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SC PUTS OFF SAME DAY POLLS CASE AS GOVT-PTI MEETING SCHEDULED FOR 26TH Friday, 21 April, 2023 I 30 Ramzan, 1444
Court ’s order says impressed to note political leadership affirmed fidelity to Constitution
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ISLAMABAD
staff RepoRt
HE Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday adjourned till April 27, the hearing of a petition seeking ‘same day elections’ in the country after being told that a meeting has been scheduled between the government and Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) for April 26. Earlier in the day, the apex court had given the federal coalition and the PTI time until 4pm to sit together and develop a consensus on elections in the country. At the same time, it also asserted that it would not go back on its order fixing May 14 as the date for elections to the Punjab Assembly. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar heard the petition, seeking to hold general elections to all the national and provincial assemblies simultaneously. However, the proceedings did not resume at 4pm as the three-judge bench did not appear in the courtroom. Meanwhile, Farooq H Naek, who was representing Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan met with CJP Bandial in his chambers. The Supreme Court, in its written five-page order, stated that it was “impressed” to note that all political leaders had affirmed their fidelity to the Constitution. It also asserted that it would not go back on its order fixing May 14 as the date for Punjab elections. The order noted that the Supreme Court has no objection to the negotiation process for holding general elections si-
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Asserts it would not go back on its order fixing May 14 as date for Punjab polls
multaneously. “Holding elections on the same day across the country is a legal and constitutional question,” it added. It further said that all executive authorities were bound to implement the decision of the election to Punjab Assembly on May 14. Referring to CJP’s meeting with Farooq H Naek and AGP Mansoor, the order said that both the representatives informed the chief justice of talks between government and opposition. A meeting has been scheduled amongst government and opposition on April 26, 2023, the order said, adding that it should be informed of the progress when the hearing resumed on April 27.
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Dialogue ‘at gunpoint’ will be a futile effort: Bilawal CONTINUED ON PAGE 03
ISLAMABAD
staff RepoRt
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has termed the Supreme Court (SC) order ‘a verdict at gunpoint,’ saying although his party is trying to develop consensus on elections among the political leadership, but “it would be a futile effort if it is carried out with a gun to your head”. While addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reiterated the demand for simultaneous elections in the country, saying the ruling parties will consider the court order based on the 3-2 ratio as “a verdict at gunpoint.” He added that they considered the minority’s verdict as the ruling at gunpoint and expressed fear for the continuity of democracy and the federation if stakeholders fail to find a so-
Pakistan placed first order for discounted Russian crude oil: Musadik ISLAMABAD
lution to the issues. He admitted that the elections should be held on time but the circumstances are different today. He claimed that the violation of the 90-day deadline was not committed by the government but someone else was involved in it. The foreign minister made these comments as Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial requested political leaders to hold negotiations earlier in the day after the Supreme Court resumed hearing a petition seeking to hold general elections for all national and provincial assemblies simultaneously across the country. The CJP said that there could be no obstinacy in negotiations and that consensus could be built through bilateral talks. The top judge requested that leaders of political parties meet today and negotiate, rather than after Eid.
PM urges judiciary to reassess role, become protector of Constitution
ReuteRs
Pakistan has placed its first order for discounted Russian crude oil under a new deal struck between Islamabad and Moscow, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik said, with one cargo to dock at Karachi Port in May. Pakistan’s purchase gives Russia a new outlet for its crude, adding to Moscow’s growing sales to India and China, as it redirects volumes from western markets where its oil has been banned in the wake of the Ukraine conflict. Discounted crude offers much needed respite to cash-strapped Pakistan in the face of a balance of payments crisis and critically low foreign exchange reserves. Energy imports make up the majority of the country’s external payments. The deal will see Pakistan buy only crude oil, not refined fuels, with imports expected to reach 100,000 barrels per day if the first transaction goes through smoothly, Malik told Reuters on Wednesday night. “Our orders are in, we have placed that already,” he said, confirming source-based information that the country would only be buying crude, not refined products. Pakistan imported 154,000 barrels per day of oil in 2022, relatively flat from the previous year, data from analytics firm Kpler showed. Most of the crude was supplied by the world’s top exporter Saudi Arabia followed by the United Arab Emirates. If Russian crude supplies were to reach 100,000 barrels per day, it would mean a potentially big drop for Middle East suppliers to Pakistan. Malik declined to say whether Chinese yuan and the UAE dirham would be used as currencies for transactions, with Pakistan short of dollars. He did not comment on the rate of imports either.
