Profit TOP JUDGE’S POWERS: CJP VOWS NOT TO COMPROMISE ON JUDICIAL FREEDOM

ISLAMABAD

S TA F F R E P O R T

CH I E F Justice Umar Ata Bandial Tuesday said an independent judiciary is necessary for democracy to function in Pakistan, as the Supreme Court held a hearing to consider a set of petitions challenging a law that aims to restrict the authority of the top judge

An eight-judge larger bench headed by Justice Bandial and comprising justices Ijaz ul-Ahsan Munib Akhtar Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Shahid Waheed heard the petitions filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution which deals with the jurisdiction of Supreme Court

The law reads: the Supreme Court shall if it considers that a question of public importance with reference to the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights [ ] is involved have the power to make an order of the nature mentioned in the said article

The bill in question, which has already become an act of parliament, seeks to limit the individual authority of the chief justice to initiate suo motu proceedings and form benches unilaterally and instead places these powers in a panel consisting of the chief justice and two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court

The law also proposes the right to appeal against suo motu decisions

Last month, the court had preemptively frozen action on the bill even be- fore it was passed into law, declaring the act “shall not have, take or be given any effect nor be acted upon in any manner ”

Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed appeared on behalf of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Farooq Naek represented the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Hassan Raza Pasha, a Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) official, represented the union of lawyers before the court

During the hearing, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan revealed that some political parties would like to address the bench via video link to which the chief justice responded that the bench will hear everyone He remarked that the judiciary has reservations over the law and emphasised that the independence of the judiciary is a “fundamental right ” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer Khawaja Tariq Rahim said the judicial reform bill has become part of the law

The court sought a record of the debate held in the parliament and a standing committee on judicial reforms

Pasha, who heads the executive committee of the PBC, requested the inclusion of senior judges in the bench, while the union also sought the formation of a full court and the exclusion of Justice Naqvi who is part of the bench However the court rejected his request

The chief justice stressed that independence of the judiciary is a fundamental right, and it cannot be changed He remarked that politics has tainted the judicial process,” adding that “complaints keep coming against most of the Supreme Court judges including myself ”

The demand for a full court and removal of judges was also made during the election delay case The hearing of the pleas was adjourned by the court till May 8 and the chief justice directed all parties in the case to submit written arguments in the case

SC registrar seeks record of NA sessions

Top militar y brass, agencies brief PM on national security

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday chaired a meeting which was attended by top military brass and the heads of sensitive agencies and discussed with them the matters pertaining to the national security

According to sources national security issues were considered in the meeting, while the heads of sensitive institutions briefed the prime minister on the security issues as well as the overall situation, including the border situation The meeting was attended by Army Chief Gen Asim Munir Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)

Lt-Gen Nadeem Anjum and relevant senior officials The prime minister expressed satisfaction over the performance of the military institutions Also Prime Minister Shehbaz consulted cabinet ministers and senior leaders from his Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz party on the court proceedings pertaining to the bill on the powers of the chief justice as well as the elections on Punjab

According to Express News Sharif chaired a meeting with party leaders during which Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar briefed the participants on the relevant constitutional issues

A detailed consultation was held on the overall political situation of the country,” according to the report “The court proceedings were also re-

Govt, PTI agree to hold same-day elections across Pakistan: Dar

ISLAMABAD

S TA F F R E P O R T

In a major development in the ongoing negotiations between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) it has been agreed to hold same day elections across the country The announcement was made by Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar after the third session of negotiations between the two sides Addressing the media after the talks, Dar said that the discussions took place in a positive atmosphere and both the government and PTI have agreed to hold the elections on the same day in the entire country However the date for the elections has not been fixed yet

The minister further stated that the general elections will be held in the presence of the caretaker governments Both sides are firm on their position regarding the date of the election, but flexibility has been shown from both sides, adding that respective leadership will be consulted to finalise the date of the elections Ishaq Dar emphasised that regardless of the date of the election it will be held under the caretaker governments This is a significant step forward in the ongoing negotiations between the government and PTI which have been taking place for several weeks now

