Image used for representational purpose.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

After blocking X, formerly Twitter, for over four months, the government in Pakistan’s Punjab province is now set to ban all social media platforms – YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok – for six days between July 13 and 18, citing the need to control “hate material” during the Islamic month of Muharram.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s Cabinet committee on law and order has recommended banning of all social media platforms – YouTube, X, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, among others – during 6th to 11th day of Muharram (July 13-18) in Punjab, a province of over 120 million people, to “control hate material, misinformation to avoid sectarian violence”, according to a notification issued here late Thursday night.

The Punjab government of Maryam Nawaz has also requested her uncle Shehbaz Sharif’s government at the Centre to notify the suspension of all social media platforms on internet for six days (July 13-18).

Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir has already declared social media a “vicious media” and underscored the need to fight what he called “digital terrorism”.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, who also holds the portfolio of foreign minister, recently called for placing a complete ban on social media.

The Shehbaz government had shut down X in last February following allegations of change of general election results by the Election Commission of Pakistan, apparently on the order of the military establishment to stop Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s jailed founder Imran Khan from coming to power.

Both the military and the government were receiving backlash on social media since the ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion in April 2022.

The government has arrested dozens of social media activists of Khan’s party since then.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, right, administers the oath of office to newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan’s newly-elected President Asif Ali Zardari on March 13 announced that he would not draw any salary during his tenure as part of his bid to help the cash-strapped country face the challenging economic hardship.

Mr. Zardari, 68, who took oath as Pakistan’s 14th President on Sunday, decided to encourage prudent financial management and not burden the national exchequer, his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said in a statement on X.

“The President considered it essential not to burden the national exchequer and preferred to forgo his salary,” President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release on Tuesday.

Also Read | New Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif orders ‘immediate’ talks with IMF for extended facility for ailing economy

Former president Arif Alvi was drawing Rs 8,46,550 per month, which was fixed by Parliament in 2018. Mr. Zardari is one of the richest politicians in Pakistan.

Mr. Zardari, co-chairman of the PPP, took oath as President of Pakistan for a second term at a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad on Sunday.

Separately, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, following the steps of Mr. Zardari, also decided to forego his salary while in office citing the economic challenges faced by the country.

Taking to X, Mr. Naqvi said that he committed to serving the nation in challenging times “in every possible way”.

Mr. Naqvi said that he has decided to forego his salary during the tenure. “In these challenging times, committed to supporting and serving our nation in every possible way,” he said in an X post.

Debt-struck Pakistan has been reeling under economic pressure with the price of commodities touching sky-high prices.

The newly elected government needs a new loan from the International Monetary Fund on an urgent basis, and its politicians, who are often super-rich, use such tactics to win support from the impoverished masses.

In February last year, the Cabinet of then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif gave up their salary and other perks to help the country tackle its possible default on external liabilities.

Addressing the maiden cabinet meeting after inducting 19 members on Monday, Prime Minister Sharif said that the first test of the cash-strapped country’s newly-elected government is to rein in inflation and prices of food items.

Mr. Sharif, who was elected for a second term on Sunday, said that bringing inflation under control is the biggest challenge, however, the government together with the provincial administrations would consider ways how to manage the prices of the essentials.

“This is our first test,” he said.

Mr. Sharif said Pakistan is facing massive challenges and a “deep surgery” is required to pull the cash-strapped country out of the economic crisis.

Taking stock of the issues and problems affecting the economy and the country, the Prime Minister asked his Cabinet members to “perform or perish”, saying that the time is “now or never”.

Mr. Sharif said the government should make difficult decisions without wasting any time. “Deep surgery is needed as antibiotics will not work,” he said.

Also Read | Ensure Pakistan does not divert loans to foot defence bills: India to IMF

He directed the immediate formation of a committee to control the prices of essential food items.

He emphasised that strict action would be taken against unjustified price increases and profiteering in essential commodities.

In response to a recommendation by the Ministry of Commerce, the Cabinet also approved a restriction on the export of onions and bananas until the 15th of next month.

Petrol and diesel have become costlier by 20% since the caretaker government took over in August in Pakistan.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Amid double-digit inflation, Pakistan’s caretaker government has effected yet another hike in the prices of petrol and diesel taking them to a historic high — over (Pakistani) Rs 330 per litre — prompting immediate protests and a legal challenge too.

As on Saturday, $1 was equivalent to 296.41 Pakistani Rupee.

The Ministry of Finance on Friday night announced the price hike of petrol by Rs 26.02 and diesel by Rs 17.34 per litre.

After the hike, petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) are costing over Rs 330 at the filling stations, “a psychological barrier that has been crossed for the first time in the country’s history,” the Dawn newspaper wrote.

