ISLAMABAD: An alliance of Pakistani opposition parties, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), held a protest rally today, Tuesday, outside the election commission which is hearing a case involving alleged illegal foreign funding for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
The Election Commission of Pakistan is expected to take up the case on Wednesday.
The opposition parties’ protest aims to highlight delays in concluding the case, which has dragged on for over six years without a ruling. The case, filed in November 2014 by Akbar S. Babar, a founding member of the PTI party, pertains to allegations that the PTI received funds from dubious, prohibited, illegal and undeclared sources.
In 2017, Pakistan’s apex court ruled that political parties could not receive funds from foreign companies.
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that the Islamabad Capital Territory administration had finalized a security plan to maintain law and order during the opposition’s protest.
“Over 7,000 security personnel, including Rangers and police, would be deployed on the occasion,” the newspaper said. “On government’s directives, the administration will not block the rallies but will take strict action in case the protesters create any disturbance,” a senior official of the local administration was quoted as saying.
The PDM was formed in September 2020 and has been holding countrywide rallies since, calling for PM Khan to step down and announce new elections. The alliance says the 2018 election was rigged in favor of Khan, who denies the allegations.
Opposition alliance holds protest against Pakistani ruling party’s ‘foreign funding’ case
https://arab.news/zbcje
Opposition alliance holds protest against Pakistani ruling party’s ‘foreign funding’ case
- Alliance of opposition parties gathers outside Election Commission in Islamabad to protest delays in concluding 2014 case
- The case pertains to allegations that PM Khan’s PTI party got funds from illegal and undeclared sources abroad
Pakistan says 907,391 Afghans deported as Kabul seeks ‘dignified repatriation’
- Move is part of larger repatriation drive against illegal foreigners that began in November 2023 following a rise in militant attacks
- Afghanistan proposes high-level committee of officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan and international bodies to coordinate refugee issues
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s State Minister for Interior, Talal Chaudhry, said on Friday 907,391 Afghans had been deported since the government launched an expulsion drive against illegal foreigners in 2023, as Kabul called for the “dignified repatriation” of its citizens.
Islamabad launched the deportation campaign in November 2023, asking all foreigners without legal documentation to leave the country. Earlier this year, it launched the second phase of deportations, setting a deadline of Mar. 31 for people with Afghan Citizen Cards (ACCs) — which since 2017 have granted temporary legal status to Afghans — to leave the country or face being deported.
According to UN data, Pakistan has hosted more than 2.8 million Afghan nationals who crossed the border in a desperate attempt to escape decades of war and instability in their home country. Around 1.3 million are formally registered as refugees and hold Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, which grant them legal protection. Another 800,000 Afghans possess ACCs, a separate identity document issued by the Pakistani government that recognizes them as Afghan nationals without conferring refugee status.
“Pakistan has sent back 907,351 people in a dignified manner to Afghanistan as of today, this includes both the first and second phases,” Chaudhry told reporters in Islamabad.
“In the second phase, as of today, 84,871 people have been sent back, of which only 25,320 were ACC holders, and the rest were all illegal, who did not have registration of any kind.”
He said those awaiting deportation were being accommodated with Hajj pilgrims at the Hajj Complex in Islamabad and were being treated “fairly.”
Separately, an Afghan delegation led by Industry and Commerce Minister AlHajj Nooruddin Azizi and comprising Deputy Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Sheikh Kaleemur Rahman Fani met Chaudhry to discuss the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
“In addition to remarks on trade and transit, H.E. Nooruddin Azizi emphasized that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan seeks a dignified process for the repatriation of Afghan refugees,” the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan said on X.
The Afghan refugees minister proposed the formation of a high-level committee comprising officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan and relevant international organizations to address “refugee-related issues in a coordinated manner.”
The Afghan embassy quoted Chaudhry as saying Afghan refugees were “still considered guests in Pakistan” and efforts were underway to repatriate them in a “respectful” manner.
“The meeting concluded with an emphasis on conducting in-depth discussions on refugee matters during upcoming high-level engagements between the two countries,” it added.
Afghanistan has called for the peaceful and coordinated repatriation of its citizens amid reports of arrests and harassment during Pakistan’s mass expulsion drive. Islamabad denies the accusations and has urged Kabul to facilitate the reintegration of its citizens.
