Wednesday, 16 November, 2022 I 20 Rabi us Sani, 1444 I Rs 15.00 | Vol XIII No 137 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Dar postpones proposeD petrol price hike until month enD g
says sbp, nbp to withDraw appEals against fsC vErDiCt to bEgin intErEst-frEE banking
ISLAMABAD
m
staff report
inistEr for finance senator ishaq Dar on tuesday said the government has decided to keep the prices of petroleum products unchanged for the second half of november 2022. briefing media here, Minister for finance senator ishaq Dar announced the government’s decision to keep the prices of petrol, high speed Diesel, light Diesel, and kerosene oil unchanged for the next 15 days. the current prices for petrol are rs224.80 per litre, rs235.30 for highs speed Diesel (hsD), rs186.50 for light Diesel and rs191.83 for kerosene oil. the minister said that as per the government decision of nov 9, the state bank of pakistan (sbp) and the national bank of pakistan (nbp) have filed applications in the supreme Court regarding the pending appeals in riba case. Dar said after federal shariat Court’s (fsC) verdict in riba (interest) case, the government is withdrawing its cases in the fsC. the state bank of pakistan (sbp) and the national bank of pakistan (nbp) decided to withdraw their pleas for the resumption of the interest-based financial system. the finance minister added that the sbp and
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ECC approvEs Continuation of pM rEliEf paCkagE, sasta atta initiativE for kp
nbp filed appeals to withdraw their pleas. on october 31, the federal government had decided to keep the prices of petroleum products unchanged. ECC approves continuation of pM relief package, sasta atta initiative for kp the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved continuation of prime Minister’s relief package (pMrp) and sasta atta initiative for khyber pakhtunkhwa. federal Minister for finance and revenue senator Mohammad ishaq Dar presided over the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) at finance Division on tuesday. federal Minister for power khurram Dastgir khan, Minister of state for finance and revenue Dr. aisha ghous pasha, Minister of state for petroleum Musadik Masood Malik, sapM on finance Mr. tariq bajwa, sapM on government Effectiveness Dr. Muhammad Jehanzeb khan, Coordinator to pM on Commerce & industry rana ihsan afzal, federal secretaries, Chairman fbr and other senior officers attended the meeting. Ministry of industries and production submitted a summary on continuation of prime Minister’s relief package (pMrp) and sasta atta initiative for khyber pakhtunkhwa beyond 31st august, 2022. after deliberation, the ECC approved
continuation of pM’s relief package (pMrp) and khyber pakhtunkhwa sasta atta initiative from 1st sep till 15th nov. 2022 on the existing model of untargeted subsidy at the prevailing rates and allocation of additional funds amounting to rs. 4,908 million over and above the regular budgetary allocation through supplementary/technical supplementary grant to recoup the amount already spent by usC. the ECC also allowed continuation of pMrp on hybrid model for a period w.e.f. 16th nov. to 30th June, 2023 (Excluding ramzan) and allocation of funds to the tune of rs. 10,755 million through supplementary/technical supplementary grant and continuation of khyber pakhtunkhwa sasat atta initiative and provision of subsidized atta from 16th nov. 2022 to 30th June 2023, after rationalizing number of stores, with allocation of funds of rs. 1,560.68 million through supplementary/technical supplementary grant. Ministry of industries and production submitted a summary for release of funds for ssgC for gas supply to pakistan steel Mills (psM). it was shared that the production of psM has been at a halt since 2015 and low flame gas of 2 million cubic feet per day (MMCfD) is being supplied to psM primarily to preserve the Coke oven batteries and refractory kilns. the ECC after deliberation approved rs1,258.248 million for sixteen month gas bills from the already approved budgetary allocation of rs10 billion to psM for fy 2022-23 and releasing of an amount rs298.248 million for the period from March to June 2022. the ECC considered a summary of Ministry of Energy, petroleum Division on continuation of subsidized rlng supply to fatimafert and agritech ltd and allowed operations of the plants on subsidized rlng from october, 2022 to December 2022. the ECC also approved technical supplementary grants worth rs100 million in favour of Ministry of information and broadcasting for creation of film and Drama finance fund for promotion and support of film industry in pakistan, rs. 9,767 million including fEC usD 12.667 million for Ministry of Defence against various approved projects during Cfy 202223 and rs. 60.606 million to the national Commission for human rights (nChr) the ECC deferred the summary presented by Ministry of Energy, petroleum Division on deregulation of superior kerosene oil/ light diesel oil and E-10.
