Pakistan forms task force on rising power tariffs as religio-political party continues protests
Pakistan forms task force on rising power tariffs as religio-political party continues protests/node/2564726/pakistan
Pakistan forms task force on rising power tariffs as religio-political party continues protests
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party chief, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman (left), is addressing party activists and supporters in a demonstration against the country's rising inflation in Rawalpindi on August 7, 2024. (@JIPOfficial/X)
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday announced a positive round of talks with the leadership of a religio-political party protesting against inflation and high electricity prices in Pakistan, saying the government had constituted a task force to deal with the issues.
Thousands of supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party have set up a protest camp in Rawalpindi since July 26, highlighting the rising tax burden on the people of Pakistan and demonstrating against the escalating electricity tariffs due to the capacity charges of independent power producers (IPPs) in the country.
These charges refer to the payments made by the government to the IPPs for maintaining the availability of electricity, regardless of how much of it is ultimately consumed.
The capacity charges have become a significant point of contention as they contribute to the circular debt in the energy sector and lead to high electricity tariffs.
“Jamaat-e-Islami’s demand is on our agenda to reduce electricity prices,” Tarar was quoted as saying by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency. “Our negotiations have been adjourned until tomorrow. Even today, there has been a lot of progress in the negotiations.”
“A task force has been set up to look into the issues of IPPs,” he added.
Tarar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken measures to reduce power tariffs in the country, including a subsidy of Rs50 billion to electricity consumers using up to 200 units in the months of June, July, and August.
The JI chief, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, told journalists his party would continue its sit-in and take its protest to Lahore, Peshawar, and Multan.
The JI has already started staging a sit-in in Karachi in front of the Sindh Governor House.
KARACHI: A two-day International Maritime Sustainability Exhibition and Conference (IMSEC) that sought to foster Islamabad’s global and regional partnerships and facilitate investments concluded in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Saturday, the country’s maritime affairs ministry said.
The two-day conference from Sept. 13-14 was attended by the secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco, marking it the first-ever visit by an IMO chief to the South Asian country.
“I am happy to visit Pakistan and this country has immense potential in the maritime industry,” Velasco was quoted as saying by the maritime affairs industry as the conference concluded.
“We have discussed various plans and strategies during this conference, and I am confident that Pakistan will continue to develop its shipping, recycling, and fisheries sectors, with a focus on environmental sustainability,” Velasco added.
The IMO chief stressed the agency’s commitment to providing Pakistan with technical facilities and support to bolster its maritime capabilities. He highlighted the significance of the country’s ports, which he said he had personally visited during his stay and underlined the UN agency’s ongoing programs related to global maritime affairs.
Admiral Faisal Abbasi, the commander of the Pakistan fleet, noted that the country’s maritime boundaries have remained free of piracy incidents throughout its history. He commended the role of the Pakistan Navy in combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden, a key waterway for global trade.
“The Pakistan Navy continues to take proactive steps in promoting and raising awareness about the importance of the maritime economy, with the ‘blue economy’ being the central theme of this year’s conference,” Abbasi said.
Abbasi announced that the next maritime conference will be held in November 2025, with more programs aimed at strengthening Pakistan’s role in the global maritime industry.
As traces of Pakistani megacity’s past vanish, one flamboyant pink palace endures
Karachi’s iconic Mohatta Palace was built during the 1920s by Hindu entrepreneur Shivratan Mohatta
Dozens of communities competing for space mean there’s little effort to protect city’s historic sites
Updated 42 min 3 sec ago
AP
KARACHI: Stained glass windows, a sweeping staircase and embellished interiors make Mohatta Palace a gem in Karachi, a Pakistani megacity of 20 million people. Peacocks roam the lawn and the sounds of construction and traffic melt away as visitors enter the grounds.
The pink stone balustrades, domes and parapets look like they’ve been plucked from the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, a relic of a time when Muslims and Hindus lived side by side in the port city.
But magnificence is no guarantee of survival in a city where land is scarce and development is rampant. Demolition, encroachment, neglect, piecemeal conservation laws and vandalism are eroding signs of Karachi’s past.
The building’s trustees have fended off an attempt to turn it into a dental college, but there’s still a decades-long lawsuit in which heirs of a former owner are trying to take control of the land. It sat empty for almost two decades before formally opening as a museum in 1999.
Visitors look at pictures of Pakistan's independence movement which was started by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, later known to be the founder of Pakistan, in the museum set up in the historical building "Mohatta Palace" in Karachi on May 24, 2024. (AP)
The palace sits on prime real estate in the desirable neighborhood of Old Clifton, among mansions, businesses and upmarket restaurants.
