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#Pakistan - Former President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the terror attack at a police station in #Charsadda

 Former President of Pakistan and President Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the terror attack at a police station in Charsadda, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

In a statement on Saturday, Zardari expressed his concern over the increase in the terror attacks on the police force in the KP. He said that the police officers and jawans will continue to defeat the terrorists’ design. He paid rich tributes to the police officers and jawans.

He said that the federal and KP governments should take strict measures to defeat terrorists. He expressed sympathy and condolences to the families of the martyred policemen.

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40221650/zardari-condemns-terror-attack-on-police-station

Pakistan Strengthens Already Harsh Laws Against Blasphemy

 

By Salman Masood

Insulting Islam or its founder is already a capital offense, but now those who insult people connected to the Prophet Muhammad could get prison time.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which can already mean death for those deemed to have insulted Islam or the Prophet Muhammad, can now also be used to punish anyone convicted of insulting people who were connected to him.The move this week by Parliament to further strengthen the nation’s strict blasphemy laws, which are often used to settle personal scores or persecute minorities, has raised concerns among rights activists about the prospect of an increase in such persecution, particularly of religious minorities, including Christians.As Pakistani society has turned more conservative and religious in the past several decades, religion and display of religiosity in public life have become ever more pronounced.

Those convicted of insulting the Prophet Muhammad’s wives, companions or close relatives will now face 10 years in prison, a sentence that can be extended to life, along with a fine of 1 million rupees, roughly $4,500. It also makes the charge of blasphemy an offense for which bail is not possible.

“The punishment for disrespecting these sacred personalities was almost nill earlier,” said Abdul Akbar Chitrali, a lawmaker belonging to a religious political party and author of the bill. The deputy speaker, Zahid Akram Durrani, called the legislation “historic” as he congratulated the lawmakers for carrying out what many saw as their religious duty.

Rights activists said the latest development left them further alarmed.

“The new legislation is very worrying,” said Saroop Ijaz, the senior counsel for Human Rights Watch in Asia. “Pakistan’s existing blasphemy laws have enabled and encouraged legal discrimination and persecution in the name of religion for decades.” Those accused of blasphemy against Islam risk becoming targets of mob justice, fatally tortured or shot by angry mobs before legal proceedings can play out. In many cases, the accusations have arisen out of personal enmities or feuds over land. Not infrequently, the majority Muslim population has clashed with the minority Christian population.

There is also sometimes a political dimension.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan survived an assassination attempt in November at a political rally. The accused attacker, as well as some officials in the current government, have characterized the shooting as religiously motivated. Fawad Chaudhry, a former federal minister and a senior leader of Mr. Khan’s political party, said the government of the current prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, had run a campaign on state-run television last year claiming that Mr. Khan had committed blasphemy during his political rallies — an accusation that Mr. Khan and his party deny. Mr. Khan, who was ousted as prime minister after a no-confidence vote last April but has been trying to stage a comeback, has asserted that the assassination attempt against him was planned by his opponents, and that religion was only a pretext.

Mr. Chaudhry described blasphemy accusations against political opponents as a dangerous trend, and said the new legislation only created more opportunities for such misuse.

Taking a stand on the issue can also be dangerous, as the assassination of two senior politicians more than a decade ago made clear. In 2011, Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab Province, was fatally shot by one of his own bodyguards. Mr. Taseer had been an outspoken opponent of the blasphemy laws and had campaigned for the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian convicted of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Shahbaz Bhatti, a federal minister and a Christian who had also opposed the death sentence imposed on Ms. Bibi, was fatally shot the same year. Ms. Bibi, who left Pakistan in 2019 after her conviction was overturned, continues to receive death threats. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent rights group, said on Friday that it was deeply concerned over the latest legislation.

“Given Pakistan’s troubled record of the misuse of such laws, these amendments are likely to be weaponized disproportionately against religious minorities and sects, resulting in false charges, harassment, and persecution,” the group said in a statement.

“Moreover,” it said, “increasing the penalty for alleged blasphemy will aggravate misuse of the law to settle personal vendettas, as is often the case with blasphemy allegations.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/21/world/asia/pakistan-blasphemy-laws.html

Pakistan’s interest expenses increases, spends over PKR 3.2 trillion on debt servicing and defence

Interest expenses in Pakistan have increased to Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 2.57 trillion in the first half of this fiscal year, amounting to 65 per cent of the annual debt servicing budget, and is forcing the Pakistan government to reduce its other expenses, except those on defence, The Express Tribune reported.

The development comes amid the government’s reluctance to opt for debt restructuring.With a net income of PKR 2.5 trillion, Pakistan’s total spending on debt servicing and defence reached over PKR 3.2 trillion more than the government’s net income, which indicates that Pakistan will remain debt trapped as the tax collection has increased, however, the expenses have not been reduced, The Express Tribune reported.

In comparison to a massive expenditure of PKR 3.2 trillion on debt servicing and defence, only PKR 147 billion was spent on development, the report said, adding that the expenditure on development is 49 per cent less in comparison to the previous fiscal year.

Citing sources in the Ministry of Finance, the news report said there was an alarming rise of 77 per cent in the cost of interest on the federal government debt stock during the July-December period of the current fiscal year.

The new provisional details have suggested that there has been a cumulative reduction of 15 per cent in all other non-development expenditures, excluding defence due to the precarious situation. The development expenses were reduced by 50 per cent for other expenses, The Express Tribune reported citing government sources.

Pakistan’s Finance Ministry has given about PKR 2.57 trillion in interest costs, which shows a rise of PKR 1.1 trillion or 77 per cent, The Tribune reported citing sources.

During the current fiscal year, the government had budgeted PKR 3.95 trillion for interest expenses but 65 per cent of it has been used in just six months, it added.

Amid the high cost of debt servicing, the Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank is also due to hold a meeting on Monday to review the possibility of further increasing its interest rate to control inflation and attract foreign inflows.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the cost of debt servicing could rise to about PKR 5 trillion in this fiscal year, which amounts to over half of this year’s total budget of PKR 9.6 trillion.

Citing sources, the news report said Pakistan spent PKR 638 billion on defence in six months, excluding military pensions and expenditure on the armed forces development programme. The annual budget is PKR 1.563 trillion and the six-month expenditure is as per the allocation.

In the current fiscal year, the government’s total expenditure increased to nearly PKR 4.7 trillion. However, the current expenditure of the government increased to more than PKR 4.5 trillion, as per the news report.

Provisional figures reveal that the federal budget deficit reached around PKR 2.2 trillion in the first six months of the current fiscal year, The Express Tribune reported citing sources.

The federal budget deficit, the gap between expenses and revenues, amounted to 2.5 per cent of the GDP, it added.

https://theprint.in/world/pakistans-interest-expenses-increases-spends-over-pkr-3-2-trillion-on-debt-servicing-and-defence/1329433/