Sunday, April 24, 2022
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Friday, March 11, 2022
Monday, January 31, 2022
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Pakistan & IMF
(Jtndikhan Report)
Postponement of 6 billion Dollars Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a few months on the grounds that its staff is not satisfied with the implementation of the loan terms, where the country's economy The government and the opposition have been blaming each other there and this has led to further escalation of political tensions. Representatives of Pakistan and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were reviewing the lower-level agreement on the IMF loan for the sixth time, failing to reach a consensus, so further discussions on the issue were adjourned until September.
Top government sources have confirmed that the IMF board was due to approve the sixth review by July this year, but as disagreements did not abate, it was decided to postpone the review until September. When asked in writing about this, the Resident Chief of the IMF in Pakistan said that we have achieved sustainable development and stability through the implementation of policies, structural reforms and increase in social spending under the EFF program. We are ready to continue helping Pakistan to get loans for this purpose.
According to observers, his response indicated that since the sixth review under the EFF could not be completed, the IMF has decided to adopt a "watch and wait" policy to find out. How much the government can 'deliver' on its announced budget for 2021-22. The opposition camp has drawn its conclusions after the meeting of Pakistan and IMF representatives was inconclusive.
Former Finance Minister Muftah Ismail has claimed in a press conference that the IMF has withheld funds from Pakistan and the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have also stopped lending. He said that the government was trying to persuade the IMF through the United States which would not be good for the nation. He was referring to strategic issues between Pakistan and the United States. He stressed that strategic issues should not be included in economic affairs. Rejecting the former finance minister's statement, the finance ministry spokesman said in a statement that the IMF's program was intact and that its new mission was expected to arrive in Pakistan in August to review its performance throughout the year.
The spokesperson also said that Pakistan has achieved all the targets of the IMF by March which is the best performance. The World Bank has not stopped lending either. It has already approved a large loan. Regardless of the political rhetoric of the government and the opposition, there is no doubt that the government is taking all necessary steps for economic recovery in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
This includes obtaining foreign loans, but it should be noted that friendly countries or international institutions do not provide unconditional loans. They definitely get something in return. The IMF is a powerful institution under the influence of the United States. He is notorious for imposing arbitrary conditions to keep developing countries like Pakistan in his sphere of influence. The government should try not to accept any of its conditions contrary to the national interest and give priority to the national interest while meeting its requirements for economic reforms.
Monday, June 7, 2021
Correct change in Afghan policy
(jtndikhan especial report)
Prime Minister Imran Khan's announcement that his government has changed its policy of strategic depth in Afghanistan is undoubtedly a fulfillment of an unavoidable need of the times. He rightly called for political reconciliation before the withdrawal of US troops, pointing to the fact that if a civil war broke out in a neighboring country, Pakistan would be the second most affected after Afghanistan. His analysis seems to be correct in the context of the recent past.
The neighbor that has been most affected by Afghanistan's four decades of external aggression is certainly Pakistan. The main reason for this is that the two brotherly Muslim countries are interconnected in terms of geography, history, beliefs, language and civilization. That is why after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, when the flood of refugees turned to Pakistan, they were greeted with fraternal generosity. Pakistan openly supported the Afghan resistance against the Soviet military intervention and called on jihads organizations. Keep in touch. After the military withdrawal of the Soviet Union, the power struggle between the jihads organizations started.
When the Pakistani institutions sided with the organizations of their choice instead of neutrality, anti-Pakistan sentiments arose in other groups. When the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its confrontation with jihadi groups and formed its own government, Pakistan cooperated fully with it, as a result of which Afghanistan and Pakistan became practically one and the same. Our state institutions called this situation a strategic depth for Pakistan, but Pakistan's distance from anti-Taliban Afghan groups continued to grow.