Pakistan’s deportation policy in 2023 followed a rise in militant attacks, particularly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. Islamabad has in the past blamed militant attacks and other crimes on Afghan citizens, who form the largest portion of migrants in the country.
The government says militants, especially from the Pakistani Taliban also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are using safe havens in Afghanistan and links with Afghans residing in Pakistan to launch cross-border attacks. The ruling administration in Kabul has rejected the accusations.
Over 170 arrested for attacks on Pakistan KFC outlets in Gaza war protests
- There have been at least 11 mob attacks on outlets of US fast-food chain KFC in different cities
- KFC has for years borne the brunt of anti-American sentiment with protests and attacks
KARACHI/LAHORE: Police have arrested scores of people in Pakistan in recent weeks after more than 10 mob attacks on outlets of US fast-food chain KFC, sparked by anti-United States sentiment and opposition to its ally Israel’s war in Gaza, officials said.
Police in major cities in the Islamic nation, including the southern port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and the capital Islamabad, confirmed at least 11 incidents in which KFC outlets were attacked by protesters armed with sticks and vandalized. At least 178 people were arrested, the officials said this week.
KFC and its parent Yum Brands, both US-based, did not respond to requests for comment.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one KFC employee was shot and killed this week in a store on the outskirts of Lahore by unknown gunmen. The official added there was no protest at the time and they were investigating whether the killing was motivated by political sentiment or some other reason.
In Lahore, police said they were ramping up security at 27 KFC outlets around the city after two attacks took place and five others were prevented.
“We are investigating the role of different individuals and groups in these attacks,” said Faisal Kamran, a senior Lahore police officer, adding that 11 people, including a member of the Islamist religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), were arrested in the city. He added the protests were not officially organized by TLP.
TLP spokesman Rehan Mohsin Khan said the group “has urged Muslims to boycott Israeli products, but it has not given any call for protest outside KFC.”
“If any other person claiming to be a TLP leader or activist has indulged in such activity, it should be taken as his personal act which has nothing to do with the party’s policy,” said Khan.
KFC has long been viewed as a symbol of the United States in Pakistan and borne the brunt of anti-American sentiment in recent decades with protests and attacks.
Western brands have been hit by boycotts and other forms of protests in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries in recent months over Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The latest war was triggered by the Palestinian group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.
Yum Brands has said one of its other brands, Pizza Hut, has faced a protracted impact from boycotts related to Israel’s war in Gaza.
In Pakistan, local brands have made inroads into its fast-growing cola market as some consumers avoid US brands. In 2023, Coca-Cola’s market share in the consumer sector in Pakistan fell to 5.7 percent from 6.3 percent in 2022, according to GlobalData, while PepsiCo’s fell to 10.4 percent from 10.8 percent.
Earlier this month, religious clerics in Pakistan called for a boycott of any products or brands that they say support Israel or the American economy, but asked people to stay peaceful and not destroy property.
Pakistani supply chain fintech aims to carve out beachhead in Saudi Arabia within 12 months
- Haball has disbursed about $140 million in Islamic financing and processed over $3 billion in payments for major multinational corporations
- Company is now targeting Gulf markets like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkiye and Egypt for the expansion of its invoicing and payments business
KARACHI: Pakistani supply chain fintech firm Haball will raise funds to expand its business into Saudi Arabia and set up a beachhead operation within the next 12 months, its chief executive officer Omer Bin Ahsan said in an interview this week.
Haball announced this month it had raised $52 million to expand its Shariah-compliant supply chain financing and payments services. The funding, led by Zayn VC and Meezan Bank, includes $5 million in equity and $47 million in strategic financing, and will support Haball’s growth plans for Pakistan and expansion into the Middle East, starting with Saudi Arabia this year.
Haball says it provides Shariah-compliant financing to nearly 8,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as up to 70 multinationals, in addition to digital invoicing, payment collection and tax compliance services. The company has processed over $3 billion in payments and disbursed more than $140 million in financing.
Habal is now eying “complex large economies” like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkiye and Egypt to expand its digital supply chain invoicing, payments and financing business as Pakistan’s economy stabilizes, with interest rates halving to 12 percent since June and the pace of inflation ebbing last month to a record low of 0.7 percent.
“In the next twelve months, we intend to set up a beachhead operation in Saudi because Saudi is also very nascent in terms of supply chain financing,” Ahsan, who has already made several trips to the Kingdom to secure necessary regulatory permissions, told Arab News in a wide-ranging interview.
