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Archive for December, 2015

Pakistan inks LNG deal worth $16b with Qatar: The story of Corruption Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi– The story of Corruption

 

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has spent many laborious years on various job positions, cementing his reputation as a

corrupt man. His journey for corruption initiated when he was appointed the Chariman for PIA by our very own Nawaz Sharif. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi wasted no time in putting his devious mind to work and ordering 12 new Boeing Airplanes for PIA. On the surface, such a step seems innocent and beneficial for the national airlines. But upon more investigation, it was found that Mr. Shahid Abbasi dropped some extremely vital, spare parts of the Boeings and replaced with them poor quality Boeing components, sneakily pocketing the money he saved by purchasing cheaper, low-quality components. In another scandal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was also accused for importing 200 computers allegedly for the airlines operations but were misappropriated, costing the national exchequer an astounding Rs. 11 million loss. However, the court acquitted Mr. Abbasi on the basis of lack of incriminating evidence, even though the prosecution produced seven witnesses before the trail court. However, one cannot say for sure that some political influence was not used in this acquittal.

Furthermore, he also aided our Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in one of the biggest examples of blatant disregard of public feelings. In the 1997’s Nawaz Sharif government, Nawaz Sharif expended all his efforts in convincing expatriate Pakistanis to send their dollars to Pakistan. In stark contrast, the Prime Minister himself- costing the national exchequer a whooping Rs. 110 crore- went on 28 foreign trips for “governance” purposes. Nawaz Sharif had also promised to return the special Boeing plane to PIA for the airline’s commercial operations. But like most of his other promise, these were just empty words. In a glaring display of breaking his promise to PIA, Nawaz Sharif- with the help of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi- made a 1.8 million USD renovation of his aircraft, transforming it into a palace of luxuries. Hypocritically, Nawaz Sharif would always preach lessons of simple living and austerity to the general public, but would not accept anything less that specially-cooked , seven-course meals that were prepared by a cook hired by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi specifically to meet the dietary demand of the Prime Minister, including the well-known favorite of Nawaz Sharif, “Gajrela”.

Another example of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s loot and plunder is his activities as the owner of a private air line called Air Blue. Recently, Air Blue has resolved to start operations from Birmingham (Britain) to Pakistan from 28th September 2014.  In a manipulating move, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is withdrawing all PIA management staff from PIAs office in Britain in order to create a prolonged management vacuum designed to put his airline in a more favorable light and take over the market share of PIA. Similar policies have been carried out by the current Petroleum Minister numerous times, proving to be disastrous for Pakistan’s national asset, PIA, but Shahid Abbasi seems to be least concerned about the consequences of his greed-ridden decisions. An instance in 2013 in which the Joint Action Committee of PIA Employees (JACPIAE) accused Shahid Khaqan of continuing to interfere in PIA’s internal affairs while he was running his own private airline, resulting in a conflict of interests. Shahid Abbasi influenced various operational decisions of PIA that has resulted in the downfall of the national airlines.

Lastly, in the tragic 2010 Air Blue plane crash on the Margallah Hilss, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also displayed his true colors and concern for the people of Pakistan, the people he has an obligation to serve. When the horrific air crash happened, this blue-eyed boy of Nawaz Sharif completed disappeared from the scene, only gracing the public with his presence and empty condolences after three days. Such is the extent of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s indifference.  

Such examples of Shahid Khaqan’s callous nature only makes me apprehensive as to what good this man can do for this country as the Petroleum Minister. He has already made the people of Punjab and KPK suffer for more than a week due to critical petrol shortage brought about by Mr. Khaqan’s poor governance and negligence of petroleum management in the favor of the poorly designed LNG deal with Qatar. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi seems to be in a hurry to sign this deal despite the fact that the new gas reserves that have been discovered in Sindh.

Posted by M Butt Lahore at 11:46 

 Read More at http://shahidabbasi.blogspot.com/

 

Pakistan inks LNG deal worth $16b with Qatar

Published: December 13, 2015
Commercial contract to be signed with Qatar Gas 2. PHOTO: REUTERS

Commercial contract to be signed with Qatar Gas 2. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: 

Pakistan and Qatar have inked a government-to-government (G2G) deal for the award of a $16 billion contract for LNG supply from a Qatar-based firm without going through the mandatory bidding process.

“The petroleum ministry has now provided details regarding G2G deal with Qatar to import LNG which was effective from March 2015,” officials said. The details of the deal were revealed by petroleum ministry officials to a committee constituted by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).

