Eighteen injured in Makkah stampede: Saudi media

RIYADH: Eighteen pilgrims have been injured in a stampede near Makkah, Saudi media reported on Saturday, as the kingdom continues to review safety after a deadly crush during last year's Haj.

The incident happened on Friday night near the Grand Mosque in Makkah, the Al-Riyadh newspaper said, as people gathered in large numbers to mark the Laylat al-Qadr, one of the high points of the holy fasting month of Ramazan.

All the injured were treated at the scene and none required admission to hospital, the newspaper cited a health official as saying.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock to Makkah to carry out the lesser Umra pilgrimage during Ramazan – especially during its last 10 days.

The incident comes as Saudi authorities continue to unveil new safety measures for this year's Haj in September.

A crush at last year's Haj killed more than 2,000 pilgrims in the worst disaster to ever strike the annual ritual.

According to figures from foreign officials, at least 2,297 pilgrims died. Saudi Arabia issued a death toll of 769.

Newspapers reported on Friday that, among new security measures, Haj pilgrims this year will have to wear an electronic safety bracelet to store their personal information, including address and medical records.

The Haj and Umra pilgrimages bring millions of Muslims to the holy places in Saudi Arabia every year.

Saudi Arabia — framed for 9/11, guilty of fuelling hate

It’s not a great moment to be a Saudi diplomat in Washington these days. The Republican presidential candidate thinks your country should pay for US military protection. The Democratic president is seeking warmer ties with your arch-enemy, Iran. And the US intelligence community is expected to soon declassify 28 pages of a 2003 Congressional report a former senator says implicates the kingdom in financing the terror attacks of Sept 11, 2001.

This last point is particularly sensitive. The 28 pages were classified as part of the first congressional investigation into the 9/11 attacks, and they raise several questions about an alleged Saudi network in the US that aided two of the hijackers, according to press accounts and officials who have read them. Many of those questions surround a Saudi official named Fahad al-Thumairy, who was in contact with two of the hijackers when they came to San Diego in 2000. The FBI said Thumairy dissembled when being interviewed by agents.

Read: S. Arabia warns US over censure move

Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, who was the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee when it investigated the attacks, has been promising in recent months that the 28 pages are explosive. Others have taken a different view. On April 27, the co-chairs of the 9/11 commission, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, issued a lengthy statement saying the 28 pages represented raw and unvetted information. They reiterated the commission’s conclusion that they found no evidence the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials individually funded Al Qaeda. CIA director John Brennan, a former station chief in Saudi Arabia, said as much himself this month.

Nonetheless, the Saudis are nervous. Nail al-Jubeir, the director of information and congressional affairs at the kingdom’s embassy, told me on Wednesday he was looking forward to the publication of the 28 pages and he is hoping for zero redactions. “We don’t want a single word blacked out, this will just fuel the conspiracy theorists,” he said.

When I arrived at his offices, Jubeir handed me a 38-page report prepared by his embassy aimed at countering what Saudis expect will be the charges against the kingdom. The document is mainly a collection of selected quotes from senior US officials and government reports that repeat what most knowledgeable observers already know: Saudi Arabia has been a target of Al Qaeda and a partner in the US-led campaign against it.

As I reported in April, President Barack Obama has enhanced US military and intelligence ties with the Saudis in large part because they have proven to be a valuable ally against jihadist networks.

But this is only part of the story. The government in Riyadh represents a pact between the Saud royal family and a clerical establishment that promotes a corrosive and extreme version of Islam. And while the Saudis have improved dramatically in the last dozen years in regulating charities that were linked to Al Qaeda in the 1990s and terrorist financing in general, to this day Saudi Arabia promotes a kind of Supremacism that stokes an enmity of Jews, Christians, Shias and “apostates”.

Evidence for this is ample. Consider the textbooks Saudi Arabia uses in its own classrooms. A 2006 diplomatic cable, published by WikiLeaks, indicated that an eighth-grade textbook says, “God will punish any Muslim who does not literally obey God just as God punished some Jews by turning them into pigs and monkeys.”

Jubeir conceded that such textbooks have become more radical in recent years. He said many of his middle-age colleagues at the embassy don’t remember this kind of thing, but conceded that it was an issue that the government should have paid more mind. “When you don’t watch out and pay attention to the schools, it slowly creeps in,” he said, making a comparison to efforts by conservative evangelicals in the US. “Who would have thought that Pat Robertson’s groups were winning school board elections in the 1980s?”

Jubeir pushed back on the idea that Saudis impose an extremist curriculum on the schools and mosques they support around the world. “When we fund a school it’s in the curriculum of that country,” he said. “We don’t build a school unless there is an agreement. You can’t ask us to fund the mosque in the country and say it’s a Saudi-funded mosque when something goes wrong. No it’s you guys who didn’t keep an eye on the mosque.” He pointed out that the US paid for textbooks used in Pakistani refugee camps in the 1980s that also included these kinds of radical themes.

