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France deployed 45,000 police officers and some armoured vehicles on the streets on Saturday as riots rocked French cities for a fourth night over a teenager’s fatal shooting by an officer during a traffic stop. Buildings and vehicles have been torched and stores looted, and the violence has plunged President Emmanuel Macron into the gravest crisis of his leadership since the Yellow Vest protests that started in 2018. Unrest has flared nationwide, including in cities such as Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille as well as Paris where Nahel M., a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was shot on Tuesday in the Nanterre suburb. His death, caught on video, has reignited longstanding complaints by poor and racially mixed urban communities of police violence and racism. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said early on Saturday that 270 people had been arrested on Friday night, bringing the total to more than 1,100 since unrest ignited. Firefighter spray wa...

Survivors of a boat disaster that likely killed hundreds of migrants near Greece have given accounts of traffickers in North Africa cramming them into a clapped-out fishing trawler. They recounted hellish conditions above and below deck, with no food or water. Some also said the tragic end, when it came, was precipitated by the actions of the Greek coastguard. They have told judicial authorities of a doomed attempt to tow the overloaded trawler that caused the vessel to capsize in the early hours of June 14. A disastrous coastguard towing attempt was recounted in six of the nine statements from survivors submitted to Greek judicial officials investigating the causes of the tragedy, according to evidence seen by Reuters . One Syrian survivor said he and other migrants on board the Adriana, which had broken down en route to Italy, screamed “Stop!” after a Greek coastguard vessel attached a rope to the bow of the trawler and began to pull it while picking up speed. The migrant boa...

MQM-P leader Mustafa Kamal shows a document at the press conference on Wednesday.—Dawn KARACHI: Accusing the provincial election authorities of tampering with the voter list of Karachi to serve political interest of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Wednesday demanded that the Sindh Election Commissioner be removed immediately. The party also warned that it would not accept the results of any elections until the issues related with electoral rolls were fixed. Addressing a press conference at the party’s temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad, senior MQM-P leader Syed Mustafa Kamal was visibly angry when he blamed both the PPP and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for ‘abusing powers’ to benefit certain political entities and damage others. “We have documented proof of all wrongdoings and we demand the ECP to move before it’s too late. We can’t let anyone steal the mandate of people of Karachi. This is pre-poll rigging. This is not...

LAHORE: The Lahore police claimed that the armed attack on the residence of former Punjab governor and senior lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa was planned by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Zubair Khan Niazi. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Lahore Investigation DIG Kamran Adil shared the breakthrough in the probe into the case of attack on the DHA residence of Mr Khosa, saying that the prime suspect who had opened fire has been arrested. The incident occurred on June 16 when unidentified armed men opened fire at the main gate of Khosa’s residence. In the attack, driver of Mr Khosa was injured and a footage later showed two armed motorcyclists fleeing after the incident. The former governor had sharply reacted saying those ‘irked by his speeches’, were behind the attack. Khosa had shown to the media holes in the door of his residence saying a Kalashnikov was used in the attack. The DIG said the suspect told the investigators that he was tasked with firing on the the resid...

DERA MURAD JAMALI: Two people were killed and two others were injured in an armed clash between tribesmen of two tribes in Jhal Magsi area on Tuesday night. Levies officials said that armed people of Khanjani and Judhani tribes took positions against each other and opened fire using automatic weapons in Seed Form area of Jhal Magsi. In the exchange of fire, two people of Khanjani tribe were killed and two others were injured. Those killed were identified as Muhammad Usman Lashari and Ai Asghar. Two other people, Suleman and Qadeer Hussian, suffered injuries and were admitted to district hospital. Police have registered a case against people of Judhani tribe. Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2023 from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/pMGhaPJ

• Heated exchanges witnessed as treasury benches criticised for not prioritising region’s issues • Rs28.45bn allocated for development, Rs74bn set aside for non-development expenditure • Rs51bn earmarked for salaries; education sector to get Rs1.57bn GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan Assem­bly passed the tax-free budget for the next fiscal year 2023-24, with a total outlay of over Rs116 billion. After a two-day debate session, the budget was approved by the majority members of the assembly, chaired by Speaker Nazir Ahmed. GB Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid, addressing the session, stated that Rs51bn would be allocated for employees’ salaries and Rs28bn for development projects. He emphasised the government’s focus on the health and education sectors. However, opposition members in the assembly criticised the GB government for not prioritising GB issues in the current budget. Harsh words were exchanged between GB Chief Minister and opposition leader Amjad Hussain Advocate during the bu...