Govt mulls forming ‘Pakistan LNG Limited’

Earlier, the petroleum ministry had sought ECC approval for Pakistan State Oil (PSO) to execute the sales-purchase agreement with Qatar Gas 2 (QG2) as seller following the government-to-government agreement. But the approval was deferred following a question raised by the law secretary about the deal with Doha.

Officials said the law secretary would present a report regarding the LNG deal with Qatar on government-to-government basis in the upcoming meeting, enabling the economic decision-making body to approve the General Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA), a commercial contract to be signed between PSO and QG2. They said that PSO had also imported six cargoes of LNG from Qatar in line with the G2G deal.

Officials said that price of LNG had been linked with a direct percentage of Brent crude oil and under current price of Brent the value of potential LNG supply under SPA amounted to around US$ 16 billion.

The period of contract will last till December 2030. However, a price review provision which allows two parties Islamabad and Doha to seek a price review after ten years has been built in the contract, with the two countries maintaining the right to terminate the Sales Purchase Agreement (SPA) in case they fail to reach consensus on price revision.

Under the agreement, PSO, a public sector company designated by the government, would receive supply of 1.5 million tons of LNG per year from QG2 and the supply would be enhanced to 3 million tons per year from the second year. The core business of PSO is oil but it is now going into a new business line of LNG.

Economic decision making body was expected to allow PSO to sell the LNG to the gas utility companies including Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Line Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).The PSO may also be authorised to sell LNG to third party consumers.

Multi-million dollar contract: Gunvor wins LNG deal race, will be PSO’s supplier

Qatar had desired in its original plan that Qatargas would supply LNG through their company Qatar Liquefied Gas Company 3 (QG3) under the SPA. However, Qatargas had now proposed for LNG supplies under SPA through QG2.

The new proposed arrangement had deprived US based firm ConocoPhillips to capture Pakistan’s market as shareholder in QG3, which is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and Mitsui.

Published in The Express Tribune,

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The freedom to censure selectively By Tariq A. Al Maeena

 

 

 

 

The Israelis who are losing ground in their war to stifle the reality on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank have now turned their sights to suppress the truth on university campuses in the US

By Tariq A. Al Maeena, Special to Gulf News
Published: 16:50 December 12, 2015
 

George Washington University (GWU) is a private, coeducational research institute located in the United States capital of Washington D.C. It was established in 1821 by a Congressional act, fulfilling the vision of the country’s first president, George Washington, to create an institution in the nation’s capital dedicated to educating and preparing future leaders.

Today, GWU is the largest institution for higher education in the district of Columbia. With more than 26,000 students from the US and 130 other countries studying a range of subjects from medicine, public health, the law and public policy to international affairs and computer engineering, the university is placed at the core of US government, policy and law.

From its strategic location, the university sits where the worlds of science, technology, media and the arts converge. It boasts of students and faculty having “unparalleled opportunity to study and work alongside leaders and practitioners in every discipline, to take part in the interchanges that shape our community and the world”.

In their stated commitment, GWU claims to work hard and “provide an environment where knowledge is created and acquired and where creative endeavours seek to enrich the experiences of the global society”. Their academic programmes and research initiatives “allow our students, our faculty and our staff to look at the world beyond the classroom. They allow us to prepare the next generation of leaders”.

images-1This university, named after the country’s founding father, has taken a decision that totally contradicts its vision. In late October this year, a 20-year-old pre-medical American student, Ramie Abounaja, was in his room, studying, when a university police officer barged in and demanded that Ramie remove a Palestinian flag from his dorm window, with administrators claiming that the flag violated their housing code, even though there were countless other national flags hanging from dorm rooms there. Ramie said that the officer had told him that the department had received “multiple complaints” about a Palestinian flag hanging from outside his window and that he would not leave until the flag was removed. Shocked and intimidated, Ramie gave in to the demand without protest.

Less than a week later, the university’s Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities upped the pressure on Ramie by threatening him with future disciplinary action even though he complied with the police order. In a letter addressed to Ramie, GWU officials stated, “This letter serves as a warning that this behaviour is a violation of the ‘Code of Student Conduct’ and/or the Resident Community Conduct Guidelines. As a member of the larger residential community, we hope that you will be respectful of your peers and be aware of your behaviour. The act of an individual has a profound impact on the community … Subsequent reports naming you as a subject may result in disciplinary action taken by the university”.

Ramie, an outspoken student for Palestinian rights was certain that he was a victim to subjective ‘punishment and selective and discriminatory application of the [university] housing code’. He said: “To be criminalised in front of my roommate and have others around the hall open their doors to see what was happening was uncalled for and unexpected. I felt like I was being singled out, because of my heritage and the viewpoint of my speech, for something I’ve seen dozens of students, fraternities and other student groups do in my three years at GW.”

