From economy to cricket, it is all ‘depressing’ news says Pak CJI

Agencies
June 20, 2019

Islamabad, Jun 20: Pakistan’s chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa Wednesday lamented that Pakistanis were only hearing “depressing” news these days -- on the state of the economy, politics and even from the cricket field.

Addressing a ceremony to highlight the work of model courts in Pakistan, the Chief Justice of Pakistan said that the reports of the ‘national economy in ICU’ were not good news.

“We hear about the economy and we are told that either it is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or it has just come out of the ICU,” he said, referring to the serious balance of payments crisis that threatens to cripple Pakistan’s economy.

The cash-strapped government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for bailout packages worth billions of dollars.

“We see the noise coming out of Parliament and we see that leader of the house as well as the leader of the opposition, they are not even being allowed to speak. It depresses,” he said, pointing out to the confrontation between the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the National Assembly.

“We change the channel, we look at the Cricket World Cup, unfortunately again the news is depressing,” Khosa was quoted as saying by Dunya News. Apparently commenting about the recent ICC World Cup loss Pakistan suffered at the hands of arch-rival India, Khosa said: “We try and get away from all the negativity around us and turn on the TV, change the channel and we see our team losing the match.”

During such chaotic times, the only good news people are hearing comes from the courts of Pakistan, the chief justice said.

“Now in this depressing atmosphere, I am very happy to say that at least there is one sector in our society from where some good news is coming. “As the relevant organ of the state and in charge of dispensation of justice, it is our constitutional responsibility to provide inexpensive and expeditious justice. This is a gigantic task,” he said. Khosa has said 5,800 trials were decided through model courts in 48 working days.

The priority of the judiciary is to provide justice to public without delays, he said, adding that the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was being introduced in Pakistan’s judicial system which will factor in with the due process of inquiries.

“The AI system will help in taking us closer to the truth and would be able to help the judges know about the verdicts they have given in the past.

Khosa said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan is the first apex court in the entire world, which has started hearing cases online. He said a state of the art Research Centre has been established at the Supreme Court, where five to six search engines will be installed to facilitate the legal fraternity and researchers, Radio Pakistan reported.

“I am proud of the good news coming out from the judiciary and God willing they will continue to come,” he added.

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News Network
June 27,2020

LGeneva, Jun 27:: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide has risen by over 177,000 in the past 24 hours to 9.4 million and the death toll has topped 480,000, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday (local time).

On Thursday, the WHO reported 167,056 new cases and 5,336 related deaths.

The fresh daily situation report estimates the number of infections confirmed in the past 24 hours at 177,012. Further, 5,116 virus-related deaths were reported over the same period, taking the toll to 484,249.

The Americas lead the count with over 4.7 million cases, followed by Europe with more than 2.6 million.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Hyderabad, Jun 20: IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Saturday said that the force is well prepared and suitably deployed to respond to any contingency and it will never let the sacrifice of the bravehearts of Galwan go in vain.

"It should be very clear that we are well prepared and suitably deployed to respond to any contingency. I assure the nation that we are determined to deliver and will never let the sacrifice of the braves of Galwan go in vain," IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said here.

Bhadauria was speaking at the Combined Graduation Parade (CGP) at Air Force Academy in Hyderabad.

His remarks come days after 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in the violent face-off on June 15-16 during an attempt by the Chinese troops to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation in eastern Ladakh.

Speaking about the current border situation with China, he said: "We are aware of the situation, be it on LAC or beyond, be it their air deployments, their posture and kind of deployments. We've full analysis and we have taken necessary action that we need to take to handle any contingency that may come up."

"We are monitoring all the moments and we are aware of the full situation," he added.

He further said that in spite of the "unacceptable Chinese action" at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, which claimed lives of 20 Indian Army personnel, efforts are underway to ensure that the current situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is resolved peacefully.

He asserted that the IAF is determined to deliver and the development at the LAC in Ladakh is a small snapshot of what the force is required to handle at short notice.

The IAF Chief further appealed to people to join him in paying tribute Colonel Santosh Babu and his brave men who made the sacrifice while defending the LAC in Galwan valley.

"The gallant actions in a highly-challenging situation have demonstrated our resolve to protect India's sovereignty at any cost," the Indian Air Force (IAF) chief said.

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News Network
February 1,2020

Washington, Feb 1: The Indian economy experienced some abrupt slowdown in 2019 due to turbulence in non-banking financial institutions and major reform measures such as GST and demonetisation, but it is not in a recession, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said.

"The Indian economy indeed has experienced an abrupt slowdown in 2019. We had to revise our growth projections, downwards to four percent for last year. We are expecting 5.8 per cent (growth rate) in 2020 and then an upward trajectory to 6.5 percent in 2021," Georgieva told a group of foreign journalists here on Friday.

"It appears that the main reason for this slowdown was the non-banking financial institutions experiencing a turbulence," she said on the eve of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the annual budget in Parliament on Saturday.

She said India had undertaken some important reforms that over the longer term would be beneficial for the country, but they do have some short-term impact.

"For example, coming with the unified tax system, and the demonetisation that took place. These are steps that over time are beneficial, but of course they might, might be somewhat disruptive over short term," Georgieva said in response to a question.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director said that there is not a lot of fiscal space in India. “But we also recognise that the policies of the government on that side, on the fiscal side have been prudent. We will see how the reading of the budget, the submission of the budget goes, tomorrow,” she said.

In the medium-term, she said, the IMF remains optimistic about India. “This is why we see that upswing potential for the growth in the country,” she said.

Georgieva said that the current economic slowdown cannot be described as a recession. "No.... You're far from that. But it is a significant slowdown, not the recession," she said.

The IMF managing Director noted that the consumption in India also slowed down and that contributed to the overall slowdown in the economy. The IMF would be keen to see what India does to get relatively sound macroeconomic fundamentals to pay off in terms of better growth trajectory, she said ahead of the budget.

One thing that is important for India is that budgetary revenue have been below target. "The country knows that. The finance minister knows it. They need to increase budgetary revenue collection so they can improve their fiscal position. I said it's tight on the spending side, but I also want to stress that there is room to improve collection on the revenue side," she said.

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