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Sexual harassment law in practice soon

MPA Uzma Bukhari has said the federal government will soon implement the law on sexual harassment against women.

Addressing a consultation meeting on sexual harassment against women organised by Aurat Foundation at a local hotel on Tuesday, she said the owners would be fined and apprehended if there was any case of sexual harassment at the workplace. She urged the NGOs to find out the root causes behind the sexual harassment cases.

Aurat Foundation Regional Coordinator Nabila Shaheen said 4,360 cases of sexual harassment against women were registered in 2008 and efforts were made to reduce this trend but a surge was seen in such cases despite all efforts.

MPA Shabina Riaz expressed her concern over tremendous rise in cases of violence against women, stressing that concerted efforts should be made to overcome this trend.

SP Neelma Durrani highlighted that most of the cases of violence against women were not reported due to social pressure.

Mehnaz Rafi said that issues of violence against women had plagued not only Pakistan but the whole world.

Source:- The News

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Liberty attack terrorist arrested

LAHORE - In a major breakthrough, City police have broken down the network of terrorist organisation ‘Punjabi Taliban Tehreek’ as it has arrested one of its members Zubair alias Naik Muhammad who was also involved in the attack on Sri Lankan Cricket team in March.
The actual plan of terrorists was to kidnap the Lankan team and make them hostage till the release of their some important leaders arrested by the law enforcement agencies. They, however, changed the plan after some policemen offered them resistance.
This was revealed by CCPO Lahore, Pervez Rathore, while addressing a press conference at Police Lines, Qilla Gujjar Singh on Wednesday. DIG Investigation Lahore, SSP Investigation Zulfiqar Hameed and SP CIA Umer Virk were also present on the occasion.
The CCPO said arrested terrorist, Zubair, was one of the seven terrorists who took part in the operation at Liberty Chowk and shot dead traffic warden Tanveer Iqbal.
While six other terrorists involved in the attack have also been identified. They are: Muhammad Aqeel alias Dr Usman of Tehsil Kahuta, Rawalpindi, ring leader of the terrorists who also masterminded the attack on Lankan team, Samiullah lias Ijaz of Safdar Abad, Nankana, Adnan alias Sajjad hailing from Dera Ghazi Khan, Qari Ihsan alias Qari Ajmal of Bahwalpur and Abdul Wahab alias Muhammad Umer. They have been escaped to Waziristan after attack on Lankan team to avoid arrests.
Terming it a major breakthrough, Rathore said police were able to trace terrorists’ network after they (police) taped their mobile conversations.
SSP Investigation Zulifqar Hameed said the PTT was formed three or four years ago and have strong links with Baitullah Mehsud.
He said instead of hiring vehicles terrorists purchased two auto rickshaws, three motorcycles and two cars, giving police little room to investigate.

This news was published in print paper. To access the complete paper of this day. click here

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Pakistan urges Saudi Arabia to stop trial of pilgrim family

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira addressing a press conference in Islamabad. –APP Photo

pakistan-urges-saudi-arabia-to-stop-trial-of-pilgrim-family

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to formally request the Saudi government to postpone the trial of a Pakistani couple allegedly arrested in a drug smuggling case.

Talking to the media after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the Pakistani mission in Riyadh was in touch with the Saudi authorities to ensure that no innocent person was punished.

He said the Saudi ambassador had assured Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani during a meeting that he would talk to the authorities concerned in this regard.

‘The government understands through preliminary reports that the couple is innocent and those who sent them to Saudi Arabia for Umra are the real culprits and, therefore, the cabinet has decided to approach the Saudi government so that no innocent person is punished,’ he added.

Kaira said Pakistani law-enforcement agencies were investigating into the matter and the real culprits would be brought to justice.

Dawn Staff Reporter in Karachi adds: Police have registered a case against a travel agent and his son for deliberately cheating at least three families who were arrested in Saudi Arabia for possessing heroin.