After 9/11, when the nuclear situation changed dramatically, the negative effects of this tactical depth strategy became apparent and Pakistan faced the worst of terrorism. Anti-Taliban governments were formed in Kabul and they were generally concerned about Pakistan. However, as a result of the Taliban's fierce resistance to external aggression, when the need for peace talks between the United States and the Taliban was felt, it was necessary to bring the Taliban from Pakistan to the negotiating table.
The desire to use its influence was expressed and Pakistan did its utmost for the sake of peace and stability in the region. Negotiations were successful and the withdrawal of US troops began, set for September 11 this year, but before that there was a consensus between the Taliban and groups in the current Afghan government on the future political system of Afghanistan. The process was to be finalized, but no significant progress has been made so far, raising fears of another civil war in Afghanistan. In his latest remarks, Prime Minister Imran Khan pointed out the same threat and announced that Pakistan had abandoned its years-old strategic depth strategy and decided to remain neutral among Afghan groups, believing that it belonged to the Afghan people.
They have the right to form their own government in their own country. The Prime Minister has vowed to make every effort to reach an inter-Afghan reconciliation before the US withdrawal. In fact, this is the time needed and the United States, Pakistan and all other relevant powers must ensure it, otherwise the entire region will become the target of the worst civil war and instability.
Monday, May 17, 2021
A new era of Afghan peace talks
(Written by, Abu Raja Haider)
The international community and U.S. military officials last month expressed concern about the escalation of violence in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of foreign troops and the resumption of ISIS activity, which has seen an increase in violence over the past two weeks The United Nations is concerned and sees its long-term peace efforts in vain. In this situation, there are reports of a new round of talks between the Afghan government and representatives of the Taliban leadership in Doha, Qatar, which the parties have confirmed.
According to a spokesman for the Afghan government, talks with the Taliban leadership on Friday to speed up the stalled peace talks were held, while a Taliban spokesman said they had agreed to continue talks with the Afghan government after Eid al-Fitr. In a highly sensitive situation were bombings, suicide attacks and violent activities have intensified again in different parts of Afghanistan, this promise of dialogue has emerged as a ray of hope that will bring a new, peaceful, and golden opportunity to tarnish a prosperous Afghanistan has come.
The Afghan political leadership must take full advantage of this, given the 40 years of foreign military domination and the wider interests of the people trapped in the civil war. In a telephone conversation with his Afghan counterpart Muhammad Hanif Atmar on Friday, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi described the inter-Afghan talks as a "rare opportunity" to end the 40-year-old civil war. There is no scope for any kind of tension or violent action.
Israeli aggression and the international community
(Written by, Abu Raja Haider)
Israel's open concession to playing fire and blood in Gaza is enough to prove that today's world is in fact a dark city where all the slogans of justice and human rights are just a sham. The indifference of the international community is reflected in the fact that after several days of brutal violence against worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, which came in the form of rocket fire, the Israeli ruler fired more than 600 rounds a week on the besieged Gaza Strip. Have carried out airstrikes.
According to an Israeli army spokesman, 160 planes are taking part in the attacks on Gaza, in addition to tanks and artillery. The number of Palestinians martyred, including women and children, has risen to 150, while the number of wounded is eight to ten times that. There are more. The buildings have become a huge pile of rubble and the facilities of life are rapidly disappearing. Israeli tanks are ready to enter Gaza and at any moment the area could turn into a full-scale massacre, but the efficiency of peacekeepers is such that a formal UN Security Council meeting has not yet taken place. ۔ The meeting, scheduled for Friday, has been postponed until Sunday at the request of the US government.
The Biden administration's statement stressed that the rocket attacks should be stopped because all Israeli actions are in defense of those attacks. This situation forces people to understand that institutions such as the United Nations, which are responsible for finding and enforcing a just solution to conflicts, are subject to the dictates of the major powers and their tools, rather than the establishment of justice. His staff is his buffalo. Had it not been for this, the establishment of Israel on Palestinian land would not have taken place.
