CMYK
Tuesday, 30 June, 2020 I 8 Dhū al-Qa‘dah, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 2 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
PSX ATTACKED
terrorists stoPPed by PoliCemen, guards at CheCkPost g
4 SEcURITy PERSoNNEl MARTyRED, SEVEN INJURED AS SINDH PolIcE PUT UP A FIERcE FIgHT
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FoREIgN MINISTER, PM'S NSA, SINDH RANgERS Dg SUSPEcT INDIAN INVolVEMENT; PRESIDENT, PM, coAS lAUD SEcURITy PERSoNNEl
KARACHI
F
StAff RepoRt
oUR security officials were martyred while four terrorists were killed when the heavily armed assailants attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) building here on Monday morning. According to a police statement, one sub-inspector and three security guards were martyred while seven persons, including three police officials, received injuries in the fierce gun-and-grenade attack in the high-security zone that also houses the head offices of several banks. The attack was claimed by the proscribed Balochistan liberation Army (BlA), an Afghanistanbased terrorist organisation, through an email sent to multiple journalists. The outfit had also attacked the chinese consulate in Karachi in 2018. The BlA has been critical of chinese projects in Balochistan, particularly the china-Pakistan Economic corridor (cPEc). In 2016, A chinese consortium comprising three exchanges — china Financial Futures Exchange (the lead bidder), Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange — bought 40 percent strategic shares in the PSX in a deal valued at Rs8.96 billion ($85 million). The attack can be an act of retaliation against increasing chinese presence in the port city of gwadar and elsewhere in the province. According to details, the attackers, who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, reached the PSX entrance a little after 10am in a Toyota corolla car and opened fire. A grenade
attack was also carried out at the main gate of the building. Police said that advanced weaponry, hand grenades and explosive material was recovered from the dead terrorists’ custody. officials of the Bomb Disposal Unit also arrived at the scene of the attack and scoured the site, including the vehicle used by the terrorists, for any explosive material. ‘EIGHT-MINUTE OPERATION’: Sindh Rangers Director general omer Ahmed Bukhari, during a press conference, said that the terrorists were eliminated within eight minutes. He told reporters that the attackers arrived at the scene in a car at 10:02am and they were killed by security forces by 10:10am. once the attackers were killed, security personnel carried out a clearance operation and normalcy was restored to the area within 30-35 minutes. He said that the terrorists had planned a long assault, that included
bloodshed and holding people inside the building hostage. All the attackers were equipped with AK47s, hand grenades and food. Bukhari added that the possibility of the involvement of foreign agencies, especially India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), cannot be ruled out, saying that such attacks are not “stand-alone incidents” and cannot take place without the aid of “outside intelligence agencies”. “Straightaway, I can assure you that this terrorist incident cannot have taken place without [the help of an] outside agency. And among them, RAW’s frustration is apparent to all of you,” he said. Responding to a question, Bukhari denied the suggestion that the attack represented an intelligence failure, adding that security forces’ response was “in place” and the militants “could not achieve any of their motives”. Karachi police chief ghulam Nabi Memon also backed Bukhari’s state-
ment, saying that since the attack on chinese consulate, there have been other attempts that were foiled by security agencies. He said that it was a triumph for the country’s security forces as they had responded promptly and thwarted the motives of the attackers. “We were prepared when they came, we had a good response, we had good coordination with intelligence,” he said. Bukhari said that the militants may have wanted to show that they have the ability to target high-profile places but they had been humiliated because they were eliminated within minutes. The Sindh Rangers Dg said that investor confidence in the country had increased. ‘TRADING DID NOT STOP EVEN FOR A MINUTE’: PSX Board chairman Sulaiman S. Mehdi said “trading didn’t close even for a minute”. “There is no doubt that this was a terrorist attack. I want to thank the security guards who embraced martyrdom for their service. The response of police and
KARACHI Indices of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) showed incredible resilience on Monday, withstanding a terrorist attack on the PSX building earlier in the day, besides accumulating decent gains to cross the 34,000-mark. During the early trading hours, four terrorists had launched an attack on the PSX, resulting in the martyrdom of four security guards, including a police constable. According to Sindh Rangers, all four terrorists had been killed.
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CONFIRMED CASES:
g
208,358
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BIlAWAl ASKS PM To ‘EITHER RESIgN oR SEEK FoRgIVENESS FRoM PEoPlE FoR DESTRoyINg coUNTRy’S EcoNoMy’
ISLAMABAD StAff RepoRt
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
NEW CASES:
49
3,557
RECOVERED:
DEATHS:
SINDH:
PUNJAB:
95,407 4,254 81,955
74,778
KP:
BALOCHISTAN:
AJK/GB:
ISLAMABAD:
26,115
10,376
1,049/1,442 12,643
After a long and noisy debate on the proposed Finance Bill for the fiscal year 2020-2021 on Monday, the National Assembly gave its nod to the federal budget which the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has been touting as “tax-free”. 160 MPs voted in favour of the bill while 119 opposed it. The government had unveiled a coronavirus-influenced Rs7.13 trillion “tax-free” budget for the next fiscal year in a special session of the House held on June 13. While reading the budget document, Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar had emphasised that no new tax was being introduced in this budget. Prime Minister Imran Khan joined the session halfway as the speaker listed each clause and amendment. During the voting, a large number of members of the
Editorial: Crisis averted STORY ON PAGE 06
ARIBA SHAHID
Pakistan
160 lAWMAKERS VoTE IN FAVoUR oF FINANcE BIll, 119 AgAINST IT
CONTINUED ON PAGE 02
RESILIENT PSX WITHSTANDS TERRORIST ATTACK; INDEX GAINS 242 POINTS
Govt succeeds in passing FY21 budget amid Opp’s protests
Coronavirus in
security forces was unbelievable. our personal guards deterred the terrorists until police came in; they were not allowed to enter the building at all,” said Mehdi. Around 1:20pm, the benchmark index at the PSX was up 0.31pc or 104 points at 34,044. PSX Managing Director Farrukh Khan termed the attack “unfortunate” and praised the security forces for their timely response. He said the number of people in the compound was lower than normal — usually close to 6,000 — since many employees were working from home due to covid-19. He added that the terrorists were intercepted outside the entrance and only one of them had entered the compound, and that too “only a few steps”.
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treasury benches started thumping their desks and chanting slogans in favor of the premier. Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, while taking to Twitter after the passing of the bill, said: “Tall claims made by the opposition and some sensationalist analysis by the media over the last few days and the result is that the 29-vote majority, through which last year’s budget was passed, has increased to 41 votes.”
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Before the vote, speaking on the floor of the House, Azhar said that Monday’s session was meant to move amendments to the finance bill and pass it, yet the opposition was resorting to personal attacks. He accused the opposition of shouting na manzoor (unacceptable) even before the budget was presented in the parliament.
CONTINUED ON BACK PAGE
SC orders govt to decide drug prices within four weeks STORY ON PAGE 02
Finance Division rebuts news reports on Audit Report 2019-20 STORY ON PAGE 02