The land under buildings like the Mohatta Palace is widely coveted, said palace lawyer Faisal Siddiqi. “It shows that greed is more important than heritage.”
Karachi’s population grows by around 2 percent every year and with dozens of communities and cultures competing for space there’s little effort to protect the city’s historic sites.
People visit at historical building “Mohatta Palace,” which was built in 1920s and has since been turned into a museum, in Karachi on May 24, 2024. (AP)
For most Pakistanis, the palace is the closest they’ll get to the architectural splendor of India’s Rajasthan, because travel restrictions and hostile bureaucracies largely keep people in either country from crossing the border for leisure, study or work.
Karachi’s multicultural past makes it harder to find champions for preservation than in a city like Lahore, with its strong connection to the Muslim-dominated Mughal Empire, said Heba Hashmi, a heritage manager and maritime archaeologist.
“The scale of organic local community support needed to prioritize government investment in the preservation effort is nearly impossible to garner in a city as socially fragmented as Karachi,” she said.
A worker moves a peacock from the lawn of historical building "Mohatta Palace," which was built in 1920s and has since been turned into a museum, in Karachi on May 24, 2024. (AP)
Mohatta Palace is a symbol of that diversity. Hindu entrepreneur Shivratan Mohatta had it built in the 1920s because he wanted a coastal residence for his ailing wife to benefit from the Arabian Sea breeze. Hundreds of donkey carts carried the distinctively colored pink stone from Jodhpur, now across the border in India.
He left after partition in 1947, when India and Pakistan were carved from the former British Empire as independent nations, and for a time the palace was occupied by the Foreign Ministry.
Next, it passed into the hands of Pakistani political royalty as the home of Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of Pakistan’s first leader and a powerful politician in her own right.
Motorcyclists drive on a road with old buildings in downtown Karachi on August 29, 2024. (AP)
After her death, the authorities gave the building to her sister Shirin, but Shirin’s passing in 1980 sparked a court fight between people saying they were her relatives, and a court ordered the building sealed.
The darkened and empty palace, with its overgrown gardens and padlocked gates, caught people’s imagination. Rumors spread of spirits and supernatural happenings.
Someone who heard the stories as a young girl was Nasreen Askari, now the museum’s director.
“As a child I used to rush past,” she said. “I was told it was a bhoot (ghost) bungalow and warned, don’t go there.”
Visitor Ahmed Tariq had heard a lot about the palace’s architecture and history. “I’m from Bahawalpur (in Punjab, India) where we have the Noor Mahal palace, so I wanted to look at this one. It’s well-maintained, there’s a lot of detail and effort in the presentations. It’s been a good experience.”
A man walks past an old building in downtown Karachi on August 28, 2024. (AP)
But the money to maintain the palace isn’t coming from admission fees.
General admission is 30 rupees, or 10 US cents, and it’s free for students, children and seniors. On a sweltering afternoon, the palace drew just a trickle of visitors.
It’s open Tuesday to Sunday but closes on public holidays; even the 11 a.m.-6 p.m. hours are not conducive for a late-night city like Karachi.
The palace is rented out for corporate and charitable events. Local media report that residents grumble about traffic and noise levels.
People visit the historical Empress Market in Karachi on August 29, 2024. (AP)
But the palace doesn’t welcome all attention, even if it could help carve out a space for the building in modern Pakistan.
Rumors about ghosts still spread by TikTok, pulling in influencers looking for spooky stories. But the palace bans filming inside, and briefly banned TikTokers.
“It is not the attention the trustees wanted,” said Askari. “That’s what happens when you have anything of consequence or unusual. It catches the eye.”
A sign on the gates also prohibits fashion shoots, weddings and filming for commercials.
People walk past an old building in downtown Karachi on August 29, 2024. (AP)
“We could make so much money, but the floodgates would open,” said Askari. “There would be non-stop weddings and no space for visitors or events, so much cleaning up as well.”
Hashmi, the archaeologist, said there is often a strong sense of territorialism around the sites that have been preserved.
“It counterproductively converts a site of public heritage into an exclusive and often expensive artifact for selective consumption.”
A view of a residential area is seen with skyscrapers in the background in Karachi on August 29, 2024. (AP)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week described the parliament as the country’s “supreme institution” through which important matters should be resolved, as the government gears up to introduce key legislation to extend the retirement age of Supreme Court judges.
Sharif’s weak coalition government is planning to get a constitutional amendment passed from parliament to allegedly give an extended term to the country’s top judge. The amendment requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament.
The country’s main opposition party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has criticized the move, alleging that it was designed to favor the country’s chief justice. Former prime minister Imran Khan, the PTI’s founder, this week warned of nationwide protests if the amendment was approved.