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said a staff level agreement for a crucial bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was “very close” and expected in the next 24 hours. The government is racing against time to unlock at least $1.1 billion under the lender’s ninth review of a $6.5-billion Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2019. The programme expires on Friday. “We are very close to signing a staff level agreement with the IMF,” Dar told Reuters late on Thursday. “I think it should come some time tonight or maximum within 24 hours … We have finalised everything.” READ : Ishaq Dar loses his cool with reporter over question on IMF programme A source familiar with talks told Reuters that Pakistan and the IMF were also in discussions for the release of the full $2.5 billion pending under the IMF programme. The source said the staff level agreement was to set to initially unlock around $1.1 billion and then be followed by a “standby agreement” which could release the rest ...

SAKINA Fatima used to think her path to the Haj and Umrah was forever blocked. “If I don’t have a mehram, why can’t I come to see Allah’s house and do sajdah on the floor of Haram?” the 40-year-old orphan from India, wondered. “Why do I have to pay the price for a decision that’s not mine?” she asked, fighting back tears. Then in the Haj 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic, she made a fervent plea as the sight of an almost empty Kaaba pierced through her heart — “Oh Allah, call me once.” The prayer was answered. In October 2022, she and countless other women were granted permission to travel for Haj and Umrah without male guardianship. “It’s not about money or status or anything else. Once Allah has decided to call you, He will make ways,” Sakina told me during an Umrah earlier this year. She was finally in the holy city of Makkah, seeing the Kaaba with her own eyes. The dream had come true. This year, thousands of women from across 160 countries participated in the Haj...

• PM says national airline can only progress if run by experts on profit-loss basis • Dar-led body to present workable solutions immediately after Eidul Azha ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a high-level committee that will work out a plan to restructure and revive Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which has continued to be in bad shape over the years. The reputation of the national flag carrier, facing cumulative losses of Rs635 billion by the end of September, has further suffered in recent weeks because of five particular incidents in different continents. And this happened when the company’s standing had already been at the lowest ebb following question marks raised by a former aviation minister on the qualifications of pilots operating its aircraft globally. As if that was not enough, the inter-agency acrimony in the aviation chain — including the Civil Aviation, PIA, and the Airport Security Force — is making things murkier. Things worsened to the e...

LAHORE: There will be no shortage of petroleum products in the country again as the government has introduced a “bonded bulk storage policy (BBSP)” to deal with the hoarding menace, says Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik. “The world’s biggest traders will now come here because of this policy and set up bonded storage facilities and it will address the problem of petroleum products shortage once for all. The step will also help end the monopoly of local storage houses and ensure uninterrupted supply of petroleum products,” Mr Malik told a presser on Wednesday. The minister said BBSP would address another issue — opening of Letter of Credit (LC) for acquiring petroleum products. “The international LC confirmation bar will be over by this step. Transac­tions by international traders may also be done in local currency thus reducing burden on foreign exchange,” he added. The minister revealed that bidding process for drilling of 16 to 24 wells in the sea had also been initia...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea to structure the discretion of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with an observation that the propositions advanced were not tenable or had merit. On June 13, a two-judge SC bench consisting of Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar had reserved its ruling on a petition moved by Advocate Hina Jilani representing a number of civil society activists namely Afiya Shehrbano Zia, Afrasiab Khattak, M. Ziauddin, Farhatullah Babar, Nighat Said Khan, Farida Shaheed, Rubina Saigol and Bushra Gauhar. The counsel had argued before the Supreme Court that a judge accused of misconduct was a burden on the exchequer if he finally reached superannuation despite the fact that the SJC was seized with a complaint against the judge. On Oct 10, 2018, a total of 98 citizens, including the petitioners, had filed a complaint against then chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar under Article 209 of the Constitution over alleged breach of the...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he had been invited to China and his office had informed close ally the United States about the planned trip to Beijing. The announcement comes during tense ties between Israel and the US, whose President Joe Biden failed to invite Netanyahu for a visit after the Israeli’s re-election in November. “The projected visit will be Prime Minister Netanyahu’s fourth visit to China,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, noting “the American administration was updated one month ago.” It said the premier had also informed a bipartisan Congressional delegation about the trip, and told the Congress members that the “US will always be Israel’s most vital and irreplaceable ally.” A spokesman for Netanyahu when contacted by AFP could not provide further details on the planned trip or when it was expected to happen. Tensions have arisen over the Biden administration’s consistent calling for a two-state solution with the Palestinians, a...

