Pakistan central bank’s forex reserves fall to near four-year low

 Announcement by the State Bank of Pakistan comes as the country is in dire need of foreign aid.

Pakistan’s central bank says its foreign exchange reserves have fallen to $6.7bn, its lowest level in nearly four years as the country battles an economic crisis.

Thursday’s announcement by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) came as the country is in dire need of foreign aid to reduce its current account deficit as well as ensure enough reserves to pay its debt obligations for the next financial year.

The bank’s data show forex reserves have declined by $784m since late November, with the commercial banks holding another $5.8bn.

The last time forex reserves fell below $7bn was in January 2019 when they stood at $6.6bn.

In an interview on Thursday, SBP governor Jameel Ahmad said Pakistan’s economic crisis was mainly caused by this year’s catastrophic floods, the continuing Ukraine war and a rise in food prices globally.

Ahmad said Pakistan last week made a $1bn payment against its maturing bonds and other external debt repayments, which resulted in the depletion of foreign reserves.

Pakistan has to pay nearly $33bn to its foreign lenders in the coming financial year.

The central bank chief said the country received $500m from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to offset its payment last week. He added that the government is negotiating to seek $3bn from a “friendly country”, without giving further details.

In a related development, Saudi Arabia’s finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan on Thursday said his country “will continue to support Pakistan as much as we can”. Local media reports said Pakistan is likely to receive a $4.2bn package from Riyadh.

Meanwhile, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) review for the release of $7bn in a bailout package for Pakistan has been pending since September. A $6bn bailout was agreed on with the global financial body in 2019, with an additional $1bn promised earlier this year.

Finance minister Ishaq Dar last week said Pakistan was committed to completing the IMF programme while meeting external debt repayments on time, accusing the agency of delaying its review.

“Everything is in order and under normal circumstances. I have reassured them (IMF) that our ninth review is in order, and you should come. If they don’t come then we will manage, no problem,” Dar said in a television interview.

Dr Khaqan Najeeb, a former finance ministry adviser, told Al Jazeera that Pakistan needs the stalled IMF review to be completed immediately.

“The slow inflow of funds, heavy payments, and less than satisfactory financial account have all added pressure on the reserves which cover only a month and 10 days of import payment,” he said.

“To avert further pressure on reserves, Pakistan needs to ensure that the IMF programme stays on track, fund flows from bilateral and multilateral donors and friendly countries support in terms of deposits and rollovers,” he added.

Shahrukh Wani, an economist at the University of Oxford, said Pakistan may be struggling to convince the IMF that it is meeting bailout conditions.

“While there is little risk of immediate default on sovereign debt repayment, the trajectory is highly alarming with deep uncertainty on how the country will be able to shore up foreign exchange reserves to pay for imports and debt next year,” Wani told Al Jazeera.

He said if the situation does not change soon, an increasing number of Pakistani importers will likely be unable to pay for their financial obligations in foreign currency.

“Pakistan needs to undertake immediate credible steps that signal to the IMF and other lenders that the country will break out of its trajectory of perpetual crisis.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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New UN rights chief vows to engage Beijing on Xinjiang findings

 Volker Turk’s predecessor published a report on China’s treatment of the Uighurs in the final minutes of her tenure.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk says he is determined to engage with China on a damning report published by his predecessor that alleged government mistreatment of the Uighurs and other mostly Muslim groups that may amount to crimes against humanity.

Turk made the comments during a media briefing in Geneva on Friday, referring to the report released by Michelle Bachelet just minutes before her tenure ended earlier this year.

“The report that was issued on 31 August is a very important one and has highlighted very serious human rights concerns,” said Turk, who took over the role in October.

“I will personally continue engaging with the authorities. I’m very determined to do so,” he said, adding that “hope springs eternal”.

The remarks were Turk’s first public comments on the matter.

Before the long-delayed report’s release, Bachelet had said she faced “tremendous pressure to publish or not to publish”, including “substantial input” from Beijing on the report in the waning days of her tenure, as well as a letter signed by countries including North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba that called for publication to be halted.

The findings brought UN endorsement to long-running allegations from advocates, campaigners and survivors who have accused Beijing of detaining more than one million Uighurs and other Muslims in camps and forcibly sterilising women, among other charges.

The report highlighted “credible” allegations of widespread torture, arbitrary detention and violations of religious and reproductive rights. It called for the world to give “urgent attention” to the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region in western China.

For its part, Beijing broadly rejected the findings and accused the UN of becoming a “thug and accomplice of the US and the West”.

China, one of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, also indicated it would cease cooperation with the UN human rights office in the wake of the report’s release.

Beyond China, Turk referenced several other human rights challenges facing his office during Friday’s news conference.

He decried “the continued systematic exclusion of women and girls from virtually all aspects of life” by the Taliban government in Afghanistan, which took control of the country in August 2021 amid the withdrawal of US-led foreign troops.

He called the Iranian government’s announcement of the first publicly known execution related to continuing protests in the country “very troubling”.

Anti-government unrest has persisted in Iran following the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the country’s morality police in capital Tehran for allegedly not adhering to the government’s dress code for women.

The rights chief also said he was “appalled” by a massacre last month in which the UN said at least 131 civilians were killed by M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He said the DRC was on his list of countries to visit next year.

The DRC government has put the death toll of the November attack at about 300.

Meanwhile, Turk called the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from where he recently returned after an official visit, an ongoing “human rights emergency”.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Nigerian first lady ‘directed student beating at presidential villa,’ lawyer alleges

 Nigeria’s first lady ordered security operatives to detain a student and also supervised his beating at the country’s presidential villa, his lawyer has alleged.

