Pakistan says aiming to expel one million illegal migrants by end of January
Pakistan says aiming to expel one million illegal migrants by end of January/node/2413466/pakistan
Pakistan says aiming to expel one million illegal migrants by end of January
Pakistani police officers conduct biometric identification of residents during a search operation against illegal immigrants in a neighbourhood of Karachi, Pakistan, on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. (AP)
QUETTA: The government in Balochistan said on Wednesday Pakistan was aiming to expel as many as one million illegal immigrants by January 2024 through border crossings in the southwestern province, which borders Afghanistan.
Islamabad last month announced it would expel over a million undocumented refugees, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul over charges that it harbors anti-Pakistan militants. The government had announced at the time that eight crossing points would be used for Afghans to cross back into their home country from the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, both of whom share a frontier with Afghanistan.
The Torkham, Kharlachi, Ghulam Khan, and Angoor Ada crossing points would be used for migrants from Islamabad, KP, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Punjab [province] and the Chaman, Barab Chah, Noor Wahab, and Badini crossing points were allocated for illegal aliens from Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
More than 340,000 illegal foreigners have voluntarily left or been deported from Pakistan since the government announced its policy against undocumented immigrants on Oct. 3.
“We are trying to repatriate one million illegal immigrants from Balochistan by the end of January and we are also contacting the governments of Sindh and Punjab to expedite this process,” Balochistan Caretaker Information Minister Jan Achakzai told reporters.
“The deportation of illegal Afghan citizens is going-on at Chaman border and we have started the second phase of our crackdown against undocumented immigrants living in Balochistan.”
He said police and other law enforcement agencies had been ordered to arrest illegal immigrants and send them to holding centers before deporting. Pakistan has said last month it had set up 49 holding centers across the country for the repatriation of illegal immigrants.
“In Balochistan, 120,000 Afghan citizens have returned to their country, of which 90 percent returned on a voluntary basis,” Achakzai said.
The spokesperson’s statements came as the UN refugee agency on Wednesday urged Pakistan to halt its deportation of undocumented Afghans during the harsh winter season, as police continued to search homes and expel Afghanis who had not already left.
“UNHCR is calling upon the government of Pakistan to halt these mass numbers of returns during this harsh season of winter because the cold in Afghanistan is really deadly and it can take lives,” the agency’s regional spokesman, Babar Baloch, told Reuters TV in an interview.
“We’re talking about desperate women, children and men being on the move, leaving Pakistan in droves,” he said.
The agency has said the Afghans’ return should be voluntary and that Pakistan should identify vulnerable individuals who need international protection.
Pakistan is home to over 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom are undocumented. Many came after the Taliban retook Afghanistan in 2021, and a large number have been present since the 1979 Soviet invasion.
Pakistani police have been searching door to door in refugees settlements for those who have not left voluntarily, beginning with the port city of Karachi, where hundreds of thousands of Afghans live.
Thousands of Afghans have gone underground in Pakistan to avoid deportation, fearing for their lives if they return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan following the hasty and chaotic withdrawal of US-led western forces in 2021.
Islamabad has thus far not entertained calls by international organizations and refugee agencies to reconsider its deportation plans.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has admitted a petition filed by rights activists seeking to halt the deportation, which is yet to be taken up for a hearing, a court order issued on Wednesday said.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has launched a contributory pension fund scheme for new entrants to the armed forces and civil government, a senior official said on Wednesday, expressing hope it would streamline current public expenditures by setting up an autonomous fund to manage large pension payments.
The federal government’s total expenditure for pensions is estimated at Rs1.014 trillion ($3.65 billion) for the current fiscal year, up from Rs821 billion ($2.96 billion) last year. The amount includes pension liabilities of the armed forces, which are Rs662 billion ($2.38 billion) for the current fiscal year, up from Rs563 billion ($2.03 billion), showing an increase of about 18 percent.
The government has been under immense pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reform the public sector pension system to reduce monetary pressure on current expenditures. The scheme will not be applicable to existing government employees.
“This fund is effective from July 1 this year as the government has directed the AGPR [Accountant General Pakistan Revenues] to start deductions from the employees’ salaries,” Rana Ihsan Afzal, a coordinator to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, told Arab News.
“This is going to be an autonomous fund wherein the government will contribute its share, and definitely this will help ease pressure on the current expenditure,” he said, adding the collected funds could be invested in a secure financial instrument with the approval of the board of governors.
“The utilization and investments of this fund, and other details will be finalized in the coming weeks and months,” he continued.
According to a finance ministry notification, federal government employees will contribute 10 percent of their basic pay while the government will contribute 20 percent to the fund.
