Diamond, or ICO tokens are not legal tender. It said they are neither issued nor guaranteed by the government.

The committee recommended placing PVARA under the administrative control of the finance ministry instead of the Cabinet Division to make it more effective.

Under the proposed law, digital service providers may offer nine services: advisory, broker-dealer, custody, exchange, lending and borrowing, virtual asset derivatives, asset management, transfer and settlement, and fiat-referenced token issuance.

The committee deferred further deliberations on the bill until its next meeting.