Today’s top Pakistan current affairs August 24,2020 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
- Afghan Taliban delegation arrives in Islamabad to discuss peace process. A delegation of Afghan Taliban arrived in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the Afghanistan peace process with senior Pakistani officials.
- Banks disbursed Rs 1,215bn to agriculture sector amid COVID-19: SBP
- New oil, gas reserves discovered in Pakistan, announces OGDCL
- PM Imran invites Chinese business houses to open offices in Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday invited the Chinese business houses to establish their regional offices in Pakistan, ARY News reported.
- Solution to Kashmir dispute vital for peace in South Asia: PM Imran. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday reiterated that solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute was essential for peace in South Asia, ARY News reported.
- Rupee surges against US dollar in interbank market. The Pakistani rupee appreciated by Rs0.07 paisa against the US dollar in the intraday trading on Monday
- Two children among four injured in Karachi building fire. Four people, including two children, were injured after a fire broke out at an apartment building in Surjani Town, Karachi on Monday.
- ‘Saudi Arabia didn’t ask for loan repayment, cut oil supply’. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that people have been speculating about relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
- Gold price soars to Rs118,300 per tola
Spotlight by The NewsRun
1. COVID-19 IN PAKISTAN
- Pakistan reported 496 new cases and 9 deaths in the past 24 hours. Pakistan also conducted 24,956 tests in the span of 24 hours (P.S. this data was last updated on August 24 at 9:40am).
- If you were planning to go to tourist hotspots, Naran, Kaghan and Shogran, you should hold off. These areas are located in Pakistan’s KP province. All hotels in these locations have been sealed after hotel staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Infected patients are quarantining at the hotels. It’s unclear when the hotels will reopen again. It looks like COVID-19 cases are rising in KP’s tourist spots.
2.Sweeping sanctions against the Afghan Taliban
What’s going on? Pakistan issued financial sanctions against Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgent group. The order includes dozens of individuals, such as the Taliban’s chief peace negotiator, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Pakistan’s list of sanctioned groups also includes Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and TTP (i.e. the Pakistan Taliban).
The details: According to security officials who chose to remain anonymous,Pakistan ordered sanctions to avoid being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors money laundering and tracks the activities of terrorist groups. The FATF wants Pakistan to ramp up its regulation of money laundering and terrorist financing. Right now, Pakistan is on the FATF’s grey list (i.e. the warning list). A spot on the blacklist could wreck Pakistan’s international borrowing capabilities. However, Pakistan’s foreign ministry suggested that sanctions were simply in line with a list of UN designated individuals.
The context:
- Rapid-fire history lesson: Pakistan and the Taliban have a long history together. With covert backing from US and Pakistani intelligence agencies, the Afghan mujahideen (i.e. Islamic guerilla fighters) banded together to resist the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1970s-80s. Later on, the mujahideen became the Taliban.
- Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban: Pakistan was reportedly one of the only three countries, along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which recognized the Taliban govt when it ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Afghanistan and the US constantly accuse Pakistan of giving the Taliban a safe haven after a US-led coalition pushed them out of power in 2001. However, Pakistan always says ‘untrue.’
- US-Taliban peace talks:The US leaned on Pakistan to help facilitate peace negotiations with the Taliban. In February this year, the US and Taliban signed a peace deal. As a part of the deal, the US will end its military engagement in Afghanistan after more than four decades of war. In return, the Taliban promised not to attack the US and NATO troops, or shelter militants like Al-Qaeda.
- Intra-Afghan negotiations: The US is also trying to kickstart direct peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan govt. Very long story short, the Taliban and Afghan govt have been in fight mode for 20-something years. The US wants to make sure Afghanistan doesn’t go up in flames due to internal conflict and instability after withdrawing all of its troops.
The bottom line: In addition to being wary of the FATF blacklist, there’s a chance Pakistan implemented sanctions on the Taliban as a pressure tactic to make sure they give the Afghan govt some face-time.
3.Karachi’s relentless monsoon season
On Friday, at least seven people were killed in rain-related incidents. Four of these people drowned. Edhi volunteers used boats to rescue people stranded in submerged areas of the city after Friday’s heavy downpour. Rescue operations continued on Saturday. Residents are stuck in rain-accumulated water. Roads are flooded and people are reportedly wading through rainwater. Electricity was cut off in many areas, and people didn’t have power until late at night. The Pakistan Army also helped with rescue efforts. Sindh’s Chief Minister, other provincial ministers, and some federal ministers held a meeting to talk about cleaning Karachi’s stormwater drains.
MARKET RECAP
The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 39,621.59 after dropping 246.96 points as of August 21, 2020.
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