The fuel price hike comes on the heels of over 27.4% increase in the rate of inflation in August, putting an unbearable burden on the masses, as petrol and HSD are used by all private and public service vehicles.

The caretaker government on September 1 jacking up the petrol and diesel prices by over Rs 14.

The rise is on top of Rs 32.41 and Rs 38.49 per litre increase in petrol and HSD prices since August 15.

Petrol and diesel have become costlier by 20% since the caretaker government took over in August.

Meanwhile, the hike in the petrol and diesel prices has prompted Pakistan’s opposition parties to vociferously criticise it even as a judicial activist challenged it in the Lahore High Court.

Rejecting the massive increase in petroleum prices, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) announced sit-ins outside the governors’ houses in all four provinces of Pakistan. JI chief Sirajul Haq said the government has made the life of a common man miserable by increasing the petroleum prices on the directions of the IMF, Dunya News channel’s website reported on Saturday.

Sardar Abdul Rahim of the Grand Democratic Alliance too rejected the increase as he said that the PDM, i.e. the consortium Pakistan Democratic Movement’s agreement with IMF has “proved to be fatal for Pakistan’s economy.” In Lahore, advocate Azhar Siddique, the head of the Judicial Activism Panel, has filed an application in the Lahore High Court, in which the caretaker federal government has been made a party, Dunya News said in another report.

The petitioner pointed out how there was no mechanism to determine the prices of the products and that the increase in prices of petroleum products would lead to a new wave of inflation.

Earlier, the Finance Ministry blamed “the increasing trend of petroleum prices in the international market” for revising the existing consumer prices of petroleum products.

The government is charging Rs 60 per litre petroleum development levy (PDL) on petrol and Rs 50 each on HSD under the commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In July, the IMF transferred $1.2 billion to cash-strapped Pakistan, part of the $3 billion bailout programme for nine months to support the government’s efforts to stabilise the country’s ailing economy. Pakistan’s economy has been in a free fall mode for the last many years, bringing untold pressure on the poor masses in the form of unchecked inflation.

Karachi:

A Pakistani court on Wednesday extended the jail custody of former Prime Minister Imran Khan for 14 days to investigate him on charges of leaking state secrets, his lawyer said, a day after another court suspended his prison sentence for graft.

The special court held the proceedings at Attock Jail, where Mr Khan began the three-year prison term on August 5 after being found guilty of unlawfully selling state gifts.

A high court suspended that sentence on Tuesday, ordering Mr Khan to be released on bail, but he was barred from leaving as he was still under remand in the official secrets case.

Speaking to journalists outside the jail after judge extended Imran Khan’s remand until September 13, Khan’s lawyer Naeem Panjutha said an application for bail had been submitted and would be heard on September 2.

“We have also filed a plea for an open court trial,” the lawyer said, anticipating that the prosecution could seek a closed door trial, without media of public present.

Multiple cases have been lodged against the 70-year-old former national cricket captain since he lost the premiership in a parliamentary confidence vote in April last year.

Mr Khan denies any wrongdoing, and says the accusations against him are politically motivated.

Imran Khan’s supporters believe their leader is being punished for having the temerity to challenge the military’s dominant influence in Pakistan’s politics, and that the courts are being used to keep him out of a national election that is due later this year, but could be delayed till early 2024.

While the sentence in the graft case has been suspended, the conviction still stands, giving the Election Commission no reason to remove the five-year ban on Khan contesting elections.

Khan has been charged under the Official Secrets Act for making public the contents of a confidential cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States and using it for political gains, according to a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) case report seen by Reuters. If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

His top aide, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has already been arrested and questioned in the case.

FANNING SUSPICIONS

Imran Khan alleges that the cable showed the United States was pressing Pakistan’s military to topple his government by warning of consequences for Pakistan if the confidence vote failed to remove him.

Washington and Pakistan’s military have denied that.

But conspiracy theories abound in Pakistan – a country where no elected prime minister has completed their term.

The US State Department issued a statement saying senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland spoke on Tuesday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani and discussed the importance of “timely, free and fair elections”, as well as Pakistan’s economic stability and then need for continued engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mr Khan faces dozens of cases, including charges of corruption, abetment to murder, treason and orchestrating violent protests that followed his initial arrest in May. He denies all the charges.

This week, Mr Khan notched a couple of wins. On Monday, the Balochistan High Court dismissed a sedition case against him, saying it was improperly filed.

And Tuesday’s decision by the Islamabad High Court to suspend Imran Khan’s jail sentence in the graft case came after Khan appealed on grounds that he was convicted without being given the right to defend himself in a summary trial.

The prosecution, and Khan’s political opponents, say the court accelerated the trial only after he ignored dozens of summons and arrest warrants for months.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)