When asked about the growing number of public executions in the kingdom, Jubeir quipped, “Would you rather these people were executed indoors?” But he also insisted that Saudi justice is based on the rule of law. He said the king must approve every execution after it goes through a series of judges and court proceedings. “Do we punish criminals? Absolutely,” he said. “You commit a crime in Saudi Arabia, the justice is severe. We don’t make apologies for that. We have never claimed to be a Western liberal democracy; we have roots that go back thousands of years.”

He also dismissed any comparison between the Saudi system and the executions publicised by the militant Islamic State group. And on this, Jubeir has a point. The IS beheads aid workers and journalists and shares them on YouTube for propaganda.

But nonetheless, the Saudis promote an extreme version of Islam themselves, even if it is not as extreme as that of Al Qaeda and the IS. For example, in 2015, King Salman awarded Zakir Naik, an Indian Muslim televangelist, the kingdom’s “Service to Islam Award”. Naik insists that the US is a terrorist nation controlled by its Jewish minority. This month, Saudi state television aired four one-hour programmes featuring the Saudi imam Saad bin Ateeq al-Ateeq, who calls on God to punish Alawites, Jews and Christians.

David Weinberg, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told me that in this respect, the Saudis have not lived up to a 2014 communiqué its leaders signed with the US to combat radical and extremist ideologies.

“The Saudi government will point out that they are terrorism’s first victims,” Weinberg said. “But just because they are a target of the group, does not mean their policies are all judicious in this regard, some of their incitement feeds into terrorism in the peninsula.”

All of this goes back to 9/11 and the 28 pages. If US intelligence officials familiar with the 28 pages are right that they contain no hard evidence that Saudi Arabia financed or helped coordinate the worst act of terrorism in US history, then the kingdom is being framed.

But in another sense, Saudi Arabia is guilty. It has appeased and at times promoted an ideology that excuses and justifies the terrorism it fights quietly against, even as its leaders recognise they are the targets of these radicals.

‘Brain-eating’ amoeba claims first life of year in Sindh

KARACHI: With the advent of monsoon, as was feared earlier, the ‘brain-eating’ amoeba, technically called as naegleria fowleri, caused the first death of the year in the city and the province, officials in the Sindh health ministry said on Friday.

Officials identified the victim as Zahid Khan, a 30-year-old man living in Baldia Town. They said the victim was admitted to a private hospital in a precarious condition three days back.

He was suffering from high fever with all symptoms that later confirmed that he was a victim of naegleria, a lethal condition the sufferers of which could not survive in 99.9 per cent cases.

“We got the report that he died today,” said a senior official in the ministry. “He was the first victim of naegleria this year.”

Although the danger associated with the lethal disease was feared before the advent of monsoon, the provincial government has not released funds and resources required for efficient functioning of the committee it formed last year to check its increasing dangers. The committee eventually went dormant when it found no backing from the government.

Initially, the committee worked on its own and shared its primary findings with the media, which shockingly revealed that most neighbourhoods of the city were being supplied with water not chlorinated at all.

Chlorination is the key method to kill the germ and keep the life-taking disease at bay. Another way is to use boiled water while cleaning nose as the germ enters through the nasal cavity of its victim and attacks the brain.

Recently, officials and experts had warned that when monsoon came closer its germs would get breeding grounds in stagnant rainwater and water stored in tyres at shops and threaten life as it did last year when more than a dozen people died because of it.

The deadly disease killed 14 people in 2014.

The committee, called the focal group for naegleria, during its first activities last year collected samples of water and results showed that more than half of the city was supplied with water chlorinated much less than the desired level. Even the teams found no chlorination at all at more than 90pc of the pumping houses of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) risking the lives of millions in the metropolis.

Officials said the committee was provided with no funds for the vehicles and fuel required to collect water samples from the length and breadth of the metropolis. The work has virtually come to a standstill because of such resource constraints.

The authorities’ claim of having invested heavily in public awareness campaigns about naegleria has failed to impress anyone. The pamphlets it published might have changed hands in public places but none of them was seen pasted inside hospitals or at the ablution places or outside the mosques where people could contract the disease by rinsing their noses with unsafe and poorly chlorinated water.

Officials earlier said the germ could potentially approach the victim’s brain through the nasal cavity during ablution at home or in mosques where water supplies were not safely chlorinated or boiled.

The appalling rise in the frequency of deaths because of the fatal infection has exposed the authorities’ claims of taking adequate measures to curb the germ, which killed 39 people in the last three years.