A beachhead refers to a strategic approach where a company initially focuses on a small, specific market segment, the beachhead, to establish a strong foothold before expanding to broader markets.
Having a beachhead operation would enable Haball to understand the market dynamics and the credit culture in Saudi Arabia and allow it to anchor with strong partner banks, large corporations and wholesale distributors who would be the beneficiaries of the platform, Ahsan said.
“Using that commercial operation at a pilot level, then we will be able to scale into a wider play, SMEs financing, business-to-business payments, and obviously the ultimate goal of any large fintech is that, when they are into invoice payments or digital payments or financing, to see how we can get into the investment and treasury function of SME banking,” the CEO added.
To expand into Saudi Arabia, Ahsan said the company would have to raise an amount that fit into the costing dynamics and expense outlay of the Kingdom. Haball would also be deploying its technology and the lower-production-cost regime it had built over years in Pakistan to support its operations in Saudi Arabia instead of raising huge amounts of funds.
“The funding requirement would have to be very prudent and would have to be staged in different phases as opposed to raising a large round and making an unnecessary splash that in most cases goes against you,” Ahsan said, declining to disclose the size of the funding as it could impede investor conversations.
Speaking about reasons for wanting to enter Saudi Arabia, the Haball CEO said it was a mature market in terms of credit culture, but SME and supply chain financing still remained “underserved.”
“Looking at Saudi Arabia’s GDP and the non-oil component of the GDP [approximately 52 percent] and then trimming it down to the supply chains that serve the large manufacturer, retail, wholesale, all of that, it’s of a significant size … perhaps parallel or comparable to the size of the total economy of Pakistan. So that’s a very good opportunity for a company such as ours to enter that space.”
Ahsan said the company was also eyeing the Saudi market as it was “Shariah-first.”
“And that product that we’ve built for supply chain financing is indigenously Islamic with multiple Islamic variants.”
The company was in general eyeing “complex economies” with large populations and wide geography for a large distribution operation “because that’s where digital supply chain financing is very meaningful.”
“So countries like Saudi Arabia, countries like Turkiye, countries like Iraq, countries like Egypt, they’re important for us as jurisdictions where this product can have a meaningful impact.”
The game plan was to enter into Gulf markets where the prevailing Islamic finance ecosystem and private debt market was mainly led by big banks.
“The agility of deploying supply chain financing is where the fintechs come in. Our disbursement times are three seconds, not three days,” he said, terming it a “big advantage” for Haball which would aim for 100 percent digitization into the integrated supply chains of Gulf markets to ensure rapid deployment of Islamic finance.
“Rapid deployment is the differentiator between us and any traditional institution,” said the CEO.
“CONTINUITY OF POLICY”
Supply chain finance in Pakistan is nascent but is expected to be worth over $9 billion, driven by the severe financing gap faced by the country’s SMEs, less than 5 percent of which can access financing from commercial banks.
Habal, which means jugular vein in Arabic, is trying to fill this gap, integrating some of the largest supply chains in Pakistan and working with around 70 of the biggest corporations like Coca-Cola, Standard Chartered Bank, Dawlance, Meezan Bank, SereneAir, Colgate Palmolive and National Foods.
“We’re hoping that we will be now quadrupling these numbers in the first few years to come,” said Ahsan, referring to the over $3 billion in payments Haball has processed and more than $140 million in financing it has disbursed to date.
Haball has not tapped even two percent of Pakistan’s supply chain financing potential that ranges from $10 billion to $25 billion, according to reports from the Asian Development Bank and International Finance Corporation.
Lamenting that businesses were still making their payments through cash or open cheques, Ahsan said supply chain financing was a “highly underserved space” in Pakistan which was lagging far behind regional peers.
“The outstanding SME financing portfolio in the country is close to $550 billion rupees and State Bank intends to double this in the next three years along with bringing about 200,000 new bank borrowers,” said the chief executive, adding that the deployment of SME supply chain financing was very rapid and could help Pakistan improve its SME financing numbers.
According to Ahsan, at the close of the current fiscal year, Haball aimed to bring its financial portfolio to about $80 million worth of lines available for strategic financing of the supply chains it served.
“In the next five years, this number can easily cross a billion dollars,” said Ahsan, whose short-term goal is to start operating in Saudi Arabia while chasing the ultimate goal of getting into the functions of an SME bank.