KARACHI: In a surprise move on Monday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points as the country looks forward to the completion of the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. The decision by the SBP’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) marks a cha­nge in its monetary policy stance within a couple of weeks. In the preceding mee­ting held on June 12, the MPC was of the opinion that the economy was unable to bear the burden of another interest rate hike. Thus, it kept at the time the interest rate unchanged at 21pc. While most financial sector experts believe the SBP’s latest action fulfils another demand by the IMF, the central bank also hinted at the same in the monetary policy announcement. After an emergency meeting, the MPC announced an increase in the policy rate by one percentage point to 22 per cent, effective June 27. ‘Unscheduled’ increase fulfils yet another IMF condition for loan programme revival, analysts s...

Two former chief ministers of India-held Kashmir have demanded an investigation into an alleged incident of Indian soldiers forcing Muslim worshippers in a mosque in the valley’s Pulwama area to chant Hindu slogans, the Indian media has reported. “Shocked to hear about army troops from 50 RR (Rashtriya Rifles) storming into a mosque at Pulwama and forcing Muslims inside to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’. Such a move when [Home Minister] Amit Shah is here and that too ahead of yatra (a Hindu pilgrimage) is simply an act of provocation,” said former CM Mehbooba Mufti in reaction to the reports. She requested Indian Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, who recently took command of India’s Chinar Corps in the area, to “immediately set up a probe” into the reported incident. Similarly, former CM Omar Abdullah termed the reports “deeply distressing”. “It’s bad enough they entered but then forcing people to chant slogans like ‘Jai Shree Ram’ as reported by the locals there, is unacceptable,” he s...

The government of Sindh intends to spend Rs6.9 billion on the agriculture sector in FY24 out of an estimated Rs700bn budget for development expenditure. Overall, the agriculture sector’s development budget, including foreign project assistance, stood at Rs11.9bn. These development allocations included funds for new and ongoing schemes. Many schemes that were reflected in the FY23 budget books but could not be worked upon are now part of the budget. The FY23 budget estimates were revised at Rs5.5bn after an initial Rs7.5bn estimation, according to government officials dealing with these numbers. Until June 16, the provincial finance department’s official figures put expenditure at Rs4.9 million for the agriculture department. These expenses will increase slightly when the current fiscal year ends on June 30 and district treasuries process the bills of vendors. A breakdown of the agricultural development budget includes the following: research wing (Rs387m), extension (Rs396m), market...

The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been facing a severe cash crunch for the last year because the centre is not fully paying its net hydel profits (NHP) and has also stopped funds committed for the erstwhile tribal areas. The previous government of PTI in the province was forced to borrow Rs285 billion from the State Bank of Pakistan under the ‘Ways & Means’ facility to pay salaries and pensions to its employees on time. It had repeatedly accused the PDM coalition led by the Noon League of ‘victimising’ the PTI administration by stopping funds for political reasons. The situation has somewhat changed since federal assistance seems to have increased. It is evident from the fact that the caretaker setup hasn’t borrowed any money from the central bank to pay its salary and pension bill after March. Still, the central government owes the province a hefty Rs55bn in net hydel profit arrears as it has received only Rs5bn in the outgoing fiscal year. Hence, the caretaker setup in...

• Key amendment empowers ECP to give poll date without consulting president • JI lawmaker rejects bill as ‘person-specific’ ISLAMABAD: After its approval from the upper house of parliament, the National Assem­bly on Sunday approved the Elections (Amendment) Act 2023, which empowers the Election Commi­ssion of Pakistan to unilaterally fix the date for elections and also limits the lawmakers’ disqualification period to five years with retrospective effect. The bill, dubbed as ‘person-specific legislation’ by the opposition, would benefit PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and newly-for­med Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) patron Jahangir Khan Tareen. The two were disqualified for life more than five years ago after a Supreme Court judgement ruled that the disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution was for life. When it was introduced in the Senate, one of the movers of the amendment, Senator Dilawar Khan, had said that Mr Sharif, Mr Tareen and many politicians from Bal...