The dangerous amoeba, which survives on the bacteria in warm waters and enters human brain through the nasal cavity and eats up its tissues, could only be decimated through proper chlorination or boiling of water.

Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis is defined in medical literature as a rare but typically fatal infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba found in rivers, lakes, springs, drinking water networks and poorly chlorinated swimming pools.

The illness attacks a healthy person, three to seven days after exposure to contaminated water with symptoms of headache and slight fever, in some cases associated with sore throat and rhinitis (commonly called stuffy nose).

TAG on polio recommends leadership stability, accountability mechanism

ISLAMABAD: A six-member delegation from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) advising Pakistan on its polio eradication programme has recommended that the country maintain leadership stability and eliminate flaws by introducing an accountability mechanism.

Led by TAG Chairman Dr Jean Marc Olive, the group has also suggested improved coordination with Afghanistan, and vigorous campaigns on either side of the border if a polio case is reported from the border regions.

The group also expressed the hope that the poliovirus could be eradicated this year in Pakistan moves quickly to achieve the necessary targets.

Members of the delegation held meetings with representatives from the federal and provincial governments, as well as health experts, during a two day visit from June 28 to June 29.

An official from the national health services (NHS) ministry who asked not to be named said that while the delegation did appear satisfied with the quality of the campaign, it also expressed reservations regarding various weaknesses.

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‘Poliovirus could be eradicated by year end if Pakistan moves quickly to achieve targets’

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“It was suggested that the stability of leadership should be maintained, such as in Karachi where three commissioners were changed in the last six months. The TAG also suggested increasing accountability to ensure transparency,” the official said.

He added that the group said Pakistan was on track and could eradicate the poliovirus by the end of 2016.

“Mr Olive said the finishing line was in sight, but Pakistan has to travel at a faster pace to reach the line in time and cross it. It must look at the gaps and try to fill them, because they will play a major role in success or failure,” he said.

“The TAG also suggested that if a case is reporter in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, an aggressive campaign should be held on both sides of the border. We have been asked to play a role in the capacity building of the Afghan polio programme.”

“It will be beneficial for us, as there are only two countries on the globe which have been exporting the virus to each other. After Eid, the delegation will also visit Afghanistan, where the risk is increasing due to security issues,” he added.

The head of the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) Dr Rana Mohammad Safdar said: “We had to admit that the performance of Karachi was not at its peak and in southern Sindh pockets in Larkana, Sukkur and Jacobabad need more attention.”

He added that seven of the 12 cases from this year were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that there are small polio reservoirs in Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Kark and D.I. Khan, but the quality of polio campaigns in these areas has also improved.

“In Punjab, although the immunity level is higher, the virus can pour into Punjab because of the frequent movement of people from other provinces,” he added.

In Fata, he said the virus had been eradicated entirely, but added: “Very next to it, in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, the quality of the campaign is very poor because of security issues, so the virus can be transferred from there.”

Dr Safdar said some of the steps taken by the programme, such as health camps in areas where the movement of polio workers is difficult, and the use of community volunteers and the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) were appreciated by the group.

He added that children’s immunity level is also low because of malnutrition, but “we are also working on it”.

According to an official statement, NHS Minister Saira Afzal Tarar said during the meeting that efforts made during the low transmission season had brought Pakistan close to achieving its goal.

The prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication, Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, said the programme is focused on stopping persistent transmission in core reservoirs.

The World Health Organisation Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office regional director Dr Ala Awan said: “Polio eradication is one of the top priorities in this region.

This is a turning point in the global struggle against polio.”

Mingora protesters accuse police of favouring killers

MINGORA: Hundreds of residents of various villages along with family members of a victim, who succumbed to wounds after being severely wounded by his rivals in Batora village near Saidu Sharif, last month, protested outside the DPO office here on Friday against the police’s alleged backing of the culprits.

The protesters from Kokrai, Shneysha, Serai, Guligram, Akhunkaley and Batora villages, placed the body of the deceased, Bakht Zamin, in front of the DPO office, holding banners and urging the Chief Justice of Pakistan, chief minister and police chief to order arrest of the murderers and award them exemplary punishments. Later, they staged a sit-in there, which continued until evening.

According to the protesters, on June 17, about 30 gunmen came to the Batora village mosque and started firing on Bakht Zamin and his family members, when they were coming out after offering Friday prayers, leaving eight persons critically injured.

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Man injured by rivals last month dies in hospital

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“Zamin was critically injured and was shifted to Saidu Teaching Hospital along with other injured persons, but he was referred to Peshawar where he succumbed to injuries on Thursday,” said Iqbal Hussain, from Batora village.

“Ironically, police arrested four people from our side and returned the weapons used in the crime to the rival group,” he alleged.

