Dear all,
The police brutality committed against innocent citizens, apart from the
brutality against my son Mahmood Rahman and myself, (Read below mail and DT
report of 3rd September and follow up story) we the Human Rights Defenders
would request all to join us in a sustained campaign using this incident as
a marker to highlight that no one is safe from police brutality no matter
what your standing in society may be. If this can happen to me and my family
imagine what happens to the ordinary citizen who have no powerful or social
contacts.

As a first step we have planned to hold a protest meeting at Liberty
Roundabout on Sunday 9th September at 5 pm. We would like to request all to
mobilize as many people as possible because if you continue to shrug this
inhuman attitude off as if you would never face such State brutality you
will only be encouraging them to continue.

In solidarity

----------------------------------------------------
Sheikh Asad Rahman
Executive Director
Sungi Development Foundation
House No. 303, Street No. 77, G-9/3,
Islamabad-Pakistan
Tel:     +92-51-2282481-4
Fax:    +92-51-2282485
Mobile:+92-321-4389847
Email:  asad.rahman@sungi.org
Web:    www.sungi.org

Subject: [Fwd: Follow up story and editorial on Punjab Police brutality]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------

Dear All,

Please find below the follow up story and editorial about the brutal torture
by Punjab Police on Asad Rehman (ED Sungi) and his son published in daily
times September 04.

Regards,
Mahmood Akhtar
Communication & Media Coordinator - Sungi

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C09%5C04%5Cstory_4-9-201
2_pg1_7

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C09%5C04%5Cstory_4-9-201
2_pg3_1

Real face of police exposed in torture case

* SP suspends SI for torturing Daily Times Editor's brother and nephew

* Asks victims to lodge FIR against police officials

By Kashif Hussain

LAHORE: Interrogation of the interrogators on Monday has exposed the real
face of the Punjab Police rankers before the seniors regarding their tactics
to fix fake charges on innocent citizens, especially in the case of the
brutal torture of blameless victims of the DHA police, namely Asad Rahman
and Mahmood Rahman.

Superintendent Police Cantt (SP Cantt) Maroof Wahla, after conducting an
inquiry, suspended a police officer (Sub-Inspector Shabbir Raza) of the
Defence Police Station-B after finding him guilty of using false statements
against innocent citizens Asad Rahman and Mahmood Rahman for involving them
in a case of a car accident.

On last Saturday evening, police personnel under the command of
Sub-Inspector Shabbih Raza brutally beat up 60-year-old Asad Rahman, the
younger brother of Daily Times Editor Rashed Rahman as well as his nephew
Mahmood Rahman without reason or provocation after a road accident near
their residence in DHA.

During the inquiry into the police officers' involvement in brutal torture
of Asad Rahman and his son Mahmood Rahman, the SP Cantt found many
contradictions in their statements regarding handling the situation and the
treatment meted out to father and son, who were trying to rescue the
rickshaw driver injured in the accident.

On a query, SI Shabbir told the SP that he had taken the injured rickshaw
driver to National Hospital, Defence, personally and admitted him in the
Emergency Ward and later when he approached the hospital administration,
they informed him that the patient had been shifted to General Hospital. It
was interesting that when the SP asked him about the hospital admission
slip, he failed to provide any proof of either the admission slip of the
National Hospital emergency ward or the admission slip of the General
Hospital in his support of the 'fake' statement.

Replying to different queries of the SP, he (SI) also claimed that he had
arrested Mr Asad on some people's claim that 'this old man has hit the
rickshaw' and then he offered Mr Asad to reach the police station in his own
car but when he refused, he picked him up with his son and put them in the
police vehicle. When he was asked about the reason for the beating to them,
he become speechless, as he had no explanation for the serious injuries on
their bodies.

The SP Cantt also held separate inquiries into the role of the other four
police team members involved in this incident and all of them gave different
and contradictory answers to the same questions put to them. To prove
themselves justified in arresting and thrashing innocent citizens, one of
the constables appeared before the SP with a bandage and blood signs on his
hand, but when the SP had him remove the bandage, his lie was exposed.

Earlier, the SP Cantt ascertained the facts personally from victims Asad
Rahman and Mahmood Rahman, who appeared in his office along with Daily Times
Editor Rashed Rahman and informed him that they had no link to the accident
but had tried to help the injured rickshaw driver. The police officers
wrongly involved them in the case and tortured them.

After ascertaining the true facts, the SP immediately suspended the SI
Shabbih Raza and warned the constables in future to be careful not to
involve innocent citizens in cases and avoid false statements. He also
assured the victims that they should lodge an FIR against torture on them
and he would pursue the case in person. The victims had their medico-legal
reports regarding the injuries conducted but the FIR was not registered in
the concerned police station till the filing of this report.