Sanaullah once again says holding polls ‘impossible’ on May 14

ISLAMABAD

S TA F F R E P O R T

As the ruling alliance and opposition Pakistan

Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) sat down on Tuesday evening to hold make-or-break talks on the timing of general elections Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has once again reiterated that holding polls on May 14 is not possible PTI Chairman Imran Khan has linked the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government demand to hold elections across the country simultaneously with the dissolution of all legislatures including the National Assembly before May 14 Referring to the PTI chief ’s demand Sanaullah said all assemblies should be allowed to complete their constitutional term and added that negotiations are not held with conditions attached Speaking in a TV talk show the interior minister said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif allowed the party to hold talks with PTI despite reservations viewed in detail in the meeting, it added The meeting agreed to continue using the forum of parliament effectively The participants reiterated their commitment not to allow anyone to interfere in the affairs of parliament the report added Separately a delegation led by Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Anwarul Haq met the prime minister During the meeting, Shehbaz assured Haq of resolving the AJK’s problems regarding the development funds as soon as possible Pakistan stands with the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in their struggle for freedom and the government of Pakistan will continue to provide moral, political and diplo- matic support for their right to self-determination

Shehbaz said that India s move of stripping Kashmir of its special status on August 5, 2019 was an illegal action and a violation of human rights He urged the international community including the United Nations to take notice of it

The delegation comprised AJK ministers Waqar Noor, Faisal Rathore, AJK lawmaker Latif Akbar, PML-N AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir, AJK Peoples Party President Chaudhry Yasin and former AJK prime minister Raja Farooq Haider

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal

Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Qamar Zaman Kaira were also present during the meeting

During the talks with PTI, the security czar said the PDM’s negotiating team proposed that the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be finalised and the incumbent set-up be allowed to present the upcoming federal budget instead of caretaker setup before going into the elections

If these two demands are accepted then what is the need to dissolve the assemblies just a few weeks before their term, he remarked On the other hand, PTI leader Asad Umar warned that the country and allied parties of the coalition government will suffer “if the last chance to dissolve the assemblies is wasted”

Umar also urged the coalition government to accept the PTI s demands regarding dissolving assemblies before May 14 and submit the government s consent to the demands in writing to the Supreme Court to pave the way for elections in the country

Earlier today, PTI s Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood

Qureshisaid that despite being hopeless he will sit at the negotiation table with good intentions” with the PDM team The former foreign minister also accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of trying to “sabotage” the talks on the date of the election claiming that it was the PTI which was showing flexibility

Headline inflation in April at record high, hits a distressing 36.4pc

1 6 T H M A N A G I N G E C O N O M Y O

F Pa K I S Ta N C O N F E R E N C E

K I C Ks O F F At L S E D U R I N G S U M M E R O F D I S C O N T E N T

the rain falling outside on an cool morning for May in Lahore the Lahore School of Economics (LSE) opened the Managing Pakistan s Economy Conference 2023 This is the 16th conference of this name hosted at LSE, but perhaps none of the other 15 editions have been held in such dire economic straits Outside the walls of LSE the economy has been in freefall The government is in the process of negotiating what is seeming to be an impossible IMF programme, and the threat of default has everyone in nervous sweats All of these factors combined with rising inflation mean the need has never been greater to find solutions to Pakistan s economic management

Right off the bat, the immediate concern seemed to be collection of data In a country where core data is unavailable, how do you manage an economy of 250 million people?

Dr Shahid Chaudhry rector of the Lahore School of Economics in his inaugural remarks stated that the current difficult economic situation faced by Pakistan emanated in large part from the effects of Covid in 2019-20 and the Ukraine war starting in 2022 The Pakistan economy was now stabilising and after almost no growth in 2022-23 it was likely to grow to resume modest growth in 2023-24

The Pakistani economy will start an upward growth trajectory in the next fiscal year The reasons behind this was (1) the

Current Account seems to be recovering from its deep deficits – albeit with import controls that need to be better targeted said Dr Moazam Mahmood Professor of Economics at the Lahore School

Dr Rashid Amjad, Professor & Director of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies at the Lahore School and Almazia Shahzad analysed the post-2019 shifts towards a market-driven exchange rate and found that while the exchange rate may have been overvalued in the past, this has been reversed recently which should make exports more competitive The paper advised to manage Pakistan’s marketdetermined exchange rate regime through building up and maintaining adequate reserves

Dr Azam Chaudhry, Pro Rector, Dean and Professor of Economics at the Lahore School of Economics, estimated capital flight from Pakistan using the data from the balance of payments and the level of trade misinvoicing in Pakistan

Dr Azam concluded that in the last 10 years, capital flight has reached to significant levels over the last few years reaching almost 5 billion dollars