He said two other people were also critically injured and were under treatment in Peshawar.

Wife of the deceased, who accompanied the body of her husband, said the victim had returned a year ago from abroad, but the cruel people snatched him from her. “I don’t know where to go with my five children and where to get justice.”

Afsha, one of the daughters of the deceased, was also among the protesters, who said the police and security forces ransacked their house on the day of the incident when all of her family members were in hospital. “When we came back we saw police busy in searching our house. We were crying but policemen taunted us and laughed at us,” she blamed.

Mohammad Shafi, the victim’s cousin, said personnel from Kukrai and Saidu Sharif police stations misbehaved with them and did not register their reports.

“The police returned all the weapons used in the firing incident back to the rival group and arrested our people who are still in prison while the real culprits are moving freely in the village,” he alleged.

The protesters said that they would not bury the dead until police arrested the culprits, punished them severely and also released their men. They also blamed the police for taking bribe from their rivals.

However, Swat DPO Saleem Marwat told Dawn that all the 11 nominated people in the FIR had been arrested and presented in court, which released some of them on bail. However, after one of the injured persons died in hospital the police have re-arrested the released men,” he said.

Hindu priest stabbed, critically wounded in Bangladesh

DHAKA: Unidentified attackers stabbed and critically wounded a Hindu priest in southwest Bangladesh Saturday, just a day after a Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in an attack by suspected Islamist militants.

Police said 48-year-old priest Bhabasindhu Roy of the Sri Sri Radha Gobinda Temple in Satkhira district was attacked inside the temple compound as he slept.

“They stabbed him in his chest and back. His condition is critical and we're trying to send him to a hospital in Dhaka,” deputy chief of Satkhira police Atqul Haq told AFP.

He said it bore the hallmarks of recent attacks on minorities by suspected Islamist militants.

The attack came just hours after gunmen stormed a restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital and took dozens of people hostage including several foreigners.

The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack Friday night on the Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in Dhaka's upmarket Gulshan diplomatic quarter in which two police officers were killed.

On Friday a Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in the western Bangladesh district of Jhenaidah.

Three men on a motorcycle attacked Shyamananda Das as he walked along a road near the temple early in the morning, police said.

Last month a Hindu priest, 70-year-old Ananda Gopal Ganguly, was hacked to death in the same district.

Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of murders of secular and liberal activists and religious minorities that have left some 50 people dead in the last three years.

Victims of the attacks by militants have included secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority religions including Hindus, Christians and Muslim Sufis and Shias.

Since April, more than a dozen people have been hacked to death amid a sharp spike in the targeted killings.

Most of the recent attacks have been claimed by IS or the South Asian branch of Al Qaeda.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government, however, has blamed homegrown militants for the attacks.

Experts say a government crackdown on opponents, including a ban on the largest Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami following a protracted political crisis, has pushed many towards extremism.

Last month police arrested more than 11,000 people, including nearly 200 suspected militants, in an 'anti-Islamist drive' criticised by the opposition and some rights groups, which said it was used as an excuse to clamp down on dissent.

At least nine suspected Islamists militants were shot dead in what police said were gunfights. Some rights activists contradict that account and say they were extrajudicial killings.

Bangladesh hostage siege: how it happened

DHAKA: Bangladeshi troops stormed a cafe popular with foreigners in the diplomatic zone of the capital Dhaka after militants took dozens of diners hostage.

The siege ended on Saturday morning with six gunmen killed, 13 hostages freed and several casualties.

Here's what we know so far:

What happened?

Gunmen burst into a restaurant in the diplomatic quarter of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka around 9:20pm on Friday night, as people were eating dinner.

They set off explosives, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest).

As a massive firefight broke out with police, the gunmen took up to 40 hostages, including many foreigners. Two police officers died in the gunfight.

Following a 10-hour stand-off, heavily armed commandos stormed the restaurant early Saturday morning, freeing several hostages.

Where did it happen?

The Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant is a western-style cafe popular for its large, leafy garden, situated on Road 79 in the capital's affluent Gulshan quarter.

The diplomatic zone is home to many of the city's expatriate workers and several foreign missions, as well as restaurants, upmarket malls and members' clubs.

The incident took place near the city's Nordic Club and the Qatar embassy.

Who is behind the attack?

About four hours after the attack the militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility, via an IS-affiliated news agency, Amaq.

It later issued a number of photographs of what it said were scenes from inside the cafe showing what appeared to be several bodies lying in pools of blood.

The news agency claimed that more than 20 people of different nationalities were killed.

Who are the hostages?

Little is known about the hostages, however, Italy's ambassador to Bangladesh Mario Palma told Italian state television that seven Italians were among the captives.