Citing the selective targeting of Ramie, because of his Palestinian background, civil rights organisations took up the cause and said that the order for the removal of the flag was “a violation of free speech principles, underscoring the growing attempt to outlaw and punish pro-Palestinian speech on the nation’s campuses”. They pointed out to the multitude of other national flags hanging out of dorm windows and none of those students was chastised for such an act.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image Credit: AFP
 
 

 

 

Palestinian Legal, a US civil rights advocacy organisation, took up Ramie’s cause and demanded an explanation from the authorities. It eventually resulted in an apology to Ramie from none other than the president of GWU, who admitted that the student was a victim of a “flawed process”.

But the incident at GWU is not the first of its kind as asserted by Palestinian Legal. A report titled ‘The Palestinian Exception to Free Speech’ was released by the group earlier in the year, which documents how pro-Israel campus groups and alumni with backings from certain lobbies “have intensified their efforts to stifle criticism of Israeli government policies. Rather than engage such criticism on its merits, these groups leverage their significant resources and lobbying power to pressure universities, government actors and other institutions to censor or punish advocacy in support of Palestinian rights”.

The Israelis who are losing ground in their war to stifle the reality on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank have now turned their sights to suppress the truth on US campuses. Last September, the University of California Board of Regents, with prominent political backing from Zionist sympathisers, proposed a resolution that would label any student supportive of the ‘Boycott Israel’ movement or saying anything critical of Israel as “anti-Semitic” and subject them to possible suspension or even expulsion.

Such is the twisted track of the freedom of speech in the land of the free.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena

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Pakistan’s external debt set to grow to whopping $90b :Pakistan Will Be Blackmailed to Rollback Nuclear Program if Imminent Default

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DebtBomb

 

 

Pakistan’s external debt set to grow to whopping $90b

 

Pakistan Will Be Blackmailed to Rollback Nuclear Program if Imminent Default

Western nations with connivance of World Bank and IMF have a plan to Denuclearize Pakistan.

First part of the plan to which Nawaz Sharif,Ishaq Dar,and Asif zardari are privy to borrow heavily until debt reaches $200 Bn.

Second part ask Pakistani people to pay such enormous taxes,so they are forced to make a choice: 1) Nuclear Program Rollback or 2)Debt Relief

Then present demarche, either pay up or roll back Nuclear and Missile Programs

Nawaz Sharif & Asif Zardari are part of this Plan. Pakistan Military is unaware of this plan 2023′

Nawaz sharif will again be re-elected with considerable flow of funds from the United States, United Kingdom, India, and Israel.

 

 

 

Experts say country desperately needs to increase exports, arrest increase in debt. PHOTO: FILE

Experts say country desperately needs to increase exports, arrest increase in debt. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s external debt is projected to grow to a whopping $90 billion in the next four years and the country will need $20 billion a year just to meet its external financing requirements amid concerns that all constitutional arrangements put in place to manage debt have become ineffective.

The external debt figures compiled by renowned economist and the country’s former finance minister Dr Hafiz Pasha are about $14 billion higher than the projections made by the International Monetary Fund.

Moody’s report: International bonds weaken Pakistan’s debt affordability

Dr Pasha on Saturday shared his doomsday scenario in a National Debt Conference, arranged by the Policy Research Institute of Market Economy (PRIME) – an independent think tank.

Dr Pasha’s projections are based on official data. The $14 billion difference was mainly on account of foreign loans that will fly in to finance China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. The government is not including CPEC loans in total public debt.

“At the moment, we do not have details about the loans that will be taken under the CPEC,” said Ehtesham Rashid, Director General of the Debt Office at the Ministry of Finance, while responding to these projections.

He said once details are available, the Office may have to re-do the entire debt management strategy.

There is enormous support for the CPEC in Pakistan but this game-changing corridor has financial implications for the country that have to be highlighted for better management of debt, said Dr Pasha. His comments come after State Bank of Pakistan governor Ashraf Wathra in an interview last week said there was a need to divulge more details on the debt and investment portions of CPEC, stressing the need for more transparency on part of the government.

Dr Pasha said by 2018-19 amortisation payments would double to $8.3 billion. The current account deficit – the gap between external payments and receipts – will exponentially widen to 4% of the total size of the economy against this year’s level of just under 1% of GDP, he said.

Pakistan to get another $502m IMF loan

The current account deficit will widen due to import of machinery and plants for CPEC projects, in addition to imported fuel like Liquefied Natural Gas and coal.

