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  • Imran criticises himself ‘for not running country right’

    Imran criticises himself ‘for not running country right’

    In what appears to be criticism for his own government, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said the manner in which Pakistan is being run, cannot lead to progress and the country will face severe financial difficulties if steps are not taken to enhance the tax revenue.

    According to The News, the premier on Wednesday took the top hierarchy of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) into confidence over the proposed reforms plan for converting it into the Pakistan Revenue Authority (PRA) and assured them that no action plan would be implemented without consultations.

    PM Imran urged the officers to speak out and said that people will be eager to pay tax if they are assured that their money will be spent on public welfare instead of lavish lifestyle of rulers.

    He said currently, the government has no money to spend on masses as it inherited record deficit and instructed the FBR officials to take measures to restore the confidence of the business community by addressing its grievances regarding the tax machinery.

    The premier said that the collection of Rs8 trillion tax was not difficult if all stakeholders considered it their national responsibility and the country could not run on the old pattern as his government had inherited the biggest financial deficit and current account deficit.

    “Half of the tax collection in the first year was spent on debt servicing,” he said and added that Pakistan had huge potential in terms of its young population. “If they [the youth] are provided with opportunities, the country can progress on the path of prosperity.”

  • Rift in ruling coalition? PML-Q urges Imran to withdraw ‘unjustified’ demand to Nawaz

    Rift in ruling coalition? PML-Q urges Imran to withdraw ‘unjustified’ demand to Nawaz

    Leaders of the ruling Pakistan Terhreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) major coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), have advised Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to withdraw the “unjustified” condition set for ex-PM Nawaz Sharif’s foreign travel.

    The development comes at a time when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has already taken the government to the Lahore High Court (LHC) over its demand for an indemnity bond worth Rs7 billion, which it called “unconstitutional” and a “ransom”.

    PML-Q is the major ally of the PTI government in both Punjab and the Centre and the Chaudhry brothers, Shujaat Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi, have urged PM Imran not to listen to those were creating hurdles in the departure of Nawaz Sharif.

    Shujaat said, “PM Imran has to overcome the storm which has started over Nawaz Sharif’s departure,” referring to a barrage of statements coming out in the favour of Nawaz after the government placed its condition for the permission to fly overseas.

    The PML-Q president urged PM to focus on important issues, such as rising inflation and unemployment, adding that “People in power should only spend their energy on ending inflation and unemployment,” PML-Q added.

    Similarly, speaker Pervaiz Elahi has also urged the federal government to withdraw its demand of the surety bond, saying that if something happened to Nawaz, the issue would haunt the incumbent PM for the rest of his life.

    While the PTI government is facing immense pressure to not let former premier to go abroad without a financial guarantee, it seems a rift has appeared between two allies over Nawaz’s health issue.

  • ‘Army says Monal built on its land, wants it back now’

    ‘Army says Monal built on its land, wants it back now’

    Islamabad’s famous Monal Restaurant is built on military land in the Margalla Hills that the army now wants back, a Capital Development Authority (CDA) official has reportedly told a parliamentary committee.

    According to Dawn, Dr Shahid Mahmood on Wednesday told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change that 15 years ago, the CDA “did not know it was building the restaurant on military grasslands until the army started claiming it”.

    The committee was told that the 22,000 acres of land — that are now a part of the Margalla Hills National Park — were actually owned by the Punjab government.

    Around 5,500 acres of the said land was allocated to the army, he said, although the exact year the allocation was made, was not stated. The CDA now owns 16,500 acres.

    The latest survey conducted by the authority revealed that the land allotted to the army is right in the centre of the national park, and Monal has been built on it.

    Monal Restaurant was built in 2005 and was a CDA property. The operation of the restaurant was leased for a 10 year period, Dr Mahmood told the committee, adding that the space was now being vacated and handed over to the army.

    However, Committee Chairperson Munaza Hassan was more interested in finding out who had permitted the construction of a large restaurant inside the national park protected by the law to conserve its natural environment and wildlife.

    Dr Mahmood said the CDA board at the time had permitted the restaurant’s construction, offering to share the board decision with the committee. He said several inquiries were undertaken to hold officials accountable for allowing the restaurant to be built, but none had been successful.

    The committee chair then demanded that CDA shared information regarding the construction of Monal Restaurant on protected land.

    Climate Change Joint Secretary Suleman Warraich said the government was unable to implement environment protection laws due to confusion over the demarcation of state land overlapping with private property. “Margalla Hills National Park was last mapped in the 1960s,” he said.

  • Twitter spat after Faisal Vawda’s ‘money first for criminals’ post

    Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda and Shehbaz Sharif’s daughter in law are exchanging responses on Twitter after the minister posted a picture of former premier Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz among others playing Roulette in a casino.