Sri Lanka said two of its nationals were among the hostages, but had been freed.

Tokyo said one Japanese was among those rescued, Jiji Press reported.

Is this kind of attack common?

The attack follows a series of murders of foreigners, religious minorities and secular activists in Bangladesh, blamed on or claimed by Islamist militants.

Cesare Tavella, an Italian aid worker was shot dead in Gulshan last September in an attack claimed by IS.

And in 2012 a Saudi Arabian diplomat was shot dead in the diplomatic zone.

However, Friday's attack appears to have been on a much bigger scale and the first time that people were held hostage.

The government and police deny that IS is active in Bangladesh and blame homegrown militants for the killings.

NBP online system breaks down leaving pensioners, govt employees hanging before Eid

KARACHI: Customers all over Pakistan faced difficulties withdrawing their salaries and pensions as Pakistan's largest state-owned bank – National Bank of Pakistan – faced an online system breakdown Saturday.

Queues of furious customers, all of whom were anxious to withdraw cash before the week-long Eidul Fitr holidays, could be seen outside NBP branches and ATMs in various parts of the country.

"I have been here since 8 in the morning. I was on duty the whole night and I came here to withdraw cash to take my children for Eid shopping," said Ghulam Mustafa, an employee of state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), who was waiting for his money at one of the bank's branches in Karachi.

"They are making us beg for our own money," he lamented.

The bank had announced it would remain open on Saturday after a central bank notification had asked for customers to be facilitated ahead of Eid holidays.

Banks will remain closed during Eidul Fitr – from Jul 5 to Jul 8 – which means that those who were unable to complete their transactions today have only Monday (Jul 4) to do so before Eid holidays.

Another customer waiting in the same branch accused the bank of deliberately withholding cash to earn profit on it. "They are hoarding cash to earn profit on it," he said.

In Rahim Yar Khan, hundreds of customers failed to get their cheques cashed with similar reports pouring in from Lahore and Peshawar.

A National Bank employee, who refused to be named, told Dawn.com that annual closing had coincided with Eid holidays, causing delays.

"We were told by our management that systems will recover by mid-day, but the situation is in front of you."

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan also expressed his resentment on the situation, saying that pensioners should be facilitated instead of being harassed.

New Taliban leader tells US to end Afghan 'occupation' in first message

KABUL: New Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada on Saturday called on the United States to end its “occupation” of Afghanistan in his first message since being appointed the militant group's chief in May.

“Admit the realities instead of useless use of force and muscle... and put an end to the occupation,” Akhundzada said in a speech on the eve of Eidul Fitr, the Muslim festival marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

“Our message to the American invaders and her allies is this: the Afghan Muslim people neither fear... your force nor your stratagem. They consider martyrdom in confrontation with you as a cherished goal of their life,” Akhundzada added.

“You are facing... not a group or faction but a nation. You are not going to be a winner (if Allah willing).”

The message is the first by Akhundzada since his predecessor Akhtar Mansour was killed during a US drone strike in neighbouring Pakistan in May.

The leader's statement comes two days after twin Taliban bomb blasts killed at least 32 Afghan policemen and wounded 78 others on the edge of Kabul.

“Our message to the supporters of the invaders is that it might have been dawned on you during the past 15 years that you are being used for realisation of American goals,” Akhundzada said, adding that “your support and siding with invaders is like the work of those abhorrent faces who in our past history supported the Britons and the Soviets,” he added.

Dhaka cafe attackers spared hostages who could recite Quran

DHAKA: Militants who stormed into a Bangladesh cafe overnight had asked the hostages to recite verses from the Holy Quran and those who failed to do so were tortured.

Rezaul Karim, father of Hasnat Karim who was held hostage inside Holey Artisan Bakery in the diplomatic zone for over 10 hours, told The Daily Star that the hostages who could recite a verse or two from the Quran were spared, while others were tortured.

Hasnat Karim went to a birthday celebration with his wife and children at the Spanish restaurant on Dhaka’s Gulshan Road on Friday when militants stormed in and took about 20 people including foreigners as hostage.

The militant Islamic State (IS) group, which has claimed the attacks, posted photos of what it said were dead foreigners killed in the assault on the cafe. An army spokesman confirmed that militants killed 20 civilians after taking them hostage, with many of the victims hacked to death.

Hasnat’s family were rescued following a joint drive of the military, paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh, police and elite force Rapid Action Battalion pushed a heavily-manned offensive on Saturday.

“They [gunmen] did not behave rough with the Bangladesh nationals,” Reazul quoted his son Hasnat as saying. “Rather they provided night meals for all Bangladeshis.”

“They were doing a background check on religion by asking everyone to recite [verses] from the Quran. Those who could recite a verse or two were spared. The others were tortured,” he said.