The government has also decided the future contributory pension fund scheme “shall be introduced for all the civil employees of the federal government, including the civilian paid from the defense estimates who were appointed on a regular basis or after July 1, 2024.”
“This scheme shall also be applicable to the armed forces who are appointed on a regular basis on or after July 1, 2025,” the notification said.
The government has already allocated Rs10 billion for the pension fund in the budget for FY2024-25.
A Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) study said in 2020 the practice of paying pensions “is inherently unsustainable as pension expenditure growing at around 25 percent, cannot be provided from an economy growing at a significantly lower rate.”
“It is estimated that by 2050, pensions will account for 56 percent of current expenditure,” it added. “The government will not have the funds for pension expenditure after 8-10 years.”
Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, a senior economist and joint executive director at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Islamabad, said the pension fund would help ease the burden on taxpayers.
“The basic concern around this government fund is about its effective management as employees’ experiences with the EOBI [employees old age benefits institute] and WWF [workers welfare fund] have not been productive,” Ahmed told Arab News.
“The government should give choice to the employees to keep their money either in the government funds or the private pensions schemes offered by different banks and institutions,” he added.
“This way the government will have to compete with the private sector to better manage the funds.”
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Wednesday Pakistan was undertaking structural and financial reforms to create a conducive environment for foreign investment and stabilize the national economy while meeting with a delegation of international investors led by the top JP Morgan official in Pakistan.
Last year, Pakistan set up the Special Investment Facilitation Council, a hybrid civil-military body, to encourage international businesses to explore opportunities in the country by streamlining investment procedures amid prolonged economic challenges.
The finance minister briefed the visiting delegation about Pakistan’s improving macroeconomic indicators, including a 14 percent rise in exports, a decline in inflation to 9.6 percent and an overall decrease in the current account deficit.
He also pointed out the improvement in Pakistan’s sovereign credit ratings, saying they reflected a stable and promising economic outlook.
“The country’s economic growth is underpinned by robust fiscal discipline, inflation management, and a favorable balance of payments,” he told the delegation, according to an official statement.
He informed the government was also trying to broaden the tax base, cut down the public sector size and proceed with the privatization drive.
“These reforms are designed to create a more conducive environment for foreign investment and to ensure the long-term stability of the economy,” he added.
The visiting delegation discussed a range of potential investment areas, including renewable energy, information technology, infrastructure development and the financial sector.
They maintained that Pakistani market had immense potential, adding the strategic location of the country made it a gateway to regional markets where foreign investors were eager to explore opportunities.
The foreign minister welcomed the delegation’s interest in investing in Pakistan and assured its members of the government full support.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Wednesday it was working to provide seamless online connectivity to strengthen the information technology sector and enhance ease of doing business amid public uproar over slow Internet speed affecting nearly 2.37 million freelancers in the country.
The government has identified information technology as a priority sector for attracting foreign investment and boosting export revenue. However, Internet speed in Pakistan has dropped by 30-40 percent over the past few weeks, according to the Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan amid reports that the government is installing a national firewall to block “anti-state propaganda.”
The situation has raised concerns within the IT sector, especially among the freelance community, leading its national association members to visit the PTA Headquarters on Wednesday to discuss the issue with the authority’s top official.
“Chairman PTA, Major General (R) Hafeez Ur Rehman, extended a warm welcome to the Pakistan Freelancers Association’s delegation and apprised that PTA is proactively working on ease of doing business for IT sector,” said an official statement circulated after the meeting.
“In this regard IP [Internet protocol] addresses for VPNs [virtual private networks] are being registered for software houses, banks, businesses and freelancers to ensure that in case of any access disruption in the country, businesses are not affected,” it added.
The statement noted that VPN registration was free and could be completed online, with a processing time of two to three days.
The government announced the VPN registration process toward the end of last month amid complaints of prolonged Internet disruptions.
According to data from the central bank, Pakistani freelancers earned $397.3 million in foreign remittances during the fiscal year 2021-22.
The amount is likely underreported, as much of the freelance income is received as home remittances.
Bangladesh defeat sees Pakistan fall to 8th in Test rankings
Pakistan have fallen to worst Test ranking in nearly six decades after shock 2-0 series defeat to low-ranked Bangladesh
Bangladesh inflicted a six-wicket defeat on the home team in the second Test in Rawalpindi on Tuesday
Updated 04 September 2024
AFP
KARARCHI: Pakistan fell to their worst Test ranking in nearly six decades on Wednesday, the International Cricket Council said, after their shock 2-0 series defeat to low-ranked Bangladesh.
Bangladesh inflicted a six-wicket defeat on the home team in the second Test in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, their first series win against Pakistan.
