Day: June 24, 2020

Migratory birds have flocked to the wetlands of Sindh in greater numbers this year, and officials and observers link the increase to coronavirus lockdown measures that have kept hunters and bird catchers away. Pakistan, which has recorded over 185,000 cases and 3,696 deaths related to the virus, lifted a month-long country-wide lockdown last month. A survey conducted this year observed 741,042 migratory birds in Sindh province – a big jump from the 248,105 birds counted in 2019, said Sindh Wildlife Department’s provincial conservator, Javed Ahmed Mahar. Each year, approximately 40…

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The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday gave the federal government two weeks to submit its response to a petition filed against the lack of e-commerce facilities in the country. IHC CJ Athar Minallah issued notices to the commerce and information technology ministries, noting that the petitioner was aggrieved because the respondents had failed to implement the mandatory requirements envisaged in the e-Commerce Policy, 2019. The petition, a citizen named Junaied Hafeez, informed the court that Pakistan had no access to the largest e-commerce company in the world, Amazon. He elaborated…

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The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday refused to stay governmental action against an oil marketing company (OMC) accused of hoarding and black marketing fuel as it asked the federal government and other respondents to submit replies to the OMC’s petition by June 25. The IHC single bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued this order while hearing plea of the OMC that challenged composition of a newly formed fuel crisis committee – which probed into a recent fuel crisis – as well as the crackdown initiated on recommendation…

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Another Chinese oil firm has defaulted on a dollar-denominated bond, bringing the total value of defaults in all sectors of China’s offshore bond market to US$4 billion so far this year, more than double the value of defaults in the same period last year, Bloomberg estimates. Oil equipment and oil services company Hilong Holding said on Monday that it is defaulting on a US$165-million bond after an insufficient percentage of noteholders had agreed to swap the notes with new debt. The minimum acceptable level of noteholders to agree to the debt exchange offer was…

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Prime Minister Imran Khan reiterated on Monday that the months of June and July will be difficult for Pakistan with regards to the coronavirus outbreak in the country. We will incrementally increase shelter homes in Pakistan, he said, referring to the Centre’s plans to provide relief to lower-income groups, which have been hit hard by the financial impact of the virus. The premier insisted that the people of Pakistan are charitable and passionate in their desire to give, and the government only has to ensure confidence [of the public]. People start sending…

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