Thursday, 22 december, 2022 i 28 Jamadi awwal, 1444 i rs 15.00 | vol Xiii no 173 i 12 Pages i islamabad edition
Crisis deepens as punjab Governor, speaker loCk horns over rulinG g
governor declareS pa Speaker’S ruling on cm’S vote of confidence ‘unconStitutional’
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Speaker ‘approacheS’ preSident to bar governor from denotifying cm elahi self has given the ruling in your office, which is in violation of rule 209(1),” the order explained. governor rehman noted that as the “custodian of the house and holder of an esteemed constitutional office”, it was imperative for the pa speaker not to act in a “partisan manner; or for that matter, in any other way that violates your oath”. “i would like to draw your attention that, as per the constitution, the assembly’s currently being in session or otherwise does not have any effect whatsoever on the operation of article 130(7).” the order said the pa speaker’s ruling and actions had enabled the chief min-
LAHoRe/ISLAMABAD
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staff report
he fast-changing political scenario continues to take new turn in punjab as on Wednesday governor balighur rehman termed the ruling of punjab assembly Speaker Sibtain khan regarding chief minister pervaiz elahi’s vote of confidence “unconstitutional and illegal”. the governor on december 19, had asked the chief minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly by 4pm on Wednesday. however, on tuesday, punjab assembly Speaker Sibtain khan termed the governor’s orders as “illegal, against the provisions of the constitution and thus stand disposed of”. in his two-page ruling, the speaker maintained that the governor’s orders were not in accordance with article 54(3) and article 127. “the house is in session since oct 23, 2022, and under articles 54(3) and 127. no fresh session can be convened unless and until the current one ends,” the order read. in a four-page response to the speaker today, the governor addressed two main concerns raised in khan’s ruling — which had said that the governor could not summon a fresh assembly session until the current session was prorogued and that there was a minimum mandatory 10-day period for the chief minister to obtain a confidence vote. regarding the first concern, the governor said he had implied in his dec 19 order that “if the ongoing session was
ister in refraining from the confidence vote “helping and aiding the chief minister in refraining from fulfilling his duty and preventing the constitutional process to proceed to its logical end leads to the consequences stipulated in rule 22 (7) of the rules of procedure of the provincial assembly of the punjab, 1997,” it concluded. SPeaker SendS leTTer To PreSidenT alvi: meanwhile, Speaker pa Sibtain has sent a letter to president arif alvi for removing the incumbent governor, punjab minister for environment protection and parliamentary affairs muhammad basharat raja said.
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Imran, Alvi discuss Punjab wrangling prorogued by your good self (pa speaker)” any time before 4pm today then “a new session was required to be summoned” at 4pm today for the vote of confidence. “in the alternate, a sitting of the assembly at the noted time and date could have been summoned in the 41st session of the assembly, which your good self has also noted that it was summoned by me and was never prorogued; or a fresh session specifically summoned for the purposes of requiring the chief minister to obtain the vote of confidence,” the order reads. the governor said that the constitution did not prevent article 130(7) from taking effect if the assembly was already under session. “your reading of
the constitution essentially renders article 130(7) redundant.” rehman’s order added that the pa speaker’s reliance on a lahore high court judgment was “misplaced inasmuch as the facts and circumstances involved in this judgment are clearly distinguishable”. the governor further pointed out that the pa speaker’s ruling violated rule 209 of the rules of procedure of the provincial assembly of the punjab, 1997. “under sub-rule (1), a ruling on interpretation and enforcement of the relevant articles of the constitution as regulate the business of the assembly can only be given on a ‘point of order’. it is evident that no point of order was raised on the floor of the house on december 20, and as it seems, your good
LAHORE: President Arif Alvi Wednesday called on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan amid political wrangling in Pakistan’s biggest province — Punjab. Uncertainty has gripped Punjab as the provincial government and opposition remain at loggerheads over the no-confidence motion and vote of confidence against Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. The PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) are confident of having the numbers to ensure the Punjab CM remain in office, while the opposition claims it could upset the ruling alliance. As the political tensions persist, President Alvi called on the former prime minister to discuss the meetings he held with Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar and other federal ministers. Both leaders also exchanged views on decisions taken by the PTI’s senior leadership in today’s meeting and the party’s ally, PML-Q. Meanwhile, Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Sibtain Khan has sent a letter to President Alvi for removing the incumbent governor, Punjab Minister for Environment Protection and Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Basharat Raja said. The former law minister said that under Article 101(3), the president has the authority to remove the governor. Basharat said in the letter written for the removal, the speaker has also complained about the governor’s behaviour. “He has also pointed out the unconstitutional measures of the governor and requested the president to ensure that the governor does not take further unconstitutional steps.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