It is pertinent to mention here that there was no record of admission of any
injured rickshaw driver in the National Hospital, General Hospital, Services
Hospital, Mayo Hospital or Jinnah Hospital. According to the administration
of all these hospitals, they had not admitted any injured person in
emergency or general wards from the DHA police in their respective
hospitals.

There is another serious concern that on Monday evening a policeman claiming
to be SI Sharif along with some other persons in plainclothes approached the
victims' house on private motorcycles. They tried to inquire about the
incident all over again but when they were informed that the SP Cantt Maroof
Wahla had already suspended the SI for his inhuman treatment of the innocent
victims, they ran away from the scene. The victims' family has informed the
SP about the fresh act of harassment by the policemen.

EDITORIAL : Police brutality

Our story on police brutality the other day reflects the culture and
practices of our police force ('DT Editor's brother, nephew innocent victims
of police brutality', Daily Times, September 3, 2012). The police detail
that brutally beat up Mr Asad Rahman and his son Mahmood Rahman without
cause was imbued with the same arrogance of untrammelled power that their
uniform provides. Was the incident an aberration, a one-off happening that
could be attributed to one officer and his subordinates' lack of civility,
proper legal and police procedure, etc? Or was it typical of the manner in
which our police approaches its duties? The police has yet to be transformed
from the culture that underlined its origins as a colonial force charged
with keeping their imperialist masters' interests uppermost. This implied,
as the reverse side of the coin, utmost contempt for the lowly 'natives'.
Those attitudes still permeate the ranks of a force that has no truck or
patience with notions of citizens' rights or confining the actions of the
police within the parameters of the law. Of course, like any large body of
(overwhelmingly) men, it is not monolithic. Fine people can be found within
its fold, especially in the officer corps. However, it has to be stated with
regret that such individuals are exceptions to the rule.

The colonial force, to ensure it remained within control, was under the
supervision of an executive magistracy. The colonialists were wise enough to
know that if the force was not put on a leash, there was a risk of it using
disproportionate force against the increasingly restive natives, which would
have political repercussions. Unfortunately, despite independence, the
'control' mechanism over the police became 'loose' to serve the interests of
the successive authoritarian and dictatorial regimes in our history. To top
it all, Musharraf's 'Plato', General Naqvi, amongst his other half-baked
reforms, authored the concept of 'autonomy' for the police by abolishing the
executive magistracy, that thin fig leaf of control, and helped institute
the Police Order 2002 to grant the police what turned out in practice to be
untrammelled and unaccountable power. The result since then has been to see
the police turning into a monster off the leash. The normal site of the
interface between the citizen and the police, the thana (police station), is
a place that evokes quaking fear amongst the populace. Torture, violence,
form the normal 'interrogation' techniques of the force. That leads to the
attitude that led to the incident mentioned above, where the police is
inclined to resort to violence first and ask questions later. A brutal,
corrupt police force is not only a terror for the citizen, there are any
number of legends and stories to prove that it is also the biggest criminal
force in the country. One version has it that no serious crime can be
committed in our society without the trail leading eventually to the police.
Unfortunately, for all the palaver about reform of the police over many
years, no government has felt it necessary to get to the root of the
problem. The police therefore feels free to carry on business as usual. The
losers in this respect are the citizen and any notion of a rules- or
law-based state and society.

It is time the political forces, civil society, the legal fraternity and all
those who care for this country raised their voice against a police that is
not only unable to curb crime, arguably it is the biggest factor in the
growth of lawlessness. And that is not even to mention its inability to do
anything meaningful against the threat of terrorism that afflicts state and
society today. Our overactive judiciary has its hands full with everything
except the demands of providing justice to the citizen and upholding his
rights enshrined in the constitution and law and underpinning any modern
civilised society. Unless a debate is conducted on the failings and sins of
omission and commission of the police by society at large, there can be no
hope for a rights-based dispensation that puts the citizen centre-stage and
can then justly claim the title of a democracy. *

__._,_.___
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Embargoed: 11:00 AM, 5th September 2012

Date: 5 September, 2001

Ref. No. MP/WEF/020-05092012

Media Contact: Puruesh Chaudhary

Contact No. +92-300-9491312

Email: media@mishal.com.pk

Website: www.mishal.com.pk

Twitter: @MishalPakistan 


PRESS RELEASE                                                       

Pakistan Loses its Competitiveness on the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index 2012-2013

Falls 6 points on the Global Competitiveness Ranking, 124th among 144 economies

Islamabad, PK – 5 September 2012 – Pakistan has been ranked among bottom 20 of the 144 economies around the world in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, released today by the World Economic Forum.