The illegal creation of Israel here seven decades ago is a fact that even the founders of Israel themselves have acknowledged. David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, openly acknowledged this fact in a historically significant letter to Naham Goldman, president of the World Jewish Congress. "If I were an Arab leader, I would never have compromised with Israel. It's a natural thing. We have snatched their country from them. While it is true that we belong to Israel, it is two thousand years old. What do Palestinians have to do with this? Yes, the anti-Semitic movement in the world has been Nazi, Hitler, Auschwitz, but are the Palestinians responsible for it? They see only one thing: we came here and we stole their country. Why accept this? ”
American researchers Professor John Meyer Schmidt and Professor Stephen Walt have quoted David Ben-Gurion's letter in their book, The Israel Lobby, and US Foreign Policy. Therefore, the world powers that have been supporting Israel are clearly committing deliberate oppression and injustice. However, at least for now, the international community must not hesitate to take immediate and effective steps to prevent Israeli aggression, as well as to establish an independent Palestinian state in the two-state formula. This is the practical solution to this problem.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) should also play an active role in this regard because until the Palestinians get justice, the Middle East volcano will burn, and the whole planet? The peace of the earth will be in danger of destruction.
Sunday, May 9, 2021
Rehman Foundation motto Save lives Save humanity
(Written By, Shazreh Shahzad)
The Rehman Foundation is an organization that is around for the last 16 years,
an organization that is helping people who are in need of dialysis for free. The NGO has
multiple centers in different cities that are operative and are always there to help the
helpless people when it comes to health issues making them one of the finest in persistently
providing the best health services in Pakistan. Moreover, it isn’t very known to people and
the purpose of writing this article is so that the readers can get informed about a very
blessed NGO that helps the needy when it comes to diseases. Pakistan is one of the
countries with the highest rate of kidney failures and due to poverty people are unable to
get a cure but as mentioned earlier, the Rehman foundation aims to put in an effort to
prevent this.
Just a week ago, I had the honor of
speaking with the chairman of the foundation, Dr. Waqar Ahmed where he talked
about starting the foundation in the first place and talked about what other
cities other than Lahore his foundation is operating in. He continued telling
how difficult it is to operate a dialysis center with free accommodations with
almost 150 patients being treated for free and yet another 100 who are waiting
to get cured. He went along with why people have this problem and why in
Pakistan it is the biggest problem health-wise, it’s because people don’t do
their tests to find out what is wrong with them since they don’t keep up to
look after their bodies. Doctor Waqar Ahmed is on the urge of spreading
awareness among people to get tested and be aware of the problems they may
adopt later. So it is very important to him that people who have the symptoms
should get tested immediately before the health gets worse since dialysis is
very expensive. The foundation is also keen to give lectures to people on how
to take care of their bodies and stay safe from any health issue that can be a problem. When asked why he started the organization in the first place, he said
that he was motivated by a young boy who died due to kidney failure because of
lack of resources and his parents didn’t know what to do since they couldn’t
afford it. And to start the foundation he spent money of his own to get the
machines and maintain a relationship of trust with others who were worthy of giving
donations to get more resources that could be enough to help with the cure. As
time went by him along with the exceptional effort of his team members of the
NGOs were able to open operative centers in other big and small cities so
people in other cities don’t have the pressure to travel when they have the
opportunity to get cured at a center in their own city.
To make more effort in getting people
aware of such NGO, he thinks students would be a powerful voice to spread
alertness among others with the benefit of social media and other mediums that
could help extend the need for donations Rehman Foundation still desire because
of some people who are still waiting in line. His team and he has managed to
get around 50 dialysis machines with the help of known people who kindly donated
to get resources. Even 17 years later, Rehman Foundation is consistent in
helping anyone who is required to get treated and organizing fundraisers to get
any means of donations so they can help the people.