“Pakistan dropped two places — from sixth to eighth — in the Test rankings after suffering a shock series loss at home to Bangladesh,” the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.
The ICC said it was “their lowest rankings since 1965” in the 12-team table, which is topped by Australia followed by India and England.
Bangladesh are ninth in the latest rankings
There are now no Pakistan bowlers ranked in the top 10 after paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi fell to 11th from his ninth place before the Bangladesh series.
Wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is the only Pakistani remaining in the top 10 batting rankings, while Babar Azam dropped three places to 12th.
Azam managed just 64 runs in the two Tests against Bangladesh.
From Egypt to Pakistan, Coke and Pepsi boycott over Gaza lifts local sodas
In Pakistan, local colas like Cola Next and Pakola soared in popularity to become about 12% of soft drinks category from 2.5% previously
Cola Next’s factories cannot meet the sharp surge in demand, CEO of brand’s parent company Mezan Beverages said in an interview
Updated 04 September 2024
Reuters
KARACHI/CAIRO/NEW YORK: Coca-Cola and rival PepsiCo. spent hundreds of millions of dollars over decades building demand for their soft drinks in Muslim-majority countries including Egypt to Pakistan.
Now, both face a challenge from local sodas in those countries due to consumer boycotts that target the globe-straddling brands as symbols of America, and by extension Israel, at a time of war in Gaza.
In Egypt, sales of Coke have cratered this year, while local brand V7 exported three times as many bottles of its own cola in the Middle East and the wider region than last year. In Bangladesh, an outcry forced Coca-Cola to cancel an ad campaign against the boycott. And across the Middle East, Pepsi’s rapid growth evaporated after the Gaza war started in October.
Pakistani corporate executive Sunbal Hassan kept Coke and Pepsi off her wedding menu in Karachi in April. She said she didn’t want to feel her money had reached the tax coffers of the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally.
“With the boycott, one can play a part by not contributing to those funds,” Hassan said. Instead, she served her wedding guests Pakistani brand Cola Next.
An Egyptian walks next to the bottles of Coca-Cola and other products on shelves, in Cairo, Egypt, on August 27, 2024. (REUTERS)
She is not alone. While market analysts say it is hard to put a dollar figure on lost sales and PepsiCo. and Coca-Cola still have growing businesses in several countries in the Middle East, Western beverage brands suffered a 7 percent sales decline in the first half of the year across the region, market researcher NielsenIQ says.
An Egyptian supermarket owner shows bottles of Egypt's local beverage brands Spiro Spathis and Diva Masr at his store, in Cairo, Egypt on September 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
In Pakistan, Krave Mart, a leading delivery app, has seen local cola rivals like Cola Next and Pakola soar in popularity to become about 12 percent of the soft drinks category, founder Kassim Shroff told Reuters this month. Before the boycott, the figure was closer to 2.5 percent.
Shroff said Pakola, which is ice-cream soda flavored, made up most of the purchases before the boycott. He declined to provide figures for Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. sales.
Consumer boycotts date back at least as far as an 18th century anti-slavery sugar protest in Britain. The strategy was used in the 20th century to fight apartheid in South Africa and has been widely wielded against Israel through the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
A Pepsi refrigerator is seen at a local corner store with Pepsi and its drinks displayed for sale in Isa Town, Bahrain, August on 30, 2024. (REUTERS)
Many consumers shunning Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. cite US support of Israel over decades, including in the current, ongoing war with Hamas. “Some consumers are deciding to make different options in their purchases because of the political perception,” PepsiCo. CEO Ramon Laguarta told Reuters in a July 11 interview, adding that boycotts are “impacting those particular geographies” such as Lebanon, Pakistan and Egypt.
“We will manage through it over time,” he said. “It’s not meaningful to our top line and bottom line at this point.”
PepsiCo’s total revenue from its Africa, Middle East and South Asia division was $6 billion in 2023, earnings releases show. The same year, Coca-Cola’s revenue from its Europe, Middle East and Africa region was $8 billion, company filings show.
In the six months following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that triggered the invasion of Gaza, PepsiCo. beverage volumes in the Africa, Middle East and South Asia division barely grew, after notching up 8 percent and 15 percent growth in the same quarters of 2022/23, the company said. Volumes of Coke sold in Egypt declined by double-digit percentage points in the six months ended June 28, according to data from Coca-Cola HBC, which bottles there. In the same period last year, volumes rose in high single digits.
Coca-Cola has said it does not fund military operations in Israel or any country. In response to a Reuters request, PepsiCo. said neither the company “nor any of our brands are affiliated with any government or military in the conflict.”