According to the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2012-13, Pakistan lacks a long-term view of competitiveness. The level of corruption and poor governance are some of the factors slowing down Pakistan's economic growth, therefore ranking Pakistan at 124 among 144 other countries on the index. The World Economic Forum ranks countries on more than 100 economic indicators comparing 144 countries.

"Persisting divides in competitiveness across regions and within regions, particularly in Europe, are at the origin of the turbulence we are experiencing today, and this is jeopardizing our future prosperity." said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum. "We urge governments to act decisively by adopting long-term measures to enhance competitiveness and return the world to a sustainable growth path."

Pakistan's secured ranking on 12 pillars: institutions (115), infrastructure (116), macroeconomic environment (139), Health and Primary Education (117) Higher Education and Training (124), Goods Market Efficiency (97), Labor Market Efficiency (130) Financial Market Development (73), Technological Readiness (118), Market Size (30), Business Sophistication (78) and Innovation (77).

'Pakistan has lost its competitive advantage almost on all the pillars of the competitiveness index except for in Health, Primary Education and Labor market Efficiency' says Amir Jahangir Chief Executive Officer Mishal Pakistan, country partner for the Center of Global Competitiveness and Performance at the World Economic Forum. Further adding, although Pakistan showed good performance on the innovation and sophistication pillars, but on the factors for basic requirements and efficiency enhancer pillars Pakistan continues to show poor performance.

The Pakistani business community has identified Corruption as the most problematic factor for doing business in the country. The report indicates that Pakistan has failed to come up with effective regulations on intellectual property protection, where the country lost its position of 93 to 108 from 2011 to 2012 respectively. Poor governance in terms of favoritism in decision-making (129) and wastefulness of government spending (96) have also shown significant decline in rankings. The Efficiency of Legal Framework in Challenging Regulations has also impacted the competiveness of Pakistan's economy as it has declined from 79 in 2011 to 97 in 2012.

The law and order situation has been a serious threat to the economic activities, with war on terror and other target killing issues impacting throughout the year, the Reliability of Police Service has gone to 127 in the current year as compared to 116 in the last year. 

On the Macroeconomic Pillar the government's performance has been weak with the budget balance ranking (% of GDP) deteriorating from 108 to 125 from 2011 to 2012 respectively. The general government debt has also seen poor performance as it has lost 11 points from last year, by being ranked at 107 in the current year.

Although Pakistan ranked 41 in 2011 on the Tax Collection Efficiency index, however the economy has lost its competitive advantage due to decline in 2012 by ranking to 59, limitations on the ease of access to loans and venture capital availability, where Pakistan stands at 65 and 55 respectively.

The labor market efficiency pillar shows a decline in the cooperation between labor and employer relations whereas the rank has slipped from 80 to 90. The GCR also identifies that the businesses in Pakistan are shying away from reliance on professional management as the ranking has decreased from 88 to 101.

Although Pakistan has seen some improvement on the broadband usage, but the individual internet usage has declined, ranking the country at 120 in 2012 from 98 in 2011. The government's procurement of advanced tech products has not been a priority where it showed deterioration from 91 to 109 this year as compared to last year.

The state of cluster development has also been neglected and reflects in the report where the rank has plunged from 48 to 62. The commercialization of research has not been a priority in Pakistan, where the industry university collaboration has also seen negative fall from 69 to 81.

Nonetheless, Pakistan has also shown some positive indicators on improving its competitiveness, where the burden of government regulation has improved from 76 in 2011 to 62 this year, similarly the transparency of government policy making has also been improved from ranking of 119 to 109. The country credit rating index has also improved from 123 this year to 116 compared to last year.

The economy has shown flexibility in the hiring and firing practices where it has improved the rank from 33 last year to 21 this year. The pay and productivity index has also shown gains where Pakistan has improved 13 points and ranks at 73.

The report has shown significant improvements on the performance of the Securities and Exchange Commission, where Pakistan has shown improvements on the regulations of securities exchanges by being ranked 55 as compared to 70 last year.

Switzerland, for the fourth consecutive year, tops the overall rankings in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 Singapore remains in second position and Finland in third position, overtaking Sweden (4th). These and other Northern and Western European countries dominate the top 10 with the Netherlands (5th), Germany (6th) and United Kingdom (8th). The United States (7th), Hong Kong (9th) and Japan (10th) complete the ranking of the top 10 most competitive economies.

Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, USA, said: "The Global Competitiveness Index provides a window on the long-term trends that are shaping the competitiveness of the world's economies. In this light, we believe it offers useful insight into the key areas where countries must act if they are to optimize the productivity that will determine their economic future."