According to Hasnat, the gunmen had killed the foreign nationals dining in the eatery by 11:00pm on Friday.

Meanwhile, the family was rushed to Detective Branch office for further interrogation, according to Hosne Ara, Hasnat’s mother. “We have been assured that they will be sent home safely,” she said.

Woman killed in name of honour

DERA MURAD JAMALI: A man gunned down his daughter and injured her friend at Goth Shahzad Ahmed in district Nasirabad on Thursday, police said.

Bahadar Khan allegedly opened fire at Nusrat and Abdul Malik.

Nusrat died and Malik was severely injured. His condition at the Dera Murad Jamali district hospital was said to be critical.

The suspect fled after the incident.“It was an incident of honour killing,” police said.

A case had been registered against the suspect and investigation was under way.

EoIs filing date for 40pc PSX stake extended to Aug 14

KARACHI: The last date for submission of Expressions of Interest (EoI) in acquisition of 40 per cent strategic shares in Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has been extended to Aug 14.

The earlier date stipulated in a public invitation released a month ago was June 29.

Following the demutualisation of the stock exchanges in the country, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) is offering to ‘eligible investors’ 40pc shares, out of the 60pc currently held in demutualised form in blocked account with the Central Depository Company.

The strategic investment would include management control of the PSX core operations.

According to the regulations, an eligible investor could be a strategic investor; ‘anchor’ investor or financial institution.

The new regulation introduces the concept of ‘anchor investor’, which could be a financial institution (FI) or strategic investor, who acquires at least 25pc shares of the exchange.

Two or more financial institutions and strategic investors could form a consortium to submit a joint EoI.

A single financial institution would not be allowed to acquire or hold more than five per cent shares of PSX unless it opts to act as an ‘anchor investor’. After an initial period of three years, the ‘anchor’ investor may increase its shareholding to 51pc of the total issued share capital of PSX.

The anchor investor would be required to maintain its equity holding in PSX for at least five years, after which it can sell stake to another anchor investor.

Nadeem Naqvi, managing director of PSX said on Friday that interest was shown in acquisition of strategic shares by some international global funds as well as stock exchanges.

He said that the interested parties were in talks with the PSX.

“We are in the process of answering queries and evaluating the buyer,” he said.

SECP Commissioner of Sec­urities (Market Division), Mohammad Atif Malik said that the invitation for EoI was submitted by the divestment committee of PSX.

He said that after the receipt of EoI, the exchange would forward it to SECP for evaluation and approval.

Atif affirmed that “interest is there” in buyout of strategic shares, but beyond that he was not prepared to name names of parties, which may have expressed such an interest.

The commissioner SMD of SECP said: “Our interest is in assuring quality divestment.”

He affirmed that road-shows would be held in other regional and developed markets after Ramazan.

So if in the next two-and-half months, PSX does not receive quality EoIs would the process drag on? Atif denied that it would.

He elaborated that according to the regulations released in February this year, PSX has six months to find a strategic investor, after which there would be another three months of grace period.

He hoped that the process would be completed by the winter this year.

FBR collects Rs3.09 trillion, set to exceed target for FY16

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s tax authority on Thursday claimed to have crossed the Rs3 trillion mark in revenue collection and is all set to achieve the original budgetary target for the outgoing fiscal year.

The 2015-16 is the first year in the three-year rule of the PML-N when the budgetary projected revenue target would be met. The trend gave the government confidence not to revise down the revenue collection projection.

The FBR collected a provisional revenue of Rs3.090 trillion in the outgoing fiscal year as against Rs2,589.2bn collected during the same period last year, reflecting an increase of 19.31 per cent.

The government has projected the revenue target of Rs3,103.7bn in budget 2015-16.

Heavy reliance on regulatory duties and withholding taxes has helped the FBR raise the size of collection during the outgoing fiscal year.

An official source told Dawn that more than Rs22bn revenue is already in the system, which will be cleared late night.

The revenue collection, the official said will cross the figure of Rs3,112bn when the figures will be finalised tomorrow. This means the budgetary revenue collection target of the year 2015-16 will be surpassed by over Rs8bn, the official said.

A tax official said the data is provisional and that revenue collection will go up after finalisation of the figures. “We are still collecting and compiling information from various banks and the State Bank regarding deposits of taxes,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

The deadline for the payment of duty and taxes was 10:00pm on June 30 across the country, the official added.

Tax wise break-up showed that revenue collection has witnessed growth in income tax, sales tax and federal excise duty. The growth is higher in income tax followed by sales tax on imports.

On the customs side, the collection is also going up and expected to cross the figure Rs400bn when the figures were finalised till late night.

