Today’s top Pakistan current affairs April 30, 2021 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
- Next Few Weeks Are Critical: Asad Umar. Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, in a series of tweets on Friday, said next few weeks are critical and no system can cope if we allow the coronavirus pandemic to spread rapidly.
- Pakistan petroleum prices to remain unchanged for next 15 days. The prices of petroleum products will remain unchanged for the next 15 days as Prime Minister Imran Khan has rejected a summary by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority for an increase in prices.
- Time To Recall Troops From Afghanistan: Biden. US President Joe Biden says war in Afghanistan cannot continue for generations Twenty years later, it’s time to bring the troops back home. Before 9/11, all American troops will be at home.
- Pakistan regulator cuts LPG price by Rs12.38. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has reduced the price of liquefied petroleum gas by Rs12.38 per kilogram, it announced Friday.
- Pak-Afghan border in Chaman to remain open throughout the week. The Chaman border crossing on the Pakistan-Afghanistan in Balochistan will remain open for seven days a week, according to a notification issued by the Pakistani interior ministry.
- Govt Decides Discontinuing Rs7,500 Prize Bond. The federal government has decided to discontinue Rs7,500 denomination prize bonds from January 2022 in order to address concerns of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
- Dollar drops below Rs154 in Pakistan. The US dollar has dropped below Rs154 in the open market as the greenback shed Rs1.10 in two days. It stood at Rs155 on Wednesday.
- Zimbabwe All Out At 176 Runs in First Test. Pakistan dominated the opening day of the first Test against Zimbabwe on the back of some destructive pace bowling by Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi in Harare on Thursday.
Spotlight by The NewsRun
1. COVID-19 IN PAKISTAN
- 24-hour recap: Pakistan reported 5,480 cases and 151 deaths in 24 hours. Pakistan also conducted 57,013 tests in the span of 24 hours (P.S. this data was last updated on April 29 at 8:15am).
- New incoming vaccine doses: Pakistan has reportedly purchased 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from three Chinese companies, Sinopharm, CanSino and Sinovac. The doses are expected to arrive in the next two months. So far, China has been the primary source of vaccines for Pakistan.
2. Opposition party wins NA-249 by-election
What’s going on? There was a by-election in Karachi’s NA-249 constituency yesterday, and according to Geo News, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate won. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate was close behind.
The details: PML-N accused PPP of trying to rig the election results. After the final count was announced, PML-N VP, Maryam Nawaz, claimed the election was stolen from her party. According to Nawaz, voter turnout was around 15-18%, which isn’t a lot. She was wondering why counting the votes took so long with such a low voter turnout (i.e. more than eight hours). The math doesn’t make sense to Nawaz either. She claimed that vote counts were more than voter turnout.
Tell me more: There were some alleged issues with the Form 45 (i.e. a document that shows each contestant’s votes). According to PML-N’s Muhammad Zubair, their party’s polling agent didn’t get the Form 45 from two polling stations – 260 and 261. Zubair claimed that both presiding offers locked up the polling station and left.
Was the polling process peaceful? Sort of. No major incident. Workers from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and the religious far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) party reportedly threw chairs at each other. TLP’s candidate still participated in the election even though the party was recently banned. There was also a confrontation between PTI and PML-N workers while votes were being counted.
The context: A by-election was held in the NA-249 constituency because the seat became vacant. PTI National Assembly Member, Faisal Vawda resigned from that seat after becoming a Senator.
Looking ahead: PPP Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, said “thank you Karachi.” On the other hand, Nawaz is calling on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to investigate alleged irregularities in the election results.
The bottom line: Rigging allegations are common in Pakistani elections. PML-N is even more annoyed since it was such a close race. Initially, it looked like the PML-N candidate was going to win, but PPP’s candidate took the lead when more results came in.
3. Govt recalls embassy officials in Saudi Arabia
The govt asked six officers to return from Pakistan’s embassy in Saudi Arabia. They worked in the diplomatic, community welfare, and consular departments of the embassy. There was reportedly a problem with the public service they provided to overseas Pakistanis living in the country. The Pakistani diaspora in Saudi Arabia submitted complaints.
- Now what? Pakistan’s former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Raja Ali Ijaz, has already returned. Ejaz had been serving in Saudi Arabia since January 2019. Pakistan’s new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, retired Lt. General Bilal Akbar, presented his credentials to Saudi authorities yesterday. Akbar retired from the army last month. He reached the capital Riyadh on Sunday to start his new job.
- Backstory: Akbar was appointed the new Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in January this year, so it’s been a while. Ejaz was reportedly set to retire in May, and that’s next month. It’s unclear if Akbar’s new role has something to do with complaints about the Pakistan embassy in Saudi Arabia.
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