Today’s top Pakistan current affairs August 19,2020 with download link available in pdf. These are the latest breaking news about Pakistan which will be helpful for aspirants in test preparation of current affairs, Pakistan affairs, General knowledge for NTS, PPSC, CSS, FPSC, KPPSC, SPSC, BPSC, AJKPSC, OTS, PTS, and other Govt Jobs, exams & MDCAT, ECAT Entry test preparation.
One Liner
- ‘Palestinians consider Pakistan our second homeland‘: Embassy thanks PM Imran for ‘strong response’ on Israel
- Two Groups Clash Claims Six People Lives In Haripur.
- Roof collapse kills two, injures five in Lahore’s Harbanspura town
- Punjab launches ‘Baldiaonline’ app to connect local govt, masses. The Punjab government has continued its efforts to facilitate masses through modern digital technology and recently launched ‘Baldiaonline’ android app for connecting citizens with the local government department
- Punjab seeks suspension of cellular services on 9, 10 Muharram.
- Saudi Arabia says no Israel deal without Palestinian peace. Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it will not follow the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- Indian troops martyr one Kashmiri youngster in IOK
- Today in history: Rashid Minhas remembered on his martyrdom anniversary
- Gold price declines by Rs2,600 in the domestic market
Spotlight by The NewsRun
1. COVID-19 IN PAKISTAN
- Pakistan reported 613 new cases and 13 deaths in the past 24 hours. Pakistan also conducted 17,612 tests in the span of 24 hours (P.S. this data was last updated on August 19 at 9:41am).
- Pakistan’s drug regulator said ‘yes’ to the country’s first Phase 3 clinical trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine, which is being developed by China’s CanSino Biologics (CanSino) and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology. A target group of 10,000 participants will take part in the trial, which is scheduled to begin next month. The govt-run National Institute of Health (NIH) will lead the trial, along with pharmaceutical company AJM, CanSino’s local representative. Last month, CanSino said it’s in talks to launch Phase 3 trials in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil, and Chile as well.
2. The ruling govt’s two-year report card
What’s going on? The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has officially completed two years in power.
The details: PTI made a lot of promises in its 2018 election manifesto. A local tracker published by Dawn shows what the party has achieved so far:
- One promise complete: Built a special task force to recover national wealth stashed in offshore tax havens.
- Six promises not started: Up till now, PTI hasn’t started its ‘adopt a madrassa program,’ which gives businesses tax benefits for adopting and upgrading madrassas while offering apprenticeships to graduating students. PTI also hasn’t started to allocate housing units to people with disabilities, give parliament authority to ratify all international treaties, establish quotas for women in local govts and public boards, crack down on Karachi’s water mafia, establish separate juvenile detention centers, and establish separate prisons for women.
- 39 promises in progress, and five partially complete.
The bottom line: A majority of PTI’s promised reforms are still in progress. Pakistan’s next general election is scheduled for 2023, so PTI has approximately three more years to fulfill the promises in its election manifesto.
3. Digital banking for overseas Pakistanis
The govt is providing a digital banking facility to overseas Pakistanis. This is supposed to make banking easier for Pakistanis living abroad. Basically, overseas Pakistanis can make direct payments and investments in the country, which is something the Pakistani diaspora has demanded for a while. Overseas Pakistanis will be able to buy residential and commercial property through direct transactions. Plus, overseas Pakistanis can open a Pakistani rupee or foreign currency account, and withdraw their investment without any prior notice. This initiative is reportedly a great investment opportunity for the Pakistani community living abroad.
4. A new merger, and not the business kind
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also called, the Pakistan Taliban, announced a merger with two splinter groups, Jamat-ul-Ahrar (JUA) and Hizb-ul Ahrar (HUA). This happened days after the army said anti-militant operations against armed groups have been successful. According to army spokesperson, Major General Babar Iftikhar, more than 18,000 terrorists have been killed since 2017. TTP is an armed Sunni group which has broken into many divisions. The US also marked TTP as a designated foreign terrorist organization. Over the past few years, US drone strikes killed several TTP leaders, leaving the group in disarray. Several TTP members reportedly took shelter in Afghanistan or fled to urban Pakistan. However, TTP’s reunion with JuA and HuA could set the stage for more splinter groups to unite.
MARKET RECAP
The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 40,184.01 after rising 61.51 points as of August 18, 2020.
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