“The parliament is the country’s supreme institution,” Sharif said while hosting a dinner for legislators on Saturday night, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
“To ensure the sanctity of the parliament is maintained, it is necessary that legislation in the national and public’s interest takes place.”
The Pakistani premier said matters concerning the nation should be resolved through the parliament.
The dinner was attended by federal ministers and lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Balochistan Awami Party, National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia, the PMO said.
Sharif’s coalition government is trying to muster the support of enough lawmakers for a two-thirds majority to get the constitutional amendment passed, fearing it can lose a portion of its existing number of seats after an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court on the reserved seats for women and minorities in parliament.
In a verdict on July 12, a 13-member bench of the court declared the PTI eligible for the reserved seats after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) forced the party’s candidates to contest the Feb. 8 polls as independents.
The ECP took the decision after the PTI lost its election symbol in the wake of a prolonged legal battle for not holding proper intra-party polls. Subsequently, the election body refused the reserved seats to the PTI on technical grounds, saying they were only meant for political parties instead of independent candidates.
The Supreme Court overturned the ECP decision, saying it had misconstrued an earlier verdict related to the election symbol by depriving the PTI of the reserved seats. Instead of giving the seats to the party, however, the election body filed a petition, seeking guidance on the matter and questioning the validity of the party’s organizational structure under the circumstances.
In a short order on Saturday, the apex court censured the election regulatory authority for its “dilatory tactics” to avoid the implementation of the judgment.
As per the official tally, the ruling coalition is short of at least 13 lawmakers in the National Assembly and nine in the Senate to gain the required two-thirds majority.
ISLAMABAD: Around 150 Pakistani companies are taking part in an international service trade fair being held in China, Pakistan’s privatization minister said this week, announcing that the event would serve as an “excellent opportunity” to enhance investment in the South Asian country.
The China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) 2024 kicked off in Beijing on Sept. 12, Thursday. Scheduled to run till Sept. 20, over 2,000 companies from 107 countries around the world are taking part in the international event. The fair reflects China’s eagerness to work with the international community to seize opportunities in a fast-evolving global economy.
China is an important trade and investment partner for Pakistan. Chinese investment and financial support since 2013 have been key for Pakistan’s struggling economy, including the rolling over of loans so that Islamabad is able to meet external financing needs at a time when its foreign reserves are critically low.
In his virtual address to the fair, Pakistan’s Investment and Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan spoke about the “ample scope” for investment in agriculture, livestock, food processing and minerals sectors in Pakistan.
“Abdul Aleem Khan said that this international event will be an excellent opportunity and positive step for investment [in Pakistan] with great expectations,” Pakistan’s privatization ministry said in a press release.
It said that Pakistan would ensure all possible support for investments from China, adding that the country was keen on availing opportunities offered by special economic and export processing zones.
Khan noted that Pakistani companies were getting more opportunities to increase their business-to-business activities with China to establish or shift industries to Pakistan.
“He indicated that under CPEC, transport, infrastructure, energy and communication in Pakistan has been developed visibly and there has been a significant improvement in these sectors,” the ministry said, referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.
CPEC is a flagship of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative through which it has pledged over $60 billion in investment projects in Pakistan. Various power and infrastructure projects have already been built in the South Asian country under CPEC but the implementation of various projects has slowed in recent months.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited China in June on a five-day trip. Sharif’s visit was aimed at upgrading and enhancing CPEC projects, strengthening bilateral ties and fostering stronger ties between the business communities of the two countries.
QUETTA: Five coal mine laborers died of suffocation on Saturday after the mine filled with hazardous gas in the Shah Rag area of Harnai district, located in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, according to the province’s chief mines inspector.
Balochistan, known for its rich mineral resources, has a history of such accidents, reflecting the region’s unsafe mining practices. Earlier this year, in March, a gas explosion in a coal mine in the same district claimed the lives of 12 laborers due to gas buildup and a lack of proper safety protocols.
While provincial authorities said they were taking notice of the development, workers in many mines across the province still lack adequate protective gear amid an absence of essential safety protocols.
“Five coal laborers suffocated to death due to a lack of oxygen in the mine, while one managed to survive,” Abdul Ghani Baloch, Balochistan’s chief mines inspector, told Arab News. “The workers were 400 feet inside the coal mine when oxygen deficiency took place for unknown reasons.”
He said the area where the incident occurred is located about 137 kilometers from the provincial capital Quetta, adding that the miners who had died belonged to Afghanistan.
“The bodies of the coal mine workers have been reprieved and shifted to their native villages in in the neighboring country,” he continued.
“The provincial mining teams have visited the area and commenced an investigation to know the causes of the incident,” he added.