The collection of original budget revenue target will help the government to meet the expenditures and avoid ballooning fiscal deficit. The tax-to-GDP ratio will go up to 10.1pc in the outgoing fiscal year from 9.4pc in the previous year.

Stocks end flat ahead of Eid holidays

KARACHI: Trading remained dull on the stock market on Thursday as investors withdrew for the long Eidul Fitr holidays ahead, with only one session remaining.

With erosion of a minor 3.03 points (0.01 per cent), the KSE-100 index ended flat at 37,783.54. Volume declined to 115 million shares from 134m shares traded a day ago and trading value dropped to Rs7.4 billion from Rs8.07bn.

Foreign investors bought stocks worth $3.56m on Thursday. Among local participants, banks booked gains at close of financial year with sales of shares valued at $10.15m.

Analyst Arhum Ghous at JS Global stated that the index traded between an intraday high of 208 points and low of 56 points to finally close on a flattish note.

Investor interest was seen in the textile sector on the back of news that the government would possibly issue a statutory regulatory order on zero-rated regime for export-oriented sectors.

Major gainers of the sector were NML (+0.62pc) and KTML (+2.22pc). Among oil-marketing companies, PSO (+0.71pc) and SHEL (+1.02pc) gained, as the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority a day ago had recommended increase in prices of petroleum products by Rs1.93 to Rs8.62 per litre for July.

In the exploration and production sector, OGDC (-1.20pc), PPL (-1.23pc) and POL (-0.43pc) lost value on account of slump in crude prices.

“After a two-day rally of 746 points, the KSE-100 index took some breather and closed relatively unchanged at 37,783 points,” stated dealers at Global Securities.

Local bourse witnessed a volatile session as index remained directionless throughout the day, hovering between green and red zone within a band of 264 points.

‘Arbitrary’ Ogra fines irk OCAC

KARACHI: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has arbitrarily increased the amount of fines on pumps overcharging on petroleum products.

The Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) termed Ogra’s actions as contrary to the stated principles in the Ordinance and a source of serious concern to the industry, threatening future investments/development in the sector.

Prior to August 2015 for a given offence (overcharging by an outlet, etc) the fine/penalty applied was Rs75,000.

After August 2015, for the same offence the fine has been (without prior notification by Ogra) increased to Rs500,000 which works out to an increase of 567 per cent, CEO OCAC Ilyas Fazil said.

In one case there were six sites of which five were charged Rs500,000 each while one (for reasons best known to Ogra) was charged only Rs75,000 for the same offence, which is sheer discrimination. All sites should have been charged Rs75,000 each. This act of imposing fines at one’s own whims is not in line with the law, he said.

It is also the responsibility of the local administration (Deputy/Assistant Commissioners) to enforce the law and to take action against outlets which are found violating Ogra notified prices.

Instead of enforcing the same, there are very believable reports that some elements from within the local setup may themselves be involved in putting pressure on the dealers to overcharge in order to recover their own share, the Council noted.

The above facts have also been brought to the notice of Ogra’s officials, most recently, at a meeting chaired by NAB Sukkur on June 14, 2016.

In the intervening period from August 2015 to date, instead of looking into the matter, Ogra continues along the path of excessive/unjustified application of fines in contravention to Ogra Ordinance 2002, Mr Fazil said. He said it is surprising that Ogra is not addressing the root cause which forces agents of oil marketing companies (OMCs) to raise prices since they do not have power and resources to stand up against such malafide elements and their pressures.

Instead, Ogra is just penalising petrol pump operators mechanically without taking any measures to eliminate the real cause behind the increase in prices, he added.

Commodities: Cotton price steady on strong demand

MULTAN: Strong demand kept cotton prices on the higher side on Thursday amid short supply. The Karachi Cotton Association kept its spot rate unchanged at Rs5,750 per maund (about 38 kilograms).

Cotton brokers said prices in the cotton market were firm as ginners have held the stock of both new and old crops.

They said ginners of both Pakistan and India were holding the stock due to the increasing trend in the prices as they are hoping that the prices will further increase.

Usually the spinning mill owners dominate the cotton market but now ginners are leading the market.

Prices of benchmark Indian cotton variety Shankar-6 has further increased by 400 Indian rupees to 42,700 per candy (355.6kg).

Prices of future deals have also increased in the New York cotton market.

The brokers said prices would rise further after Eidul Fitr.

Prices of phutti (seed cotton) in Sahiwal were Rs3300 per maund, Hasilpur Rs3400, Mian Channu Rs3150, Bahawalnagar Rs3200, Pakpatan Rs3225, Arifwala Rs3325, Chishtian Rs3400, Hyderabad Rs3275, Badin Rs3250, Degree Rs3300, Kunri Rs3150 and Tando Allah Yar Rs3250.