Palestinian-American businessman Zahi Khouri founded Ramallah-based Coca-Cola bottler National Beverage Company, which sells Coke in the West Bank. The company’s $25 million plant in Gaza, opened in 2016, has been destroyed in the war, he said. Employees were unharmed, he said.
Khouri said boycotts were a matter of personal choice but didn’t really help Palestinians. In the West Bank itself, he said, they had limited sales impact.
“Only ending the occupation would help the situation,” said Khouri, who supports the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Israel’s government did not respond to a request for comment. HISTORICAL TARGETS
The big soda companies are no stranger to pressure among the Muslim world’s hundreds of millions of consumers. After Coke opened a factory in Israel in the 1960s, it was hit by an Arab League boycott that lasted until the early 1990s and benefited Pepsi for years in the Middle East.
Coke still lags Pepsi’s market share in Egypt and Pakistan, according to market research firm GlobalData.
PepsiCo, which entered Israel in the early 1990s, itself faced boycotts when it purchased Israel’s SodaStream for $3.2 billion in 2018.
In recent years though, Muslim-majority countries with young, rising populations have provided some of the soda giants’ fastest growth. In Pakistan alone, Coca-Cola says it has invested $1 billion since 2008, yielding years of double-digit sales growth. PepsiCo. had similar gains, according to securities filings.
Now, both are losing ground to local brands.
Cola Next, which is cheaper than Coke and Pepsi, changed its ad slogan in March to “Because Cola Next is Pakistani,” emphasizing its local roots.
Cola Next’s factories cannot meet the surge in demand, Mian Zulfiqar Ahmed, the CEO of the brand’s parent company, Mezan Beverages, said in an interview. He declined to share volume figures.
Zulfiqar Ahmed, CEO of Mezan Beverages (Pvt) Ltd, that makes Cola NEXT, speaks with Reuters during an interview at his office in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 3, 2024. (REUTERS)
Restaurants, Karachi’s private schools association and university students have all taken part in anti-Coca-Cola actions, eroding goodwill built through sponsorship of Coke Studio, a popular music show in Pakistan.
Exports of Egyptian cola V7 have tripled this year compared to 2023, founder Mohamed Nour said in an interview. Nour, a former Coca-Cola executive who left the company after 28 years in 2020, said V7 was now sold in 21 countries.
Sales in Egypt, where the product has only been available since July 2023, were up 40 percent, Nour said.
Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, warned of long-term damage to consumer loyalty due to boycotts. “If you break habits, it’s going to be harder to win you back in the long run,” he said, without giving an estimate of the financial cost to the companies. BANGLADESH BACKFIRE
In Bangladesh, Coke launched advertising showing a shopkeeper talking about the company’s operations in Palestine.
After a public outcry over perceived insensitivity, Coke pulled the ad in June and apologized. In response to a question from Reuters, the company said the campaign “missed the mark.”
The ad made the boycott worse, said one Bangladeshi advertising executive, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Other American brands seen as symbols of Western culture, such as McDonalds and Starbucks, also face anti-Israel boycotts.
Market share for global brands fell 4 percent in the first half of 2024 in the Middle East, according to NielsenIQ. But the protests have been more visible against the widely-available sodas.
As well as boycotts, inflation and economic turmoil in Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh eroded consumers’ buying power even before the war, making cheaper local brands more appealing.
Last year, Coke’s market share in the consumer sector in Pakistan fell to 5.7 percent from 6.3 percent in 2022, according to GlobalData, while Pepsi’s fell to 10.4 percent from 10.8 percent. FUTURE PLANS
Coca-Cola and its bottlers, and PepsiCo, still see the countries as important areas for growth, particularly as Western markets slow down.
Despite the boycotts, Coke invested another $22 million upgrading technology in Pakistan in April, it said in a press release at the time.
Coca-Cola’s bottler in Pakistan said to investors in May that it remained “positive about the opportunity” the world’s fifth most-populous country offers, and that it invested in the market with a long-term commitment.
In recent weeks, PepsiCo. reintroduced a brand called Teem soda, traditionally lemon-lime flavored, in Pakistani market, a spokesperson confirmed. The product is now available in a cola flavor with “Made in Pakistan” printed prominently on the label.
A view of a passenger bus with an advertisement of TEEM soft drink moves along a road in Karachi, Pakistan on September 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
The companies are also still injecting the Coke and Pepsi brands into the fabric of local communities by sponsoring charities, musicians and cricket teams.
Those moves are key to Coke and Pepsi keeping a toehold in the countries long-term even as they face setbacks now, Georgetown’s Musgrave said.
“Anything you can do to make yourself an ally or presence, a part of a community,” helps, he said.