Sharif tests positive for Covid-19 — again ISLAMABAD staff report
prime Minister shehbaz sharif has tested positive for Covid-19, Marriyum aurangzeb, his minister for information, wrote on twitter on tuesday. sharif had returned recently from london where he was visiting his brother and disgraced former prime minister nawaz sharif. this is the third time the prime minister has tested positive for the virus, after having previously contracted the disease earlier this year in January and in June 2020. responding to the news, president Dr arif alvi expressed good wishes for his health and prayed for sharif’s early recovery. he also emphasised taking good care during the phase of sickness, his office said. raja pervez ashraf and Zahid akram Durrani, speaker and deputy speaker of the national assembly, prayed for sharif’s health and speedy recovery, radio pakistan reported. they said the prime minister would recover soon and continue to steer the country toward the path of development and prosperity. former president and pakistan people’s party parliamentarians (pppp), asif ali Zardari has prayed for the quick recovery of the prime Minister Mian shahbaz sharif. according to a spokesman for the bilawal house here on tuesday, the former president
Dubai businessman reveals what Imran concealed in Thoshakhana gifts’ sale g
Zahoor ClaiMs hE bought gifts froM farah gogi, for 7.5M DirhaMs in Cash ISLAMABAD staff report
an expensive graff wristwatch worth at least rs2 billion, gifted by saudi Crown prince Mohammad bin salman to former prime minister imran khan, was sold by farah gogi and shahzad akbar to Dubaibased businessman umar farooq Zahoor. appeared on geo news programme “aaj shahzeb khanzada kay sath”, Zahoor, the pakistani-origin norwegian millionaire, claimed he has evidence to prove he bought the rare watch and three other toshakhana gifts from farhat shahzadi, also known as farah gogi, for
7.5 million Dirhams in cash. the businessman appeared in live programme to show evidence of the purchase as well as all the toshakhana gifts he owns now. the businessman alleged that he was later on blackmailed and fake cases of money laundering were registered against him by the federal investigation agency (fia) at the behest of shahzad akbar after he refused to listen to the demands made by his former wife sophia Mirza. in an affidavit, Zahoor says: “i umar farooq, s/o late Zahoor ahmed resident of r/o (address as per Cnic) house no D-
102/1, block-4, Clifton karachi, currently residing at Muhammad bin rashid City, District one, Dubai, united arab Emirates (uaE) do hereby solemnly affirm and declare on oath that i was introduced to Ms farhat shahzadi by Mr shehzad akbar and bought the following ornaments, jewellery sEt 2 by graff from Ms farhat shahzadi having CniC no 35201-2625741-8 and passport no. bp5147413 for aED seven Million and five hundred thousand Dirhams (aED 7,500,000) paid as cash”. the gifts mentioned include Diamond Mastergraff tourbillon Minute repeater with Makkah Map Dial gM2751, Diamond Cufflinks with 2.12ct h if and 2.11ct i if round Diamonds gr46899, Diamond gent’s ring 7.20cts, vvsl rose gold pen set with pave Diamonds and Enamel Mecca Map.
Zahoor, who is an ambassador at large for the republic of liberia, says that it was in March 2019 when former accountability minister shahzad akbar introduced him to gogi and told him he should meet her during a Dubai visit and look at the unwanted rare gifts she wanted to sell. he says when he met gogi and saw
hoped, ‘the prime Minister shahbaz sharif after speedy recovery will serve the country and the nation as well. ‘federal Minister for information and broadcasting Marriyum aurangzeb in her tweet said the prime Minister shahbaz sharif had tested positive for Covid19. he was feeling unwell for the past two days. the pM initiated a coronavirus test after the advise of a doctor. Earlier, information Minister Marriyum aurangzeb in a tweet had posted that prime Minister shehbaz sharif tested positive for coronavirus this morning. she mentioned that the prime minister was feeling unwell for the last two days and got himself tested on the advice of a doctor. she also appealed to the general public and party workers to pray for the early recovery of the prime minister. Meanwhile, pakistan reported 32 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, the Ministry of national health services said, taking the overall tally of infected people increased to 1.57 million. a total of 30,629 people have died of Covid-19 in pakistan, with no new death reported in the country, according to the ministry. on Monday, 4,191 samples were tested for coronavirus throughout pakistan, and the latest positivity rate stood at 0.76 percent. Currently, 48 patients are in critical condition in the country.
the gifts, he was instantly interested because these items are rare and priceless. “gogi was frank. she told me the history of these gifts and said these have been given to prime minister imran khan by the saudi Crown prince and that she wanted to sell these on behalf of imran khan and his wife bushra begum. she told me that akbar had asked her to meet me in Dubai. “after verifying the authenticity of the items, i didn’t negotiate the price. i paid her whatever she asked for as these gifts are priceless. as soon as the payment was made, gogi reported on the phone to akbar that the deal was through and thanked him for introducing her to me. akbar thanked me for buying the toshakhana gifts and requested that i don’t speak about this matter to anyone. i agreed.” Zahoor says things remained quiet until akbar got in touch with him again and spoke on behalf of sophia Mirza, Zahoor’s former wife, asking him to return their two daughters to pakistan.
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