In partnership with
Profit
Monday, 30 January, 2023 i 7 rajab, 1444 Imran to be PTI’s sole candidate in by-polls to 33 NA seats: Qureshi
PM Shehbaz calls for global unity to fight Islamophobia
Story on Back Page
Story on Back Page
rs 15.00 | vol xiii no 212 i 12 pages i islamabad edition Fawad seeks medical examination amid fears of police mistreatment
Nawaz feels aggrieved at POL price hike, says Sanaullah Story on Back Page
Story on Back Page
Govt ‘shocks’ public with ‘whoppinG’ Rs35 hike in pol pRices g
dr Ishfaque says Increase To furTher fuel InflaTIon raTe
g
TransPorTers, Traders denounce Pol PrIce hIke, raIse InTercITy fares by 30Pc
iSLAMABAD
F
staff report
Inance minister Ishaq dar on sunday announced a ‘whopping’ rs35 increase in petrol and diesel prices for next seventeen days, adding further to the difficulties being faced by the public. In a televised address, the finance minister said that “We have decided to increase the price of petrol and diesel by rs35.” The price of kerosene oil and light diesel oil has been increased by rs18,” dar said, adding that the new prices would come into effect at 11am sunday. The new price of Petrol would be rs249.80 per litre, high speed diesel: rs262.80 per litre, kerosene oil: rs189.83 per litre and light diesel oil rs187 per litre. sources said that the government has also increased Petroleum development levy on diesel to rs40 from rs35 per litre whereas it reduced Pdl on kerosene oil and light diesel oil. The finance minister said that the Pakistani rupee saw devaluation last week and now “we are seeing an 11 per cent increase in the prices of petroleum products in the international market.”
g
justifying the case, he said the price increase had been made in line with the 11% rise in oil prices in the international market. dar defended the government as saying that the cost of petrol was not increased in the previous four months and instead it was decreased by roughly rs20 for both petrol and diesel and by rs29 and rs30 for kerosene and light diesel. large queues of vehicles were seen at petrol pumps in karachi, lahore, quetta and other cities of Pakistan from saturday evening to sunday morning amid talk of oil price hike. since saturday night when news of the increase in petrol prices circulated people have been lining up at the petrol pumps to replenish the tanks. It is also pertinent to note that petroleum product prices are announced fortnightly, on 1st and 15th of every month, but government has increased prices today on 29th of the month. however, dar said that ogra had advised Prime minister shehbaz sharif to implement the new rates on an immediate basis to prevent the temporary hoarding and the speculations about the shortage of oil shortage. The finance minister further hoped that the announcement of new prices would dis-
PTI rejecTs announcemenT, sayIng PeoPle Pay for rulers IncomPeTence pel rumours about petrol supplies running dry. “This rise is being done immediately on the recommendation of the oil and gas regulatory authority who said there were reports of artificial shortages and hoarding of fuel in anticipation of price rises — hence this price rise is being done immediately to combat this.” sources said that the four-month strategy of finance minister Ishaq dar badly failed as the federal government led by Premier shehbaz sharif has taken so far some tough decisions including removal of cape lock on dollar rate, increase in petroleum prices to please the International monetary fund (Imf). commenting on the Pol price hike, dean of nusT dr Ishfaque hassan said that today’s announcement by finance minister Ishaq dar to increase the petroleum prices will further fuel the inflation rate in the coming days in the country. he said that the country has been toy in the hands of the Imf, adding that he said that the nation should prepare itself to face severe economic conditions in the coming months. “We are at the mercy of the Imf and Pakistan has no other option but to look towards Imf”, he said. While commenting on the situation, shahid mehmood, an economist in PIde said that the Ishaq dar should have to follow the agreed policies of his predecessor miftah Ismail to run the country’s economy. The sudden high density shock could be averted if the dar follows market based exchange regime adding that mehmood said that economic policies of Ishaq dar have been failed and he should resign. TransporTers, Traders denounce new oil price hike: leading trading and transport bodies in the country overwhelmingly on sunday rejected a amssive increase in the prices of petroleum products announced by the federal government. Transporters also announced hike in intercity and intra city fares and warned of shutting down transport if the government created any hurdles. finance minister Ishaq dar announced an increase in the price of petrol and diesel by rs 35.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 03
Tragic lasbela, Tanda dam incidents claim 52 lives LASBeLA/KoHAt staff report
as many as 41 persons were killed when a passenger coach fell into a ravine in lasbela area of balochistan on sunday morning while 11 children studying in a religious seminary drowned in Tanda dam near shahpur in kohat, officials confirmed. eleven other 11 children were rescued, out of which four were in critical condition. lasbela assistant commissioner hamza anjum, while confirming the incident, that the vehicle, with nearly 48 passengers on board, was travelling from quetta to karachi. “due to speeding, the coach crashed into the pillar of a bridge while taking a u-turn near lasbela. The vehicle subsequently careened into a ravine and then caught fire,” he said. anjum added that three people, including a child and a woman, have been rescued alive. however, one of the injured persons succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. The officer feared that the number of casualties could further increase to 48. he added that the bodies recovered from the wrecked bus were unidentifiable and dna testing will be done for the identification of the deceased.