The report indicates that Switzerland and countries in Northern Europe have been consolidating their strong competitiveness positions since the financial and economic downturn in 2008. On the other hand, countries in Southern Europe, i.e. Portugal (49th), Spain (36th), Italy (42nd) and particularly Greece (96th) continue to suffer from competitiveness weaknesses in terms of macroeconomic imbalances, poor access to financing, rigid labour markets and an innovation deficit.

Despite growing its overall competitiveness score, the United States continues its decline for the fourth year in a row, falling two more places to seventh position. In addition to the burgeoning macroeconomic vulnerabilities, some aspects of the country's institutional environment continue to raise concern among business leaders, particularly the low public trust in politicians and a perceived lack of government efficiency. On a more positive note, the US still remains a global innovation powerhouse and its markets work efficiently.

The large emerging market economies (BRICS) displayed different performances. Despite a slight decline in the rankings of three places, the People's Republic of China (29th) continues to lead the group. Of the others, only Brazil (48th) moves up this year, with South Africa (52nd), India (59th) and Russia (67th) experiencing small declines in rankings. 

In the Middle East and North Africa, Qatar (11th) leads the region while Saudi Arabia remains among the top 20 (18th). The United Arab Emirates (24th) improves its performance while Kuwait (37th) slightly declines. Morocco (70th) and Jordan (63rd) improve slightly. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa (52nd) and Mauritius (54th) feature in the top half of the rankings. However, most countries in the region continue to require efforts across the board to improve their competitiveness.

The Global Competitiveness Report's competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which was first developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin, a co-author of this year's report, in 2004. Defining competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country, GCI scores are calculated by drawing together public and private data around 12 key categories – the pillars of competitiveness – that together make up a comprehensive picture of a country's competitiveness.

Mishal Pakistan is the country partner Institute of the Center for Global Competitiveness and Performance at the World Economic Forum. World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.


- END -

Notes to Editors

Read the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 at http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-competitiveness

View the best pictures from the Forum on Flickr at http://wef.ch/pix

Watch sessions on demand on YouTube at http://wef.ch/youtube or http://wef.ch/youku

Become a fan of the Forum on Facebook at http://wef.ch/facebook

Follow the Forum on Twitter at http://wef.ch/twitterand http://wef.ch/livetweet

Read the Forum Blog at http://wef.ch/blog

View upcoming Forum events at http://wef.ch/events

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FBRlOGO

 

Facilitation & Taxpayer Education (FATE) Wing

FEDERAL BOARD OF REVENUE

***

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                Islamabad the 04th September, 2012

PRESS RELEASE

 

CLARIFICATION REGARDING DIFFERENCES IN THE EXPORT TO PAKISTAN FIGURES OF CHINA VIZA-a-VIZ PAKISTAN IMPORT FIGURES

 

            The Additional Secretary Revenue Division, Shahid Rahim Sheikh has clarified here today that during meetings with the Federation and the various Chambers, the issue of under invoicing especially with regard to imports from China are repeatedly raised. While the undesirable fact of under invoicing cannot be denied and Pakistan Customs has in the past and at present also taken legal and administrative measures to address this problem, the complaint regarding huge gap in the trade figures of Pakistan and China has been examined at length.

 

2.         It has been stated in different meetings and also in a section of national media that reportedly China exported goods worth US $ 12 billion to Pakistan during last year while the import figure of Pakistan indicate an import of US $ 4 billion. This stated gap is attributed entirely to under invoicing in the import from China. It is clarified for the information of all concerned that this assertion is incorrect. As per official trade figures of both the countries, available on the website of International Trade Centre (ITC) (www.trademap.org), the value of China's exports to Pakistan during 2011 was US $ 8.4 billion. Pakistan imports were US $ 6.4 billion. The discrepancy was thus of only US $ 02 billion and not US $ 8 billion as reported in different trade meetings and a section of press.

 

3.         The issue of disparity in the trade figures of the two countries in addition to the element of under invoicing is attributed to different accounting periods and methodologies. Pakistan Customs has taken up this matter with China Customs in the past also and the matter is being again attended to. It is further informed that disparity in trade figures of China is not unique to Pakistan and such variations also exist between trade figures of China and some of its other trading partners.                                                                   

(Riffat Shaheen Qazi)

Member (FATE)

Official Spokesperson, FBR

 


--
Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Talpur
Second Secretary (Public Relations)
FATE Wing, Federal Board of Revenue,
Constitution Avenue, Sector G-5,
Islamabad, Pakistan
 

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Recent Activity:
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0300-9599007 and 0333-9599007
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.

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