    Faisal Vawda on Wednesday posted this picture on his Twitter handle and wrote, “Alhamdolilah with every scheme thrown at the govt by all champions IK stands out as a winner in exposing Sharifs politics. If it’s life & death for NS then why denying surety bonds. For criminals it’s MONEY FIRST. I thank PM for giving us a chance to expose them yet again”.

    https://twitter.com/FaisalVawdaPTI/status/1194594491950387201

    Replying to this tweet Zi Suleman Sharif from her Twitter handle wrote, “Faisal Vawda a pathetic cartoon himself, You are exposing yourselves not anyone — lagay raho”.

    They both later shared a few responses.

    In the end, the minister wrote, “Don’t talk too much, ask your wanted family members to return stolen public money and submit surety bond, Where’s your husband Mr. TT??”.

  • Punjab Assembly: 100 PML-N MPAs submit resignations

    Punjab Assembly: 100 PML-N MPAs submit resignations

    At least 100 provincial lawmakers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday submitted their resignations from standing committees of the Punjab Assembly to register their protest against non-acceptance of their demands.

    According to sources, the PML-N lawmakers submitted their resignations to the secretariat of the provincial house for not appointing Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and not issuing production orders for jailed party leaders, including Khawaja Saad Rafique.

    As many as 97 members of the standing committees out of 100 had on Wednesday submitted their resignations to the party leadership.

    “It is a black day in the history of the Punjab Assembly when over a hundred members have tendered their resignations from the standing committees,” PML-N leader Malik Nadeem Kamran said.

    He trained guns at the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for not issuing Hamza Shehbaz’s production orders and said that the government had backtracked on its promise of appointing Hamza as the PAC chairman.

    “Now, the standing committees will not have any political or moral status for legislation and circumstances called for such extreme measures.”

    A day earlier, an accountability court in Lahore extended Hamza’s judicial remand till November 28 in the assets beyond means case.

    During the hearing, Presiding Judge Amjad Nazeer expressed resentment at the PML-N leader for not maintaining the decorum of the court and instructed him to come to the rostrum and stay quiet.

    Hamza also exchanged harsh words with the judge and explained that the people interacting with him had come to the court on their own. “Next time, you will come straight to the rostrum,” the judge directed Hamza.

    The defence counsel sought exemption from personal appearance for Shehbaz Sharif, saying he had to appear before the federal cabinet in Islamabad.

  • Pakistanis to face reduction in salaries in 2020: report

    The salaries across Pakistan are expected to record a substantial decrease this year due to rising inflation and depreciation of the Pakistani rupee, according to a report released on Tuesday by mobility consultancy ECA International.

    According to the details, the Salary Trend Report published by the group contends that the average real salary increase in Pakistan is expected to be negative, and employees will likely be worse off than they were last year. Lee Quane, Regional Director Asia at ECA International, has surmised these trends.

    Lee explained, “The average real salary increase in Pakistan is forecast to be -3.0%, meaning that employees will be worse off than they were last year. Despite the nominal increase staying at a relatively high 10.0%, inflation has shot up as the rupee has depreciated.”

    He also said that the Inflation in Pakistan is forecast to reach 13.0% in 2020, exceeding the nominal increase and leaving workers out of pocket compared to 2019.

    However, the same is not true for other Asia-Pacific countries, especially neighbor and arch-rival India. 

    According to the report, India topped the table for average real salary increases in Asia, but now also tops the table globally for 2020. The average real salary increase is set to be 5.4% for workers in India, which is four times the rise expected in Hong Kong. 

    “Salaries in India are set to rise significantly, with the 5.4% increase almost four times as high as the expected increase in Hong Kong. Despite inflation rising slightly from 2019 and the economy slowing slightly, though workers can still expect more increases” said Quane. 

    Workers in China are set to see a real salary increase of 3.6% in 2020, while UK workers will receive a lower real salary increase in 2020 as compared to the previous year.

    Overall, the global average salary increase stands at 1.4% and the Asia-Pacific average increase is 3.2%. 

  • FBR uncovers Rs100 billion in tax fraud within last four months of PTI govt

    FBR uncovers Rs100 billion in tax fraud within last four months of PTI govt

    Karachi’s Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) — the biggest revenue collecting arm of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) — has unearthed Rs100 billion in tax evasion from July to October of the current fiscal year, The News International reported.

    According to the details, the senior officials of LTU Karachi have revealed that in the ongoing audit and examination, the unit detected Rs100 billion as tax avoidance/evasion by around 12 companies.

    Inland Revenue commissioners Zulfiqar Memon and Girdhari Mal announced these evasions while sharing information about the performance of the unit on the instructions of the FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi.

    The names of the tax-evading companies were, however, not disclosed.

    Reports quoted Girdhari as saying that one of the cases involved tax concealment of a whopping Rs23 billion and notices had been issued to the companies for recovering the taxes.