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ISLAMABAD
staff RepoRt
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said there was no example anywhere in the world that the court had stayed law of the parliament, elaborating the judiciary can only interpret the law, but cannot re-write it. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif criticised the issuance of stay orders against legislation still in progress and called on the judiciary to reassess its role and become the protector of the Constitution. “The Constitution has its roots in parliament, and the judiciary’s role is limited to interpretation, not rewriting of laws,” PM Shehbaz declared while speaking at the launch of the 1973 Constitution mobile application here on Thursday. “The parliament will use its constitutional and legal right”, he said and hoped that the judiciary will uphold the constitution and the law. PM Shehbaz Sharif
stressed it was time for the state institutions to get united for upholding the Constitution and keeping the national interest supreme. He continued that Pakistan was currently at the crossroads of constitutional challenges, which required a sense of wholeness to be demonstrated by the state institutions. In connection with the golden jubilee of the country’s 1973 Constitution, the mobile application has been developed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the leadership of Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb in collaboration with National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). The application will act as a digital source to help raise awareness among the general public about the 1973 Constitution. “It does not happen anywhere in the world that a court issues a stay order against a legislation which is still in the making,” he said. He urged the judiciary to reassess its role and become the protector of the Constitution. The prime minister said the 1973 Constitution was the result of the hard toil of the politicians from all backgrounds, who reached a consensus in formulation of the sacred document. He recalled that veteran politicians of their times including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mufti Mehmood, Khan Abdul Wali Khan and several others rose above their political differences to write a constitution that acted as a binding force for the federation. He said although politicians made mistakes in the past, but it was the time to rectify them. “We have indeed learned a lesson and we are making efforts to take Pakistan out of these problems,” he said. “Great people learn from their mistakes and hold the national interest high.”
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Engro just returned Rs23b in dividend to shareholders. But do they not have anywhere to invest it? g
After a decade of trying to find right investment, Engro takes a step back LAHORE
abdullah Niazi
Early on Thursday morning, Pakistan’s largest conglomerate announced that they were releasing an interim cash dividend for the first quarter of the financial year ending on the 31st of March 2023 at Rs 40 per share — a return of 400% on the share’s par value. The total amount of dividends released by Engro come out to Rs 23 billion. And while minority shareholders have been buoyed by the payout, the dividend marks both a point of frustration and resignation from the management at Engro. For at least the past five years, Engro has been sitting on a significant pile of liquid cash worth over $700 million earned through the sale of
its subsidiary Engro Foods to a Dutch company, and the sale of nearly onethird of its fertiliser subsidiary Engro Fertilizer in 2016. And in the time since Engro cashed out on these businesses, they have been trying to look up and down all over Pakistan for investment opportunities to try and expand their footprint. Whenever a company makes such sales they have two options. The first is to immediately disburse the proceeds to their shareholders as a dividend, or otherwise. The other option is to sit on the cash, earn interest off it, keep it on the company’s books, and look for opportunities to invest the money in and expand their business. This is assuming the company’s management hasn’t finalised better business opportunities prior to the sale.