Another member of the team I had the
opportunity to talk with was with Director of promotion Farah Deeba who
recently got ahold of a lot of donations through public relations and getting
people motivated to consider donating and with having a political background
many people supported the NGO and donated enough to get dialysis machines from
abroad. When the foundation was just starting out they introduced 3 dialysis
machines and today they deal with 100 people daily and treat them with high
approach no matter what for free of cost. They also approach the donors to
meets the patients so the donors know who are they are helping and the
patients know who is treating them, this creates a value in saving both lives
and humanity.
The main determination of the foundation
is to spread attentiveness regarding funds and Islamic value in a way that
back up people to encourage the cause. They ensure that they stand alongside
their patients throughout the journey and have hope in donors who are willing
to donate in fundraisers and through zakat.
As it is time to wrap up the article, I
would suggest that every one of us should take care of our bodies and get a
checkup if there’s a problem because you never when one can fall into a serious
health problem so it’s better if we take care of ourselves and others around us.
Pakistan has a gross population of over 144 million people with the majority of the
people are living in rural areas. And as Dr. Waqar Ahmed mentioned there is a
continuous number of patients who have chronic renal failure in a country like
Pakistan and the number is increasing rapidly. I would encourage all to visit
these organizations and to help the people who are still there because they
require your help in any way you want to.
Rehman Foundation also encourages people
to work with them in order to expand their centers and maintain a relationship that
can help the foundation with donations so they are able to avail more dialysis
machines especially wanting the government to support them so they get the
ability to treat the patients in a better way. Support and faith are also the
two things that people look for in each other. Rehman Foundations ensures that
there is “Health for all”.
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Pakistan's economy and the IMF
(Written By, Abu Raaja Haider)
Shaukat Tareen, the fourth Finance Minister to take the lead in reviving and stabilizing the country's economy in the last three years, has made it clear that the wheel of the economy is not turning, contrary to the government's general statement.
There is no investment, inflation is rising. It was also a mistake to set interest rates at 13.25% and sales tax at 17%. If we do not take GDP growth to 5%, productivity will not increase and employment opportunities will not increase. To achieve these goals, we have to make tough decisions. In this regard, he termed the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for economic loans and its terms as strict, calling for abuses from Pakistan and especially the demand for an increase in electricity tariffs. Indicated a review of the organization's program.
In a briefing session of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance on Monday, he described the real situation of the national economy in a concise manner, which shows where we have faced shortcomings on the economic front in the last three years and how to address them. What should we do now? He also promised that we are now in the process of stabilizing the economy. "We have a lack of proper planning. To improve this, we have implemented ten measures, including price stabilization, agriculture, industry, revenue, housing, social security, national services, debt management, and privatization of loss-making government agencies," he said. Twelve sectors have been selected and economists have begun work on them.
The Finance Minister spoke of achieving the revenue target by increasing the tax net instead of raising electricity tariffs instead of raising electricity tariffs to reduce revolving debts and said that the privatization of state-owned enterprises could not be run by the government. Will be He also said that exports were not increasing as most of the businesses were local rather than foreign investors. He later told the media that inflation was on the rise but steps were being taken to curb it. Sales tax is too high at 17% and measures are being taken to reduce it.
The Finance Minister's address also revealed that 85% of the revenue of all the provinces is spent on only 9 cities while very little is spent on health and education. China will be asked to provide jobs to 10 million Pakistanis to end unemployment in the country. In the meeting, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Waqar Masood said that if the third wave of Corona had not come, the growth rate would have been 4%. Shaukat Tareen has been brought in after the experience of three finance ministers. He has been the country's finance minister before and before taking charge in the current government, many of his valuable suggestions on stabilizing the country's economy have been coming out through the media, so it should be expected that he will be the second economic.
In addition to rectifying the shortcomings, the international financial institutions, especially the IMF, will be able to rectify the situation. Against the backdrop of the devastating Corona epidemic, it is time to relax the terms of loans from the IMF. The general impression is that the IMF's interference in the economic affairs of the country has increased a lot and the problems facing the nation at present, including inflation, are in one form or another the hand of this international institution. If Shaukat Tareen can remove this impression, it will be a great achievement of the present government.