ISLAMABAD: After revising the budget in line with International Monetary Fund’s demands, the government expects a breakthrough announcement from the global lending agency over the next few days to get direly needed bailout funds. “Almost all the irritants between the IMF staff and the Ministry of Finance were addressed hours before the finance minister’s wind-up speech on Saturday,” an official said, adding that the announcement about the successful completion of the ninth review was an IMF’s privilege and just a formality now. The official said it was now up to the IMF’s mission to line up the precise dates for the lender’s executive board approval and disbursement of funds. However, he acknowledged that it was not on the calendar until June 30, when the $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2019 is set to expire. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also held back-to-back meetings with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Paris last week. Initial revenue and spending p...

ISLAMABAD: After former prime minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in Dubai on Saturday afternoon reportedly for “important” political engagements, PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday departed for the United Arab Emirates. As he left for the UAE on Saturday, Mr Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz told reporters his father would be going to Dubai, and may travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the holy pilgrimage. Mr Sharif also spent the previous Eid with family in Saudi Arabia, where Maryam Nawaz and other family members joined him in the last days of Ramazan and over Eidul Fitr. According to Bilawal House, the former president flew to the UAE on Sunday. However, it did not confirm if Mr Zardari would meet Nawaz Sharif who was also in the Gulf state. However, as per media reports, it is likely that the PPP leader would call on Mr Sharif to discuss caretaker set-up and date for general elections as the tenure of the incumbent assembly is set to expire in August. Report claims former premier held ‘si...

• Finance Bill imposing Rs215bn more taxes approved • Asif urges NA not to pass bill seeking perks for senators • Lawmakers to leave for Haj today by special flight ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Sunday approved the next fiscal year’s budget, which was revised a day earlier to meet International Monetary Fund conditions in a last-ditch attempt by the government to secure much-needed bailout funds. The IMF was dissatisfied with the initial budget, passed on June 9, saying it was a missed opportunity to broaden the tax base in a more progressive way. On Saturday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar made several changes to the budget, introducing new taxes and expenditure cuts. He said the government now aims to generate another Rs215 billion in taxes and cut spending by Rs85bn in the next fiscal year, without reducing the federal development budget or the salaries and pensions. This will revise the government’s revenue collection target to Rs9.415 trillion and put total spending at Rs...

LAHORE / QUETTA: Eight people lost their lives after they were struck by lightning in Punjab as many areas in the province received heavy rain with strong wind, on Sunday. The extreme weather also caused infrastructure and livestock losses in parts of Punjab and Balochistan. Deaths were reported in Narowal, Sialkot and Sheikhupura districts. According to a rescue official, five people were killed in Narowal district. “The lightning strikes occurred in four areas, including the villages of Ratia Khurd and Mengra, of Narowal district,” said Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hurmat Ali. In Changovali village, two people working in a field fell victim to lightning strikes. They were identified as Mohammad Siddique, 60, and Mohammad Naseer, 30. One Abdul Rehman was moved to hospital in serious condition. Downpours, hailstorm batter parts of Balochistan In a similar incident, 20-year-old Mohammad Bilal was killed in Kanogo village as were Mohammad Asad and Mohammad Saqlain in nearby areas. N...

KARACHI: A major portion of a building that houses a prominent clothes store on Tariq Road was gutted in a huge fire on Saturday, police and fire officials said. A fire official said that the blaze erupted on the first floor of ‘Kurta Corner’ at around 1:00pm and seven fire engines were sent to put out the inferno. He said that the fire-fighting efforts took several hours to complete as the fire was put out at around 5:11pm. The officials said that the first floor of the store was completely destroyed, while the second floor was partially damaged in the blaze. The exact cause of fire and estimation of financial loss could not be ascertained till late in the night. Meanwhile, Sindh Governor Mohammed Kamran Khan Tessori on Saturday took notice of the fire incident in the Tariq Road area. He directed the Karachi commissioner to conduct an inquiry and present him a detailed report on the incident. Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2023 from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/jcki...

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to “sensitise” the seven-member bench seized with petitions against trials of civilians in the military courts to the gravity of May 9 violence, the federal government is “seriously considering” playing footage of violent attacks on military and government buildings in Courtroom No 1. “We want to sensitise the court to the gravity of the situation for which it is essential to show the video footage,” said Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan while talking to Dawn. He said the government intended to run the clips of violent incidents, which occurred following the arrest of PTI chief Imran Khan on May 9, inside Courtroom No 1. The government is likely to play different clips showing attacks in cantonments of Lahore, Mianwali, Rawalpindi, and Mardan, particularly attacks on the Lahore corps commander’s house and the General Head­quarters in Rawalpindi. It is likely that the footage would be shown on Tuesday when it will be the government’s turn to advance arguments t...