Sunday, 24 July, 2022 I 24 Zil hajj, 1443 I rs 15.00 I Vol XII no 383 I 12 Pages I Karachi edition
sc retains Hamza as ‘trustee’ Punjab cm until Hearing on monday
LAHORE
t
staff report
HE Supreme Court on Saturday allowed Hamza Shehbaz to stay “trustee” Punjab chief minister until the hearing resumes on Monday, as it adjourned proceedings in a plea filed by PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi challenging Punjab Assembly (PA) Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari’s calling the chief minister’s re-election in Hamza’s favour a day earlier. The decision was taken as a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice
Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhter, took up the petition filed earlier in the day. In its verbal order, the apex court said that it didn’t want a vacuum to be created in such a large province. It also clarified that Hamza would work in accordance with the law and the Constitution until then, adding that Hamza was not allowed to use his power as chief minister in any way that would benefit him personally. Irfan Qadir, Mazari’s lawyer, asked the court for more time and said he wanted to submit a written response. The court granted him time till Monday. Parvez Elahi’s lawyer, Barrister Ali Zafar, requested the court to at least prevent Hamza from
forming cabinet, on which the court said he could form one but it should be as small as possible. The PML-Q lawyer requested the court to hear the matter tomorrow as well but the court said if the arguments were not completed, the matter would go to Monday anyway so the hearing will be in Islamabad on Monday. Outside the court, PTI leader Farrukh Habib told reporters that the government’s side had no responses or credible arguments to present in the portion of the hearing he attended. He said the case had become very “simple and clear” after today’s hearing and Elahi would be the “legal and constitutional” chief minister once the court verdict came. Habib said Hamza was restored only as a “trustee” chief minister so the province’s governance was not impacted and his oath today was withheld. PTI workers in large numbers had gathered outside the court. Earlier, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari failed to appear before the Supreme Court (SC). Instead, Mazari’s lawyer Irfan Qadir attended the hearing, which is being held at the SC’s Lahore registry. The proceedings, being held in courtroom 1, were momentarily paused due to the presence of a large number of people in the courtroom. A glass of a door was damaged as people attempted to enter the room. Before the hearing resumed, arrangements were made in courtroom 3 for other lawyers and people to watch the proceedings on a screen to reduce the rush. A number of PTI leaders were present at the court, including Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Sibtain Khan, Usman Buzdar and Zain Qureshi.
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PM Shehbaz, Imran Khan trade barbs in Twitter spat ISLAMABAD MiaN abrar
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday got engaged in a fiery debate on social media blogging site, Twitter, hours after the federal cabinet approved an ordinance to bypass all the procedures and abolished regulatory checks for selling state assets to foreign countries. Sharing the news story published in a media outlet, Khan questioned how an “imported government” be trusted with the sale of national assets. “How can imported government brought to power through US conspiracy, led by crime minister, who’s family along with [PPP CoChairman Asif Ali] Zardari have volumes written on their corruption, be trusted with the sale of national as-
sets [and] that too [through] bypassing all procedural [and] legal checks,” argued the PTI Chief. Khan further accused the two ruling families for “plundering Pakistan for the last 30 years” and for the “present economic meltdown”. “These thieves should never be allowed to sell our national assets in the devious manner they are attempting. The nation will never trust them with our national assets,” he wrote. Khan SuFFerS FroM MeMorY loSS: SharIF reSPondS: Replying to the PTI chairman’s tweets, PM Shehbaz said that Khan “suffers from a memory loss and needs a few reminders”. “One, as per Transparency International report, corruption increased during his rule. Even transfers/postings were on sale in addition to big scams. Two, the
people are paying the price of how he mismanaged the economy,” he added. Highlighting the third point, Sharif accused Khan of “deeply hurting” the global prestige and standing of the country and its re-
lations with friendly countries. “Four, he has lost a sense of balance in his lust for power, which is evidenced by his habitual recourse to lies, propaganda [and] blatant twisting of facts,” concluded the prime minister.
Financing needs for FY22-23 fully met: SBP chief ISLAMABAD News Desk
Acting Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Murtaza Syed on Saturday said Pakistan’s $33.5 billion external financing needs were fully met for financial year 2022/23. “All unwarranted market concerns about the SBP’s financial position will dissipate in weeks. Our external financing needs over the next 12 months are fully met, underpinned by our ongoing IMF programme,” Dr Murtaza Syed told Reuters in an emailed reply to questions. Fears have risen about Pakistan’s stuttering economy as the rupee fell nearly eight per cent against the US dollar in the last trading week, while forex reserves stand below $10 billion with inflation at the highest in more than a decade. Pakistan last week reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF for the disbursement of $1.17bn in critical funding under resumed payments of a bailout package. “The recently secured staff-level agreement on the next IMF review is a very important anchor that clearly separates Pakistan from vulnerable countries, most of whom do not have any IMF backing,” he said. However, the lender’s board needs to approve the agreement before the disbursement, which is expected in August, before which there remain prior policy actions to be fulfilled, according to sources familiar with the matter. But some question Pakistan’s ability to meet external financing needs, including debt obligations, despite IMF funding. Syed played down those concerns, saying that Pakistan’s public debt profile, one of the “main flashpoints” for markets these days, is much better than in vulnerable countries with high public debt. The country’s public debt-to-GDP ratio is 71pc. “Pakistan’s external debt is low, of relatively long maturity, and on easier terms since it is heavily skewed toward concessional multilateral and official bilateral financing rather than expensive commercial borrowing,” he said. In a recent presentation to international investors reviewed by Reuters, Syed said $33.5bn in gross external financing needs would be met “comfortably” with $35.9bn in available financing. Most of the financing was shown from multilaterals, oil payment facilities, and rollovers of bilateral financing, and the heaviest financing needs were in Q2 of FY2022-23. The presentation also compared the situation in Pakistan to Sri Lanka, which recently defaulted, and said: “Pakistan tightened monetary policy and allowed the exchange rate to depreciate as soon as external pressures began.”
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Maryam says ‘unilateral decisions’ by judiciary won’t be accepted LAHORE staff report
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said that her party should not be expected to bow down to “unilateral decisions”. The PML-N leader was referring to apex court’s short order issued earlier in the day, wherein the top court suspended the Punjab Assembly deputy speaker’s ruling and restrained Hamza Shehbaz to exercise absolute powers and serve only as a “trustee” chief minister until the hearing resumed in Islamabad on Monday. The ruling came a day after PML-N won a dramatic victory against the PTI that only a few had predicted in the
Punjab chief minister’s election, retaining the throne of Punjab after surviving its closest brush with loss in the country’s political heartland. Warmed in the nick of time by a letter from PML-Q head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain — instructing his MPAs to vote for PML-N’s candidate — Hamza Shehbaz was declared a victor after Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari ruled that PML-Q members’ votes were not counted in light of party head’s letter. According to Mazari, Hamza received 179 votes whereas Elahi garnered 176 votes, but only after 10 votes of Elahi’s own party were not counted, which turned the tables in Hamza’s favour. “If the house of justice also comes
under the pressure of bullying, threats and insults, repeatedly makes specific decisions through the same bench and negates its own decisions then we should not be expected to bow our heads in front of such decisions. Enough is enough,” Maryam wrote on her official Twitter handle on Saturday. The PML-N leader said that the current political chaos and instability began with a court verdict, through which an arbitrary interpretation of the Constitution was issued to not count the votes of those who voted voluntarily. “Today, it is being reinterpreted so that the same ladla (favourite) can benefit from it again like he had benefitted in the past,” she said, referring to former prime minister Imran Khan.