SBP governor’s inaugural report paints bleak picture of economy g
governor remarkS on State of financial SyStem aS Well aS groWth of iSlamic banking among other iSSueS PRofIt RePoRt ariba shahid
the first ever annual report of the governor of the State bank of pakistan (Sbp) was released on Wednesday, providing a grim picture of the year that was for pakistan’s economy. the report shows that national cpi (ncpi) inflation reached 12.2% in 2022 compared to 8.9% last year, exceeding the government’s target of 8% as well as the Sbp’s own inflation projection range of 9-11% for the year. the governor’s report put some of the blame for the worse-than-anticipated numbers on the fact that inflation has been a global phenomenon amid a significantly challenging global environment marked by global supply chain disruptions and the russia-ukraine conflict. The report the first of its kind, the report is expected to be a regular feature in which a newly autonomous state bank essentially provides a progress report to parliament. back in January 2022, the State bank act had been amended to provide autonomy to the bank from the finance ministry. the amendments to the act also now required that since the Sbp has been granted this autonomy, they submit an annual report to parliament regarding the achievement of the bank’s objectives, the conduct of monetary policy, state of the economy and the financial system. the report shed light on a number of important topics, including governor
Jameel babar’s remarks on the financial sector, reflections on the growing role of islamic banking in the country, the challenges in terms of monetary policy, and the government’s goal of sustainable, equitable and inclusive economic growth. The report itself has been divided into four distinct chapters that shed light on: the state of the economy and financial system price stability and the conduct of the monetary policy financial stability and what measures are being taken to support the government’s economic policies takeaways from the governor’s remarks the report highlights steps taken by the Sbp to promote financial inclusion, financial development and the documentation of transactions. these steps include initiatives aimed at increasing remittances and new investments by overseas pakistanis courtesy of the roshan digital account scheme and other measures; digitizing of payments through instant person-to-person payments facilitated by raast; launch of banking on equality policy to improve women’s financial inclusion; and introduction of the digital bank framework for the setting up of digital banks in pakistan. in the report, governor babar has pointed out that pakistan’s financial sector has substantial room for development across key indicators which are critical for price and financial stability; along with utilisation of pakistan’s productive resource.
the governor notes that pakistan lags behind other developing and emerging economies in terms of financial market development, financial access credit and insurance penetration, and development of capital markets. “a cross-country comparison reveals that in terms of depth of financial institutions, pakistan is behind other emerging market peers across asia, latin america, europe and africa,” reads the report. it adds that in the case of financial market depth, pakistan’s relative performance indicates that firms and individuals have very limited financing avenues available to cater to their savings and investment needs. as per the report, pakistan’s financial market debt is roughly 0.1 which is significantly lower than turkiye, brazil, india and china. identifying the reasons behind this lack of depth, the report claims that this outcome is partly the result of recurring macroeconomic instability, dispute resolution mechanisms, the frequent balance of payments crises and the government’s dominant borrower role in the banking system. lack of financial inclusion in the country where slightly more than a fifth of the adult population has a bank account (which is lower than that in the em peer countries), also plays a role in the low depth. “to a large extent, the issue of low financial depth is also reflective of the elusive relationship between a majority of the population and the formal financial services industry,” writes the governor.
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Centre stands behind Sindh for post-flood rehabilitation: PM KHAIRPUR staff report
prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said the federal government would not leave the floodaffected people of Sindh in distress and would continue to take measures to mitigate their sufferings. the prime minister, during his visit to pir guddu and kot diji towns of the flood-affected khairpur district, inspected the post-flood rehabilitation work. pm Shehbaz, in his address to the flood victims, said the people of Sindh suffered from loss of life and property as the floods had wreaked havoc in the province. the federal government, he added, provided the utmost resources to the provincial government to overcome the massive problem. under the benazir income Support programme, the federal gov-
ernment disbursed rs70 billion to the flood victims, he added. Serving the masses and their welfare was the priority of the government, the prime minister said. Shehbaz Sharif said the rehabilitation and reconstruction work had been completed to a large extent, however, stressed that the de-watering of the inundated areas of dadu required immediate attention. he said in the wake of floods, some 20 million people, including nine million children, were in dire need of assistance from the government, and it required billions of rupees to address the challenges of food and medicine. pm Shehbaz mentioned that pakistan was facing the brunt of climate change despite minimal contribution to the global carbon emissions.
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