Pakistani foreign investment falls 34.4 pct

KARACHI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Net foreign investment in Pakistan fell 34.4 percent to $1.47 billion in the first seven months of the 2009/10 fiscal year compared with $2.23 billion in the same period last year, the central bank said on Monday.
Out of total foreign investment, foreign direct investment fell 54.6 percent to $1.17 billion in the July to January period, from $2.59 billion the previous year, the State Bank of Pakistan said.
But foreign portfolio investment flows reversed, with a $290.7 million inflow in the first seven months of this fiscal year compared with an outflow of $355.8 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.
Authorities imposed a floor on the Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark index in August 2008 as political uncertainty and economic and security worries drained investor confidence.
The floor discouraged new investment and also led to a sharp outflow of funds, as foreign investors sold holdings in off-market trade.
The floor was removed in December 2008.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) saved Pakistan from a balance of payments crisis with a $7.6 billion emergency loan package in November 2008.
The loan was increased to $11.3 billion on July 31 last year.

Afridi should be kicked out of national team: senators

“If he (Afridi) bites the ball like an apple there’s lots of problems behind it.”

 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s parliament says Shahid Afridi should be banned from the national team for three to four international series after being found guilty of ball tampering.

Afridi was banned for two Twenty20 games for biting the ball during the final one-day international against Australia last month.

At a meeting of a parlimentary sports committee on Monday, Senator Tariq Azeem told Pakistan Cricket Board officials that Afridi had besmirched the country’s reputation and should be further punished.

“If he (Afridi) bites the ball like an apple there’s lots of problems behind it,” Senator Haroon Akhtar told PCB chairman Ijaz Butt during a meeting of Upper House committee on Sports.

“If you don’t take action this will happen again. The team lacks discipline and you got to rectify the problem.”

Afridi missed one Twenty20 international against Australia, and wil be out for the first encounter against England on Feb. 20 at Dubai.

However Butt told the committee that it cannot punish Afridi, in accordance with International Cricket Council standards.

“The ICC has told us clearly that you can’t punish a player twice for one offense,” Butt said.

“Their lawyer has also suggested us that if we handed more punishment to Afridi and he challenges it in court, it will run the PCB into trouble.”

However, Senator Tariq Azeem contended that selecting a player was the discretion of the PCB.

“The ICC can’t question you if you don’t pick him up in the national team,” Azeem said.

“You (Butt) should not compromise the integrity of the nation. No player is indispensable. We should tell the world that we are not cheaters and we know how to deal with indisciplined players.”

Meanwhile, Butt told the committee that the PCB is in for a windfall if it can organize two test series against India.

“If we play two series against India before 2012 we could earn $90 million,” Butt said.

However, Azeem strongly objected to any plans to play India, after Pakistan players were snubbed at the recent Indian Premier League auction.

“They humiliated us by not bidding for our players in the auction and we should not play against India,” Azeem said.

Pak govt moves to avert showdown with judiciary

ISLAMABAD: As lawyers paralysed the working of courts across the country, Pakistan government has moved to avert a showdown with the judiciary by initiating steps to end the row over the apex court striking down appointments made by president Asif Ali Zardari.

Lawyers organised rallies and protests in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and cities across the country today to protest the judicial appointments made by the president without consulting chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
The Supreme Court had on Saturday struck down two judicial appointments made by Zardari that went against the recommendations of the fiercely independent chief justice.
The apex court's move triggered fears that the PPP and the judiciary could be headed for a showdown that could destabilise the government.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has launched efforts to distance himself from the appointments made by Zardari, with members of his camp telling the media that his advice on the issue was not considered by the presidency.
Sources told PTI that Gilani's camp had even sent feelers in this regard to the judiciary. During a meeting yesterday with chief justice Chaudhry, attorney general Anwar Mansoor delivered a message from the premier that the government respected the Supreme Court's order quashing the judicial appointments and did not want any confrontation between institutions, the Dawn newspaper reported.
Mansoor also reportedly told the chief justice that Gilani was in consultation with the President on the issue and the government's point of view will be submitted before the apex court when the matter is taken up again on February 18.
Gilani too appeared conciliatory, telling reporters during an interaction near Rawalpindi yesterday that his government would implement whatever decision is made by the apex court about the appointment of judges. He suggested that any government could make a mistake and said the court's verdict would be the deciding factor.
In Lahore, judges did not hear most cases at the request of the local bar association. Only a handful of urgent cases were heard in the judges' chambers. A strike by the lawyers paralysed the working of
courts across the four provinces of Pakistan.
Supreme Court Bar Association president Kazi Anwar said the strike was called to express solidarity with the judiciary and to protest the President's orders. Following peaceful rallies in Rawalpindi and
Islamabad, lawyers gathered near the Supreme Court and staged protests outside Parliament and theprime minister's secretariat.
The lawyers shouted slogans against Zardari and law minister Babar Awan, one of the President's closest confidants who is believed to have played a key role in the decision on the judicial appointments.
The protests were reminiscent of the movement organised by lawyers after former military ruler Pervez Musharraf removed chief justice Chaudhry in 2007. The prime minister has said the decision on the judicial appointments was made after consulting constitutional and legal experts.
"The decisions sometimes hit the mark and sometimes they go wrong but there is no wrong that has no remedy," he said.
Legal experts have said the current imbroglio centres round the interpretation of Article 177 of Pakistan’s constitution, which states that the apex court chief justice will be appointed by the president and "each of the other judges shall be appointed by the president after consultation with the chief justice".
Some experts have said that the president has to consult the chief justice but the latter's advice is not binding.