ramshackle highways, lax safety measures and reckless driving contribute to Pakistan’s dire road safety record. Passenger buses are frequently crammed to capacity and seatbelts are not commonly worn, meaning high death tolls from single-vehicle accidents are common. according to World health organisation estimates, more than 27,000 people were killed on Pakistan’s roads in 2018. In june last year, at least 22 people were killed, including nine members of a family, when a passenger van fell into a ravine near qila saifullah district of northern balochistan. The van, carrying 23 passengers and en route to Zhob from loralai, fell into the 200foot-deep ravine when it reached the akhtarzai area. The lone survivor — a 13year-old boy — was taken to hospital in a critical condition, said hafiz muhammad qasim kakar, the deputy commissioner of qila saifullah. presidenT, pM express deep grieF over loss oF lives in lasBela accidenT: President dr arif alvi and Prime minister shehbaz sharif on sunday expressed their deep grief and sorrow over loss of lives in a tragic bus accident in lasbela, balochistan.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 03
Bestway: From london cornershop to sainsbury’s stakeholder g
founded In 1963, grouP Includes Well Pharmacy and cosTcuTTer and besT-one chaIns profit report
The 87-year-old, who remains bestway’s chair, had left his native Pakistan seven years earlier for britain, where he had taken on a variety of jobs including a period spent as a bus conductor in bradford. Pervez’s convenience store business took off, putting 10 shops in london under his management. frustration with wholesale suppliers prompted Pervez and partners to open their own wholesale business, believing they could operate with lower margins than competitors while providing stock to local independent retailers. Thus, in 1976, bestway Wholesale was born, with a depot in acton, west london. on the company’s website, Pervez describes the excitement he felt before the opening. “I did not think then that more than four decades on we would be the largest independent wholesaler in the uk,” he wrote. “let alone that bestway group
would grow to become a diversified multinational business with interest across multiple sectors.” bestway opened a string of warehouses across britain in the 1980s and 90s. over the years, Pervez’s nephew Zameer choudrey joined the company, and later its board, and today he is the group’s chief executive while also sitting as a conservative peer in the house of lords. The company credits choudrey with diversifying the business. Its first overseas investment was the acquisition of a rice mill in Pakistan run by younus sheikh, who became chair of bestway Wholesale. further business ventures included the creation of a cement manufacturing business in Pakistan, bestway cement, one of the country’s largest, while the group also took a strategic stake in one of Pakistan’s biggest banks, united bank limited. bestway now describes itself as the seventh largest family business in britain. It is still owned by the Pervez, choudrey and sheikh families, and
has made billionaires of choudrey and Pervez, who was knighted in 1999. more recent acquisitions have included the purchase of the huddersfield-based batleys wholesale chain, which made bestway the second largest uk wholesaler. a convenience store in earl’s court, west london, may seem an unlikely launchpad for a multinational conglomerate, but that is where the bestway group began. The company – which is now one of the uk’s largest grocery wholesalers and also the owner of Well Pharmacy stores and the costcutter and bestone convenience chains, has paid roughly £200m for a 3.45% stake in sainsbury’s, making it the sixth largest investor in britain’s second largest grocer. bestway, which is still privately owned, can trace its origins back to a corner shop called kashmir opened in the capital in 1963 by its founder, sir anwar Pervez.
In 2014, it paid £620m for co-operative group’s chain of retail pharmacies, which it later rebranded as Well Pharmacy. Its takeover of the costcutter convenience store chain completed in 2021. The group said it had a turnover of £4.5bn in its most recent results for the year to june 2022, from its interests across the wholesale, pharmacy, real estate, cement and banking sectors. It said it has 28,000 employees in the uk, Pakistan and the middle east, and more than 12 million customers. bestway group has “an uplifting business story”, said clive black, a retail analyst with shore capital, although he described the sainsbury’s stake as “a surprise”. The group said it could buy more sainsbury’s shares, but for now it has ruled out making a bid for the retailer. The journey from having one corner shop to being the sixth largest shareholder in sainsbury’s is an entrepreneurial journey that few could have predicted.