Today’s top Pakistan current affairs August 27,2020 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
- Rain in Karachi Causes Urban Flooding, Damges. Heavy monsoon rains battered large swathes of the metropolis on Thursday, inundating major roads and low-lying areas and causing severe traffic jams on several major arteries of the city.
- Meeting With Afghan Taliban Remained Very Useful: FM Qureshi. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi says it is an effort of Pakistan that the Intra Afghan dialogue immediately moves forward.
- Unidentified Persons Open Fire At JI’s MPA Abdul Rasheed House In Lyari
- Foreign airline set to launch non-stop flights to Pakistan. A Crawley-based British airline, Virgin Atlantic, is set to launch flights from London and Manchester to Pakistan from December this year
- Disastrous rain claims at least 15 lives in Karachi. At least 15 people lost their lives and many wounded in rain-related incidents during the fresh monsoon spell in Karachi
- Tarbela dam likely to attain its maximum conservation level: IRSA. Tarbela dam is likely to attain its maximum conservation level (MCL) of 1550 feet on Thursday as water level has reached to 1549 feet.
- Pakistan to continue efforts for regional peace, stability: FM. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan will continue its efforts in maintaining peace and stability in the region.
Spotlight by The NewsRun
1. COVID-19 IN PAKISTAN
- Pakistan reported 445 new cases and 7 deaths in the past 24 hours. Pakistan also conducted 24,593 tests in the span of 24 hours (P.S. this data was last updated on August 27 at 10:00am).
- The Mansehra district administration in KP reopened all hotels in tourist hotspots Naran, Kaghan, and Shogran, three days after the properties were sealed following a COVID-19 outbreak among staff members. The hotels had to disinfect their premises with chlorine spray and quarantine the staff members who tested positive for the virus. The district administration reportedly decided to reopen the hotels since several tourists were traveling to tourist sites in northern districts. Hotel management has been instructed to follow strict health guidelines, otherwise they could face legal action.
2. Political clash in the Senate
What’s going on? If you’ve been reading about the opposition in the Senate rejecting two FATF-related bills, and it’s not making anyyy sense to you, it’s okay. This complex political clash has been making headlines for the past few days, and we will do our best to over simplify it for you without sounding like a dry policy paper.
The details: There are two Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related bills called the Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Waqf Properties Bill. The opposition, which has a majority in the Senate, rejected these bills, even though the National Assembly passed both bills a day earlier. The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) govt thinks these bills are necessary to get Pakistan off the FATF grey list (i.e. a list of countries that are under increased monitoring, and working with the FATF to counter money laundering and terrorist financing).
Tell me more:
- The govt’s story: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan lashed out at the opposition in a series of tweets. He said they will “keep threatening to bring down the govt unless given NRO.” The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) is a 2007 order that granted amnesty to politicians, political workers, and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, money laundering, murder, and terrorism between January 1, 1986 and October 12, 1999. The Supreme Court declared the NRO unconstitutional in December 2009. You have likely heard PM Khan bring up the NRO in almost every single speech he has made in the past two years.
- The opposition’s story: The opposition thinks PTI will misuse these bills to strong-arm and intimidate political opponents. For example, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator, Sherry Rahman, claimed that police and investigators will have the power to make arrests without warrants. The opposition also rejected the bills after Leader of the House and PTI leader, Dr. Shahzad Waseem, refused to apologize for comments he made about the opposition last week. Dr. Waseem blamed previous govts and their policies for getting Pakistan on the FATF grey list. He also claimed that certain politicians were facing money laundering charges – there are mixed reports about whether he took any names.
Looking ahead: The PTI govt will summon a joint-parliament session next week to table the bills again.
The bottom line: Mainstream media outlets haven’t spelled out what each bill entails. The opposition and ruling govt are accusing each other of having self-serving ulterior motives.
3. When contracting a second marriage without permission backfires
A two-judge bench in the Supreme Court upheld a 2018 judgement passed in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), which ordered Muhammad Jamil to immediately pay mahr (i.e. a groom’s obligation in the form of money or possessions) to his first wife, Sajida Bibi. A mahr amount is agreed upon during a Nikkah (i.e. when the marriage contract is signed). Jamil got married to his second wife while still married to Sajida Bibi. Sajida Bibi, who is apparently his ex-wife now, filed a lawsuit in the PHC to recover her mahr. Jamil appealed the PHC judgement. However, since Jamil didn’t get permission to contract a second marriage from his first wife or an Arbitration Council, the Supreme Court said ‘time to pay up.’ Jamil is liable to pay Sajida Bibi the entire mahr amount (i.e. five tolas of gold).
- Backstory:Though some people may choose to conveniently overlook this law, Section 6 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance prohibits contracting a second marriage without prior permission in writing from an Arbitration Council. According to the ordinance, a man has to submit an application to the Arbitration Council chairman and state his reasons for the proposed marriage. The man also has to clarify whether he has permission from his existing wife or wives. Then the Chairman asks the applicant and his existing wife or wives to select representatives. If the Arbitration Council believes the proposed marriage is necessary and just, it will give the applicant permission.
4. Overseas Pakistanis, say hello to Roshan Digital Accounts
According to Bloomberg, Pakistan is turning to overseas Pakistanis to boost foreign exchange reserves. In other words, the country is looking to raise funds from its citizens living abroad, who have largely been outside the financial system. State Bank Governor, Reza Baqir, announced that non-resident Pakistanis will be allowed to open digital accounts starting next week, giving the diaspora a chance to invest, buy govt debt, and conduct basic banking services. Eight participating domestic banks will facilitate opening the accounts (i.e. the Roshan Digital Accounts). These accounts will accept deposits in US dollars or Pakistani rupees. Before this digital account initiative, overseas Pakistanis had to go through the hassle of visiting a Pakistani consulate or embassy to open a bank account. Even then, they couldn’t directly access the stock market.
MARKET RECAP
The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 40,862.59 after rising 1.41% as of August 26, 2020.
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