Major deals on the ready counter were: 800 bales (170kg) from Khanewal at Rs5800, 200 bales Sultanabad at Rs4650 and 1200 bales Rahim Yar Khan at Rs5950. Deals of new crop included: 200 bales from Sahiwal at Rs6300, 400 bales Burewala at Rs6300, 400 bales Hyderabad at Rs6225, 600 bales Khangarh at Rs6200 and 200 bales Shahdadpur at Rs6250.

Gold flat

LONDON: Gold steadied on Thursday as the other markets showed signs of stabilising, but remained on track for its biggest monthly rise since February in the wake of last week’s vote in Britain on quitting the European Union.

Spot gold was at $1,318.71 an ounce at 1330 GMT, little changed from $1,318.51 late on Wednesday, while US gold futures for August delivery were down 0.4 per cent at $1,321.50.

Profit taking and a lack of physical demand is keeping gold hemmed in, Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS, said.

“Gold is making a solid base around $1,300-1,305,” he said. “$1,300-1,350 seems to be the current range. If it can hold here a few more days, we may see physical demand kick in.”

Holdings of New York-listed SPDR Gold Shares rose by 2.7 tonnes on Wednesday to the highest level in three years.

Silver was 0.6pc higher at $18.42 an ounce on Thursday, having earlier hit a fresh 17-month high of $18.47.

The metal rallied nearly 3pc on Wednesday, taking the gold-silver ratio, which measures the number of silver ounces needed to buy an ounce of gold, to its lowest in nearly nine months at 71.9.

Among other precious metals, platinum was flat at $1,003.25 an ounce, while palladium was 0.6pc higher at $588.71.

West cooperating secretly with Damascus, claims Assad

AMMAN: Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in an interview to be broadcast on Friday that Western countries had sent security officials to help his government covertly in fighting Islamist militants involved in Syria’s war.

Assad, in remarks to Australia’s SBS News channel that were carried by Syrian state media, said Western states — who are strongly opposed to his rule but also face the threat of Islamist attacks at home — were secretly cooperating with his government in counter-terrorism operations.

“They attack us politically and then they send officials to deal with us under the table, especially the security, including your [the Australian] government,” Assad was quoted as saying.

“They don’t want to upset the United States. Actually most of the Western officials, they only repeat what the United States want them to say. This is the reality,” he said. There was no immediate comment from Western governments.

Gujarat students got 90pc marks, but couldn’t tell a triangle from a circle

NEW DELHI: In a possible embarrassment to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flaunted Gujarat model of development, school students who could not distinguish a triangle from a circle got 90 per cent marks in their board exams, newspaper reports said on Thursday.

“They could not tell a triangle from a circle. One of them said a triangle has four sides and another student could not point out set two integers on a line bar, while many of them failed to solve two-digit multiplication and subtraction,” the Indian Express said about a test given to Class X students because they were believed to have cheated.

Some appeared honest and wrote “avadtu nathi” (do not know) on their answer sheets.

All the 500 Class X students, who gave the answers to basic questions during a hearing session on Tuesday on suspected cases of copying at the Gujarat board headquarters in Gandhinagar, had scored more than 80 per cent marks.

A few even scored 90-95 per cent in the objective section (50 per cent of the total marks) of their mathematics paper in the board exams, results of which were announced on May 24. Also, all these students scored zero in the subjective section.

At the hearing, according to officials, the students revealed a teacher used to stand right below the CCTV camera of the examination hall and tutored them answers. Some of them said they used to hear “voices from outside the window” of the classroom. Parents or guardians of the students were also at the hearing.

“What caught attention of the examiners during tallying of marks was disparity between marks for their objective and subjective answers, particularly in mathematics. Nothing untoward was noticed even when the CCTV footage of certain sensitive examination centres were scanned,” said Officer on Special Duty M. A. Pathan, who led the jury of five board members.

The 500 students whose results have been withheld were from three examination centres at Lambadiya (Sabarkantha), Choila (Aravalli) and Bhikapur (Chhota Udepur).

Also, all of them were from secondary grant-in-aid schools that reflected “improved” results when compared to last year’s performance, the Express said. Improvement in results made these schools eligible for a proportionately higher grant.

During the hearing, students in presence of their parents, denied any wrongdoing and claimed they had forgotten all the answers in three months since the board exam in March.

After warning the parents against “setting a bad example”, the panel assured that students telling the truth would be supported.

The move worked and a few admitted in their response sheets that they were helped by “someone from outside the examination room through the windows”, a jury member said.

“I cannot identify the voice, but someone just outside the window dictated answers of objective questions to us,” wrote a student. However, nothing was caught on CCTV cameras.