As against IMF’s projections of just $8.6 billion requirement, Dr Pasha said that total external financing needs, including bridging the current account deficit and repayment of loans, will alarmingly triple to $20 billion by 2018-19.

“This will push the total external debt to $90 billion by 2018-19, showing a growth of 38% over current volume of the foreign debt of over $65 billion,” said Dr Pasha.

He said Pakistan’s exports would have to improve to at least $36 billion if the alarming increase in debt was to be arrested. The country’s exports currently hover around the $24-billion mark.

Constitutional arrangements

The constitutional arrangements put in place to better manage debt are not effectively working as there is hardly any serious debate in the Council of Common Interests and National Economic Council on the debt issue, said Abdul Wajid Rana, former Secretary Finance. He said the Debt Management Office has become subservient to Secretary Finance and was not autonomous.

Transparency

Sakib Sherani, former Principal Economic Advisor to Ministry of Finance, said that the government was playing with debt numbers. His comments come after the government’s decision to exclude non-plan loans from public debt.

He said the debt-to-GDP ratio has become irrelevant in case of Pakistan as the country lacks the capacity to repay the debt even at its current 65% level of debt-to-GDP ratio.

Pakistan agrees to slap billions in new taxes

“In case of Pakistan, the debt-to-revenue ratio is more relevant. 350% would be the limit, beyond which it wouldn’t be sustainable. Currently, this ratio stands at an alarming 523%,” said Sherani.

“By 2018-19, the debt-to-revenue ratio will be over 750%,” said Dr Pasha.

In order to ensure transparency, there must be a law requiring government to take parliamentary approval of any deal signed with the foreign governments and lending agencies, said Dr Kaiser Bengali, an economic consultant to government of Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2015.

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Tribute to Sawar Muhammad Hussain Janjua Shaheed by Agha Iqrar Haroon

 

 

 

 

Sawar Muhammad Hussain Janjua Shaheed

Sawar Muhammad Hussain Janjua Shaheed:Recipient Nishan-i-Haider

 

 

 

I remember it was winter of 1973 when five more names and photos were added in our Urdu reading book. These photos were of great men who gave their lives to save our motherland.
Their photos were added along with their biography and tales of their gallantry and courage. One of these names was Sawar Muhammad Hussain Janjua Shaheed from 20 Lancers (Armoured Corps), Pakistan Army. Other names were Rashid Minhas Shaheed (Fighter Conversion Unit, Pakistan Air Force Pilot Officer), Shabbir Sharif Shaheed (6 Frontier Force Regiment, Pakistan Army), Muhammad Akram Shaheed (4 Frontier Force Regiment, Pakistan Army and Muhammad Mahfuz Shaheed (15 Punjab Regiment, Pakistan Army).
I remember that my teacher Madam Nargis could not stop her tears while reading one para from the story of Sawar Muhammad. These tears were actually tributes to Sawar Shaheed who gave his life to protect his motherland. Our teacher told us that she felt a great honour of being a daughter of such a nation who had sons like Sawar Shaheed. I remember almost every student in my class had tears when she was narrating the story of Sawar Muhammad and other brave men of our Army.
Since my childhood, I visited the grave of Sawar Muhammad in Dhok Sawar Muhammad Hussain near Mandra twice. My generation had its childhood before the radical Islam gripped my country therefore visiting graves of relatives and national heroes was a part of routine of once life. Since my young age, I had been visiting graves of Shabbir Sharif Shaheed and Raja Aziz Bhatti Shaheed. Grave of Shabbir Sharif Shaheed was on my way to my college (Miani Sahib graveyard) and visiting Raja Aziz Bhatti grave was a part of routine of Defence day celebrations though his grave was located out of main city of Lahore. My elder brother used to take children of family to Raja Aziz Bhatti Shaheed grave almost every year.

Tribute to Sawar Muhammad Hussain Janjua Shaheed
Grave of Sawar Muhammad Hussain Janjua Shaheed
 