On the challenges the company faced, the Haball CEO said the biggest was the “continuity of policy.”
“Policy changes are so frequent, and the macro environment changes so dramatically that it’s very hard for businesses to reorient themselves and stay agile and stay afloat,” he said.
“I can clearly see that a lot of companies within the fintech space or within the tech startup space struggle with economic uncertainties and the downturns and with macroeconomic stability. That is the biggest challenge of the country.”
Training of 89,000 Pakistani Hajj pilgrims under government scheme in ‘final stages’ — minister
- Pakistan holds nationwide camps to ensure pilgrims are well-informed and prepared for the spiritual and physical journey
- This year, 89,000 Pakistanis will perform Hajj under the government scheme and 23,620 with private tour operators
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf said on Friday the training of 89,000 pilgrims performing Hajj under the government scheme was in the “final stages” to ensure they were fully aware of the rituals, logistics, and regulations associated with the annual pilgrimage.
Hajj is expected to take place in June this year.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Hajj Agreement 2025 in January, under which Pakistan was given a quota of 179,210 pilgrims. This year, 89,000 people will perform Hajj under the government scheme and 23,620 with private tour operators.
Each year ahead of the pilgrimage, Pakistan holds nationwide training camps to ensure pilgrims are well-informed and prepared for the spiritual and physical journey, as well as to maintain discipline and uniformity during the Hajj.
“Under our government scheme, 89,000 pilgrims will perform Hajj this year and all the formalities and procedures have been completed,” Yousuf told journalists in Islamabad.
“This training is being provided at the final stage to ensure that pilgrims are fully prepared and knowledgeable in line with Saudi guidelines to avoid any difficulties during their journey.”
“Master trainers and religious scholars” had been engaged to ensure that the administrative procedures were properly understood and pilgrims were well-informed about the correct way to perform Hajj, Yousuf said, adding that the religious affairs ministry’s main objective was to ensure pilgrims from Pakistan were “well informed, well prepared and received maximum assistance.”
Mandatory vaccinations for Pakistani Hajj pilgrims, including meningitis and flu shots, would be administered on April 20, while travelers from yellow fever and polio-prone regions must present valid immunization certificates.
The precautions are vital to prevent the spread of infectious diseases among millions of pilgrims converging in the Kingdom from across the globe.
Hajj flight operations are set to begin on Apr. 29, with the first flight departing from Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also formed a three-member inquiry committee to investigate why Pakistan failed to fully utilize its quota of 179,210 pilgrims for Hajj 2025.
Pakistani PM assures Punjab province of support in exporting wheat
- Traders and industry representatives are advocating for government to authorize export of surplus wheat
- Pakistan has not allowed wheat exports since 2019-2020 due to domestic supply and food security concerns
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday assured support to the government in Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province in exporting wheat and related products following the approval of a $53.5 million (Rs15 billion) wheat support fund for farmers.
The Punjab government on Wednesday unveiled the package aimed at supporting wheat farmers facing falling prices during the harvest season and as farmers staged protests across various parts of the province. The move is part of the federal and Punjab governments’ broader effort to support the agricultural sector amid rising input costs and climate-related challenges.
Under the scheme, 550,000 wheat farmers will be given direct financial support through the Kisan Card. Additionally, the Punjab government plans to seek federal approval for the export of surplus wheat and related products. The Bank of Punjab will also finance private-sector efforts to renovate or construct warehouses to improve wheat storage infrastructure.
“The federal government will provide full support to the Punjab government in the export of wheat and wheat products,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Traders and industry representatives are advocating for the government to authorize the export of surplus wheat to stabilize the market and improve prices for farmers. Last year, farmers in Pakistan held weeks-long protests over lower wheat prices due to the import of excess amounts of the commodity that flooded local markets.
Pakistan has not allowed wheat exports since 2019-2020 due to domestic supply concerns and the need to ensure food security. This decision was also influenced by the farmer protests against wheat imports flooding the market. While the government aims to stabilize the domestic wheat market by regulating imports and exports, recent decisions have been met with criticism, particularly from farmers who feel their interests are being overlooked.
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and constitutes its largest sector. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and accounts for half of employed labor force in the country.
In Pakistan, wheat crops are planted in mid-December and the harvest usually begins in March, with the majority of the crop harvested between April and early June.
