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Sunday, 22 January, 2023 I 29 Jamadi us Sani, 1444 Bilawal: Pakistan ‘not interested’ in cross-border operation in Afghanistan
SC fixes Imran’s appeal for hearing in cipher case
Azam Khan takes oath as caretaker Chief Minister of KP
Pakistan condemns desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden
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rs 15.00 | Vol XIII No 204 I 12 pages I Islamabad edition
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Delay in bank lCs may Cause fuel shortage in february g
Pakistan is having limited stocks and such a situation can lead suPPly to dry out
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wing to the significant decline in the country’s forex reserves, commercial banks have refused to open the letters of credit (lcs) of oil marketing companies (omcs) and refineries which might lead to a shortage of petroleum products by February. “if banks do not open the lcs of omcs and refineries, shortage of petroleum products is likely to begin with the start of February, 2023 in the country,” said sources in the oil industry. they added that due to delay/cancellation of lcs, currently three cargoes carrying 16 lakh barrels of crude oil of Pakistan refinery limited (Prl) and Pak-arab refinery company (Parco) are facing critical delays. also, a total 21 lcs of petrol, two lcs of crude oil, four lcs of high speed diesel (hsd) and lubricants are not opened so far by the banks of the country. syed muhammad taha, managing director of Pakistan state oil (Pso) in a meet-
ing held on January 19, 2023, under the chair additional secretary Petroleum division warned that the country is having limited stocks and such a situation can lead the supply to dry out. one of the mogas cargo of Pso which was scheduled to be loaded on January 13, 2023, had already been cancelled due to the non-opening of lc. a second cargo is scheduled to be loaded on January 23, 2023, for which the lc is not being opened by banks, md Pso told the Petroleum division in the meeting which was attended by director general (oil), chairman oil and gas regulatory authority (ogra) and representatives of the state Bank of Pakistan (sBP). however, representatives of the sBP while speaking during this meeting, which was called to address the issues pertaining to the lc establishment and confirmation issues being faced by the omcs, stated that the country is facing severe liquidity issues including commercial banks and sBP and that is why lcs are being delayed. there is an urgent need to take energy conservation measures to minimise demand,
stated the representatives. details of Pakistan’s liquid foreign reserves position as of January 13, 2023, show that the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at us$ 10,443.6 million. as per the break-up of the foreign reserves position, foreign reserves held by the sBP is us$ 4,601.2 million and net foreign reserves held by commercial banks is us$ 5,842.4 million. the petroleum division, in a statement issued on Friday, said that Pso and other omcs have a required quantity of petrol, hsd and kerosene oil and other petroleum products in their storages, and there is no possibility of oil shortage in the country. it is pertinent to mention that the ocac on January 13, 2023 wrote a letter to secretary finance and highlighted the challenges in opening lcs for import of petroleum products. the ocac on behalf of omcs and refineries asked the finance ministry to urgently intervene to ensure the timely issuance of letters of credit to import petroleum products to avoid a fuel shortage. Pakistan, an energy deficit country, needs to import approximately 430,000 metric tonnes (mts) of mogas, 200,000 mts of high speed diesel (hsd) and 650,000 mts of crude oil every month, which costs around $1.3 billion. the ocac said challenges in opening and confirming lcs has caused delays in multiple cargoes and a few cancellations as well. the situation has severely deteriorated during the current month as banks are declining lcs to industry members. “if lcs are not established on a timely basis, critical imports of petroleum products would be impacted which may lead to fuel shortage in the country. it may be noted that if the supply chain is compromised, it may take six to eight weeks to normalise,” the ocac said in the letter.