He also showed that capital flight is extremely sensitive to economic conditions which means that sustained economic growth will tempt capital to return If the Pakistani economy can rebound quickly to a 4-5% growth rate it is estimated that at least $5 5-6 billion of capital can flow back to Pakistan each year Mr Syed Shabbar Zaidi discussed the oversized role of federally collected tax revenues in the total tax pool of Pakistan and how the large transfers of revenues as a result of the 18th Amendment to the provinces has resulted in them not developing the capacity to generate revenues on their own

Dr Matthew McCartney, of the Chartered Cities Institute, and a managing editor of the Lahore School’s influential Lahore Journal of Economics provided an overview of two relatively successful periods of economic and political stabilisation in Pakistan 2000-2001 and 2013-2106 and asked what lessons can be learned and implemented in 2023 Dr Matthew proposes reforms in delimited economic areas – Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and independent Pockets of Efficiency – independent central bank revenue collection authority, telecoms regulatory Drs Moazam Mahmood, Azam

Chaudhry and Shamyla Chaudhry highlighted how fiscal deficits can drive trade deficits They highlighted that a significant amount of debt is the result of the foreign debt incurred as a result of the recurring current account devidits A smaller though still significant amount of the debt that has accumulated as a result of the need to fund the government s high annual budget deficit Highlights that policy to then alleviate future BOP crises has to acknowledge that part (62%) of the problem lies in the tradables sector The FY 2022 level of Gov expenditure of 8 % of GDP is financed externally by a quarter which is 2 % of GDP The authors gave suggestions for debt management Naeem Sheikh and Arshad Hassan, of the Lahore School of Economics, discussed the causes and ramifications of low tax revenue mobilization and tax compliance in Pakistan The largest impact on compliance will result from the real- time exchange and analysis of taxpayer/trader data among the FBR, provincial tax authorities and withholding agents Dr Theresa Chaudhry, Professor of Economics at the Lahore School coDirector of the Innovation and Technology Centre at the Lahore School and one of the editors of the Lahore Journal of Economics, and Hamna Ahmad of the Lahore School of Economic asked whether Pakistan can look

IGI Investments (Private) Limited acquires majorit y biopharmaceutic al company

and Sections 96 and 131 of the Securities Act 2015 Details of IGI Holdings Limited s investment in Sanofi Aventis Pakistan Limited The disclosure form attached in the letter sent to the PSX highlighted that IGI Investments (Private) Limited has acquired a further 5 87% equity stake in Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Limited (Sanofi Pakistan) The stakes were bought at a negotiated purchase price of Rs 940 per share This latest transaction was part of the proposed acquisition of the entire 52 87% shareholding that was previously held by Sanofi Foreign Participations B V It was further shared that to the service economy specifically to the gig economy as a source of dynamic export growth They used unique data from IT services offered online to foreign companies to understand the types of jobs that are being demanded, the characteristics of those offering IT services and the renumeration offered to those offering services They also discussed the potential for IT exports and also discussed government policies to promote IT exports

Dr Naved Hamid, Ali Chaudhry and Murtaza Syed discussed how monetary policy could have reduced the impact of the current economic crises and lessons which can be drawn for monetary policy in the future

The authors proposed (1) to improve coverage and frequency of domestic demand indicators (especially quarterly GDP) (2) Maintain healthy degree of caution around fiscal projections (especially during times of political stress and around elections) (3) Be conservative about external prospects (current account, FX reserves and foreign inflows) and their impact on the exchange rate and imported inflation (4) Beware of supply shocks that can quickly morph into an inflationary spiral through expectations (pay attention to the whole distribution of expectations measures, especially as Pakistan has a history of ‘sticky’ core inflation)

Dar rejects news about OGRA’s petrol-price reduction recommendation

ISLAMABAD a p p

Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Tuesday rejected reports that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had recommended a decrease in the price of Motor Spirit Oil (MSO – Petrol) for first fortnight of the current month, terming them ‘baseless and untrue ’ “Some reports have been circulating in the press and electronic media stating that OGRA made recommendation to the government for a reduction in the price of Motor Spirit/Petrol with effect from 1st May 2023 which are baseless and untrue ” the minister clarified on his Twitter handle Meanwhile OGRA spokesman Imran Ghaznavi in a brief press statement said the authority did not recommend any decrease in the prices of MS/Petrol The recent decrease in international price was offset against the outstanding exchange rate adjustment and as such there was no room for a decrease in the local prices of MS/Petrol dated December 035 2012