According to officials, the FIR (223/2009) under section 420/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) was registered on the complaint of Raees Ahmed, father of Shumaila, who was arrested in Jeddah, along with her husband and five other persons.

Source:- DAWN News

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MNAs again blast carbon tax

ISLAMABAD: The carbon tax continued to be the butt of criticism from both treasury as well as opposition in the National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday, the second day of debate on the budget.

The opposition and many members of the treasury asked the government to withdraw the proposal to slap the carbon tax. PML-Q legislators dubbed the budget “visionless” while the PML-N legislators targeted the government for not fulfilling its promise of repealing the 17th Amendment.

However, PML-Q legislator Riaz Fatiyana described the budget as positive ‘in the present circumstances’.Fatyana appreciated reconciliation between two major parties especially with reference to Punjab and called upon the political forces to follow it in other provinces also to strengthen democracy as future of Pakistan lies in it.

Voices for giving provincial autonomy to the provinces were also raised.Continuing the budget debate on second day, senior PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi described the budget as a visionless policy of the government in which there was neither a policy to control the rising prices nor measures for alleviation of poverty.

“To present such a budget is a disgrace to the Parliament,” he added.He said according to latest report of the World Bank, poverty in Pakistan increased by 40 percent but the government tried to hide it in the budget. “The day the government has presented the budget in the National Assembly, inflation rose by 13 percent,” he added.

Elahi ridiculed the 15 percent increase in the salaries of government employees as a ‘cruel joke’ on them. “The salaries should have been increased at least by 33 percent. He advised the government to improve the administrative affairs of PIA, Pakistan Steel and Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC).

He accused the government of handing over the affairs of the Finance Ministry to the IMF and World Bank. Pointing out the absence of a finance minister in the cabinet. Ch Pervaiz Elahi said, “It would be better for the government now to float a tender to hire the services of a finance minister.”

However, he was all praise for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and paid glowing tributes to them, saying that they sacrificed their today for saving the future of the nation.He said the funds allocation of Rs50 billion was not sufficient for the IDPs at a time when the government failed to mobilise the international community to come forward to help the IDPs.

He also criticised the government for going to the IMF to get financial support. He was also critical of proposed US aid and suggested to devise indigenous strategy to increase income and tide over financial crises.

He also supported the move to convene all parties’ conference on Balochistan to resolve problems being faced by the province. Minister for Planning Makhdoom Shahbudin bitterly criticised the PML-Q for its policies during their rule and said that it was only because of these policies that the country landed into current economic morass.

He said the present government adopted a 9-point strategy for revival of economy that has started giving dividends as inflation is on the decrease and it will come down to single digit during the next fiscal year.

He said measures are underway to build up youth who are asset of the nation. He said the government had to go to the IMF and World Bank due to financial mismanagement of the previous government.

Rana Tanveer Hussain of the PML-N called upon the government to take visible steps to repeal the 17th Amendment to ensure sovereignty of the Parliament. He regretted that no concrete plan has been proposed in the budget to overcome poverty and unemployment which are major problems of the country.

Parliamentary leader of the Fata legislators Munir Khan Orakzai termed the budget ‘workable’, hoping that it will help improve socio-economic condition of the people. He demanded more funds allocation for Fata, Northern Areas and AJK and give hundred percent increase in Fata development budget.

Ghous Bakhsh Mehr of the PML-Q suggested more measures for development of agriculture sector and ensure provision of agricultural inputs at cheaper rates. He urged the government to provide at least five hundred bulldozers to Sindh province land leveling to increase agricultural yield.

He also proposed to connect Gwadar Port with main railway network to make it feasible. He also urged the government to work on connecting Chaman with Afghanistan through rail network to promote business activities.

Abdul Qadir Khanzada of MQM urged the government to withdraw carbon surcharge on petroleum products as its implementation would open the floodgate of price hike and multiply difficulties of the common man. He urged the government to give at least 25 percent increase in the salaries of government servants.

Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti paid rich tributes to President Asif Ali Zardari for his reconciliatory efforts and strengthening democracy that led to stability of the country. He said the President preferred to remain in jail for eight long years but he did not compromise on his principles.

He said it is the PPP that has taken visible measures to ensure protection of rights of the minorities and given substantial increase in the budget for their welfare. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq stressed the need for ensuring transparency in the privatization process. He also called upon the government to expedite the process for restoring 1973 constitution in its true spirit.

Abdul Qadir Patel of the PPP said that the President gives importance to Parliament and desires that all the issues be resolved through it as it is a sovereign body elected by the people. He said the PPP has the history to work for the welfare of the common man and in this struggle its leaders laid their lives but did not compromise on principles.

Pervez Khan Advocate of the ANP spoke for maximum provincial autonomy and distribution of resources among the federating units on just and equitable basis keeping in view the ground realities.

He demanded early convening of National Finance Commission meeting to finalize the award and place more resources at the disposal of the provinces, particularly to Balochistan and the NWFP. He urged the government to provide more resources for relief and rehabilitation of IDPs as they have suffered a lot and made sacrifices for the country.

Source:- The News

Posted in Pakistan Budget 2009-10.

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Analysing budget 2009-10

By Dr Ashfaque H Khan
The government has presented its second budget in the backdrop of a difficult economic situation. Like the previous fiscal, fiscal year 2008-09 has also been a challenging year. The government was faced with unsustainable fiscal and current-account deficits, rising inflation, rapidly declining foreign-exchange reserves and the rupee coming under severe pressures.

The government had two choices to make in the 2008-09 budget–either to go for promotion of economic growth and job creation, or for stabilising the macroeconomic situation; that is, reducing fiscal and current account deficits, reducing inflation, building foreign-exchange reserves and stabilising the exchange rate. The government went for the second option, and rightly so, because macroeconomic stability is vital for promoting growth and poverty reduction.

Accordingly, the government pursued tight fiscal and monetary policies to reduce aggregate demand, and reduce imports and thus reduce the current-account deficit. The government was pursuing these policies when the rest of the world was doing the opposite–expansionary fiscal and easy monetary policies. The government was, in fact, criticised for pursuing tight fiscal and monetary policies at the cost of slowing economic activity. The critiques were wrong. Pakistan pursued tight policies as it was facing problems of excess demand while rest of the world was facing lack of demand. The policies pursued by the government paid handsome dividends, with budget and current-account deficits being sharply reduced and inflation starting to ease.

But it is too early to declare victory. Though macroeconomic imbalances have been reduced to some extent, both budget and current-account deficits remain at unsustainable levels and inflation is double-digit. Meanwhile, world oil prices are on the rise, touching over $72 per barrel and projected to reach $85 by the end of December.

Since the government believes that macroeconomic stabilisation has done its job well and it is the time to go for promotion of growth, it has prepared Budget 2009-10 in such a perspective. The new budget has been presented with a view to promoting growth with equity. An overly expansionary fiscal policy will be pursued in 2009-10 and adequate resources have also been allocated to promote equity to give a human face to them.

The government has lost patience. Total consolidated expenditure (including that in the provinces) is estimated at Rs2,897 billion and total revenue is targeted at Rs2,175 billion, thus leaving a budget deficit of Rs722 billion, or 4.9 percent of the projected GDP. Total current expenditure is amounted at Rs2,104 billion and development expenditure adjusted for net lending amounted to Rs793 billion. In development expenditure, the much celebrated Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) – the “symbol” of growth and development – has been targeted at Rs626 billion – an increase of almost 50 percent over last year. Perhaps in the government’s view this is going to ignite growth in 2009-10, as if there is a relationship between the PSDP and economic growth. No one should be against the PSDP if its size is consistent with a stable macroeconomic framework. I am afraid that the present size of the PSDP may become the root cause of enhancing macroeconomic imbalance in 2009-10.