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Imran sings praises of UK law enforcement after seatbelt faux pas lands Sunak in hot water LoNDoN/iSLAMABAD stAff report
uk Prime minister rishi sunak found himself in a bit of a bind after he was slapped with a fine for failing to wear a seatbelt while filming a social media video in the back of a moving car. the video, which was uploaded to instagram during a trip to northwest england, quickly made the rounds on social media, with eagle-eyed viewers pointing out the seatbelt faux pas. sunak issued an apology for the “brief error of judgement” and local police confirmed that an offence had taken place. this isn’t the first time a prime minister has broken this law, as sunak’s predecessor Boris Johnson also committed the same offence. But it wasn’t just the British public who took notice of the incident, Pakistan tehreek-iinsaf (Pti) chairman and former Prime minister imran khan also weighed in. taking to twitter, khan praised the rule of law in Britain,
stating that it “differentiates prosperous nations from poor ones.” he went on to draw comparisons to the situation in Pakistan, where there is no concept of giving nros to corrupt individuals, custodial torture over a tweet against powerful persons and land grabbers, and the “justice system protects the weak”. SUpremacy of rUle of law Key progreSS: Former prime minister and Pakistan tehreek-einsaf (Pti) chairman imran khan saturday emphasised the need for supremacy of rule of law, saying that it is necessary for the nation’s progress and prosperity. according to details, the former premier made these remarks during meeting with insaf lawyers wing at his residence in lahore’s Zaman Park. a number of lawyers announced to join Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) during the meeting. imran khan maintained that rule of law was the key to ensure good governance in the country, urging the lawyers to raise awareness about the supremacy of rule of law among the people of Pakistan.
ruling party leaders criticise govt policies, warn against looming crises QUettA stAff report
senior politicians from the ruling coalition parties on saturday kickstarted their countrywide campaign and criticised the policies of the coalition government, warning against federating units falling apart if corrective measures are not taken. PPP’s rebel leader mustafa nawaz khokhar, former Finance minister miftah ismail, Pml-n leader shahid khaqan abbasi and others spoke at a seminar here to share their concerns about the looming crises. mustafa nawaz khokhar, former senator and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member, saturday shared fears of Pakistan standing near a political breakdown. “we have become politically and morally bankrupt. even today, people are not being told the truth, which the country needs,” khokhar said while addressing the second session of the national dialogue in Quetta. the conference, which khokhar kickstarted, along with his colleagues in-
cluding Pakistan muslim league-nawaz (Pml-n) leader miftah ismail, aims at identifying the country’s problems and providing solutions for them. Presided by nawab lashkari raisani, the session was organised by the Balochistan Peace Forum. at the occasion, khokhar added that the communication between the people and political parties is broken. the ex-PPP leader stressed the need to address people’s issues rather than being engaged in irrelevant political discourse such as the Panama Papers and toshakhana case, khokhar said: “there were discussions on Panama [Papers] and toshakhana [case], but where were the issues of people? the situation has gotten to a point where if one doesn’t leave the country, they are going to the mountains.” the former senator lamented that democracy was buried the day when the dictator violated the constitution. “it was decided on the first day that democracy wouldn’t be allowed to flourish in the country. what did we do to
the constitution maker of the country?” he said, raising questions on the treatment meted out to former prime minister Zulfikar ali Bhutto, who was hanged by then-army chief general Zia-ul-haq. the politician, who hasn’t joined any political party since his departure from the PPP, questioned steps taken to ensure the provision of human rights in the country on the basis of article 8 to 28. “courts have been given the responsibility of human rights; they, too, are silent and not paying attention to these issues. the society is disintegrating,” khokhar said. speaking about the intention of the national dialogue series titled “reimagining Pakistan”, the former PPP member stated that these sessions are intended to listen to people’s discussions and find solutions for them. khokhar, when commenting on the issues of Balochistan, asked what is the difficulty if there is a supposed interest in solving the problems of the province. “if the parliament can immediately unite to provide an extension to someone, then why can’t they do for solving
issues? despite the passage of 75 years, we [are still not] showing seriousness in solving the problems,” he said, further lamenting about politicians only indulging in “power politics”. khokhar insisted on the need for
ending political instability for the betterment of the country’s economy. “Parties are willing to do anything for the greed of power. the same conversation is going on in Punjab as well,” he said.
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