    “LTU posted a 16% growth in revenue collection during the first four months of (July – October) 2019-20,” he said and attributed the growth to reforms and initiatives taken by the government.

    LTU Karachi released Rs21 billion as sales tax refunds during the period under review after the change in sales tax regime effective July 1, 2019, stated the report.

    Meanwhile, Memon said that the law of information sharing from banks to tax authorities was introduced in 2013, however, the law had been given a stay order by the courts.

    He added that FBR was unable to receive information with the exception of specific/identified cases from banks. Recently a court has advised the bureau and Pakistan Banks’ Association to resolve the issue.

    LTU Karachi has also identified around 100,000 individuals who have commercial gas connections, but don’t have mandatory sales tax registration.

  • ‘Babar Azam is Jinnah’s grandson’ among other statements attributed to JUI-F leader

    Ever since Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) leader Mufti Kifayatullah has made a statement about Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s former wife, Jemima Goldsmith; that ‘Wiki of Wikileaks’ is her cousin, social media is flooded with funny quotes.

    Dr Farhan Virk, a social worker from Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf (PTI) had recently started a Twitter trend called “KifayatQuote” after Wiki-Jamima blunder and asked its followers to come up with funny quotes that they can attribute to JUI-F leader.

    Soon after Dr Farhan began the trend by sharing a meme on his Twitter handle which said, “Kartarpur is the cousin of Faryal Talpur” and wrote, “Guys, Grab your keyboards and start trending KifayatQuotes as it is now time to pay a tribute to this great legend of social media and Azadi March”.

    Since then the Twitter users across Pakistan are sharing funny quotes and attributing all of them to Mufti Kifayat.

    One of the users wrote that Pakistan Cricket team’s skipper and batsman Babar Azam is the grandson of Quaide Azam.

    https://twitter.com/Shaziaa24/status/1193963917141262336

    Another wrote that “Babar Azam and PM Imran are cousins”.

    https://twitter.com/saadiraja183/status/1193963531957362691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1193963531957362691&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Ftwitter.com%252Fsaadiraja183%252Fstatus%252F1193963531957362691%26widget%3DTweet

    While the rest of the users are making all kinds of random hilarious quotes and they are funny.

    https://twitter.com/umama86/status/1193965849750777856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1193965849750777856&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Ftwitter.com%252Fumama86%252Fstatus%252F1193965849750777856%26widget%3DTweet
    https://twitter.com/qijalali/status/1193963853782102017
    https://twitter.com/Arman2k3/status/1193963690703433729

  • Koyi Shak, asks D.G. ISPR after report uncovers fake media outlets run by India

    EU Disinfo Lab, an independent non-governmental organization, has found that there are at least 265 “coordinated fake local media outlets” that were “designed to influence the EU (European Union) and the UN (United Nations) by repeatedly criticising Pakistan”.

    The report shows how the NGO investigated and found that Indian stakeholders are deliberately trying to influence countries against Pakistan by getting stories posted on sites like eptoday.com, which is “the website of a self-proclaimed magazine for the European Parliament in Brussels”. After investigating the site and the increasing anti Pakistan articles and op-eds, the Disinfo Lab found a pattern that matched 265 fake local media outlets, including timesofgeneva.com, “an online “newspaper” that is “approaching 35 years in business”. Strangely enough, Times of Geneva publishes the same type of content as EP Today and produces videos covering events and demonstrations criticising Pakistan’s role in the Kashmir conflict.”

    After the report was published, D.G. ISPR tweeted that koyi shak (any doubt), hinting that there was zero doubt that India is trying to influence the world against Pakistan by publishing fake news.

    RELATED: DG ISPR defends Neelum Muneer’s item song in ‘Kaaf Kangana’

    Other findings from the report include that most of the fake outlets are named after an outdated newspaper or are fake versions of real media outlets. They also republish content from agencies and have little original content. It also showed that the coverage was mostly of the same Indian-related demonstrations and events and also republications of the same anti-Pakistan content.

  • Shaikh Rasheed wanted Nawaz’s name off the no fly list

    Even though Nawaz Sharif has rejected the conditional leave offer made by the government, prior to the offer and during a federal cabinet meeting on Tuesday, many ministers were against letting Nawaz go.

    RELATED: Govt allows Nawaz to travel abroad, for four weeks only

    The meeting was headed by Prime Minister Khan and lasted for four hours. According to GEO News, several ministers opposed letting Nawaz leave the country. They included Fawad Chaudhry and Faisal Vawda, who have publicly spoken against the move as well. They were joined by Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur and Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari.

    But some ministers said that Nawaz’s name should be pulled off the no fly list, including Railways Minister Shaikh Rasheed.

    In an interview to ARY News Shaikh Rasheed said that Nawaz should take the deal and leave the country and if he doesn’t, he is just playing politics.

    Shaikh Rasheed’s comments on ARY News