It is not clear why the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and the allocation for the internally displaced people (IDPs) have been put under the development programme. Development spending is spending which creates assets like schools, colleges, hospitals, roads, highways and dams. What assets are these two allocations going to create? These are for social protection and intended to provide relief to deserving people. By definition, these two allocations should have been part of current expenditure. It has unnecessarily raised the size of development expenditure to Rs793 billion. One reason that I can think of is that the allocations for the BISP and the IDPs have been shifted from current to development expenditure is to meet one element of the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act 2005. The Act had required that revenue deficit should be zero by June 2008, and the government should have maintained a surplus thereafter. This element of the Act was violated in the last two years as the revenue deficit remained in the negative zone. The government accordingly decided to change the definition of development expenditure by shifting the BISP and IDPs relief in it and as such recorded a surplus to the tune of Rs71 billion in revenue balance in 2009-10. The government could have achieved this target in 2010-11.

The financing plan of the Rs722 billion fiscal deficit is interesting. Financing from external sources amounts to Rs312 billion and Rs391 billion is targeted to be financed from domestic sources. Within domestic sources, Rs145 billion will be financed from banks and the remaining Rs246 billion from non-bank sources. Privatisation proceeds of Rs19.0 billion will also be used for financing fiscal deficit. The heavy reliance on external sources (43 percent) to finance the fiscal deficit has become a source of anxiety and a major risk to the new budget. The advisor to the prime minister on finance, Shaukat Tarin, clearly stated in his post-budget press conference that he is confident that Rs228 billion in external assistance will be coming in 2009-10 to finance the budget deficit (Rs178 billion from FODP and Rs50 billion for the IDPs). And if, God forbid, these resources are not forthcoming, then the government will seek further assistance from the IMF to meet the budgetary gap. Why have we undertaken such a massive spending based on either uncertain sources or further borrowing from the IMF? It is strange that the IMF has allowed its resources to be used for budgetary purposes. The IMF is meant to provide balance of payments support to member-countries. This is a major departure from the past as the IMF appears to have changed its religion. We may see inflation becoming a fiscal phenomenon rather than a monetary one, the balance of payments becoming a fiscal rather than a monetary phenomenon from the IMF perspective. In my view, the government should have announced clearly in Budget 2009-10 that its fiscal deficit target is 3.4 percent of GDP (or Rs504 billion), additional spending on physical and human infrastructure would be undertaken as such and when the resources from the FODP and grants for the IDPs be available. The government could have kept the projects ready and as the money started flowing in, and activities on the new projects could have started. In other words, additional spending could have been made conditional on receiving money from external sources. In doing so, the government could have maintained financial discipline in its second budget as well.

Nevertheless, the new budget has several positive elements, such as: The allocation of Rs70 billion to the BISP, Rs50 billion for the relief and rehabilitation of the IDPs, doubling of the salaries of army personal fighting on the western borders; extending the same benefits to the entire armed forces from January 1, 2010; launching health insurance for the poor and vulnerable; promising to train and employ one person from each poor household, launching of small public works programmes to provide employment; enhancing the allocation for the People’s Work Programme; social security protection for haris; widening the scope of the workers’ welfare programme; and increasing the outreach of the borrowers for microfinance. These programmes will indeed help in alleviating the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable sections of society. In the real sector, the agriculture and water sectors have received much greater attention, for which the government should be commended. But at the same time, the livestock and dairy sector, which accounts for 50 percent of agriculture, have been ignored.

Budget makers make efforts to create a balance between limited resources and unlimited demand. This work demands patience on the part of the budget makers. Have the budget makers lost their patience? Have they succeeded in creating a balance between limited resourced and unlimited demand and expectations? I leave it to the readers to decide.

The writer is dean and professor at the NUST Business School, Islamabad, Email: ahkhan@nims.edu.pk

Source:- http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=183196

Posted in Pakistan Budget 2009-10.

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