Engro went for the latter. Since 2016, the company has explored the logistics business, they have taken a very serious look at entering the telecom infrastructure sector, the healthcare sector, and have done feasibility studies and research on a number of other fields. None of them have proven to be worth their while. All of this raises the question: Has Engro finally had enough? “The paying of this dividend is essentially Engro saying ‘hey we give up there is nowhere to invest in Pakistan’ so here is your money,” explains Farooq Tirmizi, former Managing Editor of Profit. “It comes down to the fact that Engro as a company is too big for Pakistan’s stunted economy to handle.” And that is where the other reason behind the paying of this dividend
comes in. Pakistan’s current macroeconomic conditions have put almost every investable industry in the country to torch. In a press release explaining the board’s decision to pay the dividend, Engro stated that prohibitive cost of capital and import restrictions on things like machinery meant that investment was difficult. “It seems like they have that much cash in their books and don’t have anything better to do with it right now. All the restrictions and expansion plans are on hold. Engro has actively been looking to do a project but the macroeconomy seems to have pushed them into paying out the dividend,” says the head of a major securities brokerage firm in Pakistan.
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FIQAH-E-HANFIA
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FIQAH-E-JAFARIA
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Eidul Fitr on Saturday as Shawwal crescent not sighted: Azad
ISLAMABAD
staff RepoRt
Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Syed Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azad on Thursday evening announced that the Shawwal crescent was not sighted in any nook and cranny of country therefore the Eidul Fitr would be celebrated on Saturday. Addressing a press conference after holding a conclusive meeting along with other members of the committee here on the premises of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Ministry, the chairman said the first of Shawwal 1444 AH would fall on Saturday, April 22, as the committee did not receive any solid testimony of crescent sighting from any parts of the country. No evidence of moon sighting in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and Peshawar was confirmed by Zonal Committees of Ruet-eHilal Committee. As per the report, after 21 minutes of sunset, the chances of seeing the crescent of Shawwal ended across the country and the moon was not sighted anywhere in all major cities including Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar. According to details, Karachi Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Maulana Muhammad Salfi talked to the media and confirmed that the time to see the moon has ended and no witness or evidence of moonsighting were received. He told the media that they have informed the central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee about not seeing the crescent of the Shawwal month. He said the formal announcement of the moonsighting will be given by the central committee from Islamabad. In Lahore, the zonal Ruet-e-Hilal Committee meeting was held but the moon was also not sighted here in the city. In Islamabad, due to cloudy weather and wind storm, the moon was not sighted. However, the Zonal and District Ruet-e-Hilal Committees held their meetings at their respective headquarters across the country. According to astronomical parameters, there was ‘no chance’ of sighting the new moon of Shawwal, 1444 AH on the evening of April 20, 2023 i.e. on 29th of Ramazan, 1444 AH said the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s report issued earlier.
Weekly inflation records new high of 47.23% PROFIT
staff RepoRt
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released data on Thursday showing that the weekly inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) has reached an all-time high of 47.23 per cent year-onyear (YoY) for the week ending April 19. The increase in food prices was the main driver of this unprecedented inflation. On a week-on-week (WoW) basis, the short-term inflation rate rose by 0.51 per cent due to the increased costs of food items such as potatoes, tea, bread, chicken, and rice, as well as non-food items such as liquified petroleum gas, petrol, and matchboxes. The SPI monitors the prices of 51 essential items based on a survey of 50 markets in 17 cities across the country. During the week under review, the prices of 29 items increased, eight decreased, and 14 remained stable. Last week, the short-term inflation rate was recorded at 44.61 per cent YoY, while for the week ending on March 22nd, it was recorded at an alltime high of 46.65 per cent YoY, which was surpassed by the latest record. Available data shows that last month, prices in Pakistan rose at the fastest pace ever in the country’s history, with food, beverage, and transport costs driving inflation to a point where analysts feared that “families will have to make choices and sacrifices”. Moreover, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded a monthly inflation rate of 35.37 per cent in March YoY, the highest annual rate since available data in July 1965, according to the research firm Arif Habib Ltd. The government has implemented harsh measures, including hikes in fuel and power tariffs, withdrawal of subsidies, a market-based exchange rate, and higher taxation under the International Monetary Fund program to generate revenue for bridging the fiscal deficit. These measures may result in slow economic growth and higher inflation in the coming months.