Sawar Muhammad Hussain Janjua was born on 18 June 1949 in Dhok Pir Bakhsh (now Dhok Muhammad Hussain Janjua) near Jatli in Gujar Khan Punjab. He joined Pakistan Army as a driver on 3 September 1966 when he was just 17 years old. He was in the 20th Lancers Armoured regiment of Pakistan Army.
According to information, his regiment was engaged to repulse Indian attack at Zafarwal Shakarghar and Sawar Shaheed kept delivering ammunition to the frontline soldiers on December 5, 1971 under intense shelling and direct fire from enemy tanks and infantry. He kept providing ammunition to his company for next 5 days while forgetting risk and fires around him. According to other soldiers, he spotted on December 10 that the Indians were digging a minefield near the village of Harar Khurd Punjab along the minefield laid out by Pakistan Army. He immediately informed the second- in-command of his unit but did not wait for soldiers to reach the spot and he directed accurate fire at the enemy resulting in the destruction of sixteen enemy tanks and he was hit in the chest by a burst of machine-gun fire and embraced Shahadat at the age of 22.
Sawar Muhammad Hussain had the distinction of being the first Jawan (a rank of foot soldier in Pakistan Army) to be awarded the highest award Nishan-e-Haider for his gallantry. Sarwar Shaheed College in Gujar Khan is named after Muhammad Sarwar. It was founded as a school and later upgraded to college. It is located on Lahore-Rawalpindi GT Road (N-5) and approach is through this road only.

Nishan-e-Haider or Nishan-e-Hyder was established in 1957 after Pakistan became a Republic, however, it was instituted retrospectively from Independence in 1947. It is awarded to military personnel, regardless of rank, for extraordinary bravery in combat. The award is considered to be the highest military award and has only been awarded to those who have sacrificed their life for the country.

Being a teacher and journalist, I always share my views with my readers and students about War and Peace. Peace is the best option because war brings only destruction and death. However, if a war is imposed on a nation— then it must stand united and remember only one thing—Protection of the Motherland if we do not wish to be “Nameless Nation” in the pages of history.
Written by Agha Iqrar Haroon

 

 

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NAWAZ SHARIF & ASIF ZARDARI SCAM: One more scam–ECC allows 0.5m tons export of sugar with Rs6.5b subsidy

one more scam–ECC allows 0.5m tons export of sugar with Rs6.5b subsidy

Interesting thing to note is that Sharifs own 22  No’s Sugar Industries in Punjab Nos & Zardari own 16 No. Sugar factories in Sindh.

 
 

J Choudhry

 
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Corporate Ambassador focuses on the coverage of issues relating to corporate sector, economy, finance, stock markets, diplomatic events/interviews, showbiz, art, culture, organised crimes and politics.

 

 

 

 

 

ECC allows 0.5m tons export of sugar with Rs6.5b subsidy

sugar

 

Harris Javed/ISLAMABAD: The ECC of the Cabinet in its meeting chaired by Finance Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq here on Monday accorded approval for export of 500,000 metric tons of sugar in a phased manner till 31st of March 2016.
The federal government would provide a subsidy of Rs 13 per kg on the export of sugar. Thus the government would pay a huge amount of Rs6.50 billion as subsidy to sugar mills that would export sugar from Dec-March period.

 

 

newcurrency notes
In the first phase, 200,000 MT will be allowed to be exported upto 31 December, 2015. By the end of January an accumulative 350,000 will be allowed, while the cut of date for the total accumulative volume of 500,000 MT will be 31 March 2016. The unutilized quotas for sugar export allowed previously will stand cancelled.
sugar
 It was also decided by ECC that Rs.13 per kg will be allowed as partial support for incidentals and freight for the export of this quantity and only those mills will be allowed to export which have cleared the outstanding dues of the farmers up to last season and have started crushing on full scale. The cash support and the inland transportation support will be shared equally by the Federal Government and the respective provincial Governments.
 
ECC also decided that the Special Committee constituted by the Prime Minister chaired by the Minister for Commerce and comprising Secretaries of Commerce, NFS&R, Industries and Production and Additional Secretary Finance will meet in the first week of every month to review the sugar stock/export situation. The cash support will be disbursed through the SBP.
 
ECC also decided that the minimum price for the export of sugar to Afghanistan and the Central Asian States may be fixed at $450 per MT. 
 
ECC was also briefed by the Finance Secretary on the current economic situation in the country. He informed the forum that average inflation in July-November 2015-16 stood at 1.86%.  
 
Secretary Finance also informed the forum that the current wheat stocks of the country as on December 2015 stand at 7.88 million tons and the total stocks of sugar were 1.36 million tons as on October 28, 2015. The stock of various POL products averaged 13 days on December 4, 2015. The meeting was also informed that the growth of LSM was recorded at 3.9% in the period of July to September as compared to the same period last year.
 
Workers’ remittances received during July–October 2015 recorded an increase of 5.2% and the tax collection by FBR registered an increase of 16.8% in July-November 2015-16 as compared to the same period last year. The tax-to-GDP ratio was the highest in the last 11 years. Exports were witnessing a downward trend, which was due to lower commodity prices and recession in various export markets. 

https://weeklycorporateambassador.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/ecc-allows-0-5m-tons-export-of-sugar-with-rs6-5b-subsidy/

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