Aminu Mohammed Adamu, 24, was detained by police in the capital Abuja over a tweet he posted on June 8 that contained what prosecutors said were defamatory remarks about Aisha Buhari, the president’s wife, his lawyer Agu Chijioke Kingsley told CNN. A defamation lawsuit brought against Adamu by the first lady has since been dropped.

According to Kingsley, Adamu, a final year environmental management and toxicology student at a university in northern Nigeria, had been trailed by “plain-clothed security operatives” and arrested at the Federal University, Dutse, in Jigawa State on November 18.

“My client said he was arrested at school and taken to the presidential villa where he met with the first lady who told the security operatives to beat him … and he was beaten before he was detained at a police station in Abuja,” Kingsley told CNN.

Spokespeople for Nigeria’s national police and Department of State Services told CNN they were unaware of Adamu’s arrest.

A spokesperson for the Abuja police command did not comment when reached by CNN, while presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu did not return CNN’s request for comment on the allegations of assault against Adamu by the first lady.

The Nigerian first lady, Aisha Buhari, hasn’t spoken publicly about the incident.

TikTokers caned and ordered to wash toilets as court rules they defamed Nigerian governor

Adamu was brought before an Abuja court last Tuesday (November 29), more than a week after his arrest.

“He was charged with criminal defamation, he pleaded not guilty,” according to his lawyer, who added he was in the process of applying for Adamu’s bail days after his arraignment when the charge was dropped by the first lady.

Adamu had earlier been moved from the police facility he was being detained to prison where he was remanded on the orders of the court.

“On Friday (December 2), we were called to move the bail application. On getting to court, the police said they were withdrawing the matter entirely because the first lady had decided to withdraw the case against my client,” Kingsley told CNN.

Adamu’s detention was widely condemned by Nigerians and human rights groups who called for his release using the hashtag #FreeAminu on social media.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) also called for nationwide demonstrations while demanding Adamu’s unconditional release.

A police commissioner in Nigeria has also called for the first lady to be prosecuted.

“She did not only have him arrested but he was also beaten and tortured in the (Presidential) Villa … This is not acceptable,” said Naja’atu Mohammed, a commissioner in the Police Service Commission (PSC), an oversight body of the Nigeria Police Force.

“There are laws governing every offense in this country, so why is she not abiding by the law? If indeed he defamed her character, she should follow due process and take him to court. Mrs. Buhari should be prosecuted for taking the law into her hands,” Mohammed told CNN.

Aminu Mohammed Adamu later posted a tweet apologizing to the president’s wife.

Courtesy Shehu Azare

Last month, two TikTok comedians were publicly whipped and ordered to wash toilets in northern Kano State for making a video that a court ruled had defamed the state Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

The Nigerian branch of Amnesty International says it is concerned that freedom of speech is being eroded in Nigeria.

“Amnesty International is concerned by the growing number of attacks on freedom of expression in Nigeria. The authorities are increasingly using unlawful arrests and ill-treatment to stifle those who criticize the state. This must stop now,” the human rights group said in a tweet on the day Adamu was released.

It also tweeted that “the heavy-handed mistreatment of Aminu Adamu Muhammed is a clear attempt to strike fear into the hearts of young Nigerians who use social media to hold the powerful to account. The Nigerian authorities must urgently respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression.”

After two weeks in detention, Adamu was freed and reunited with his family. His uncle Shehu Azare told CNN he is now focused on writing his final exams and would not speak out about his ordeal.

Adamu received a hero’s welcome when he arrived at his university shortly after his release and later posted a tweet apologizing to the president’s wife, saying “it was never my intention to hurt your feelings … I will change for the better … I’m also grateful for your forgiveness…”

In a video that followed the tweet, Adamu reiterated his gratitude to the first lady, which angered many Nigerians who criticized him for “apologizing to his oppressor.”

“I’ll like to thank the first lady of Nigeria … for finding me worthy in her heart to forgive my recent actions and for her moral advice that I should change for the better … I’ll abide to those words,” Adamu said in his video.

Reacting to Adamu’s apology to the first lady, one Nigerian tweeted: “I don’t even understand him, (he) left everyone who stood by him, and he is apologizing to an oppressor?? How come?!!!” ​

Some other commenters said Adamu had “done the right thing” by apologizing to the president’s wife.

“To me, it’s not in order, because we’ve been pleading with the first lady (to release Adamu) before he was taken to court, but she refused to accept the plea and took him to court where he was arraigned and remanded in prison. So, there’s no point for that (apology),” his uncle Azare told CNN.

“Many people have been complaining about that (apology). People look at it as very wrong to be asking for forgiveness from someone that beat you and inflicted harm on you,” he added.

By Nimi Princewill CNN

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The world changed overnight’: Zero-Covid overhaul brings joy — and fears — in China

 Workers across China have dismantled some of the physical signs of the country’s zero-Covid controls, peeling health code scanning signs off metro station walls and closing some checkpoints after the government unveiled an overhaul of its pandemic policy.

But as many residents expressed relief and happiness at the obvious loosening of measures, some worried about its impact and questioned how the new rules would be rolled out.

Workers remove QR health code signs at Xining Railway Station on December 8, 2022 in China’s Qinghai province.

Ma Mingyan/China News Service/VCG/getty Images

“The world changed overnight, and that’s really amazing,” said Echo Ding, 30, a manager at a tech company in Beijing. “I feel like we are getting back to normal life. This is important to me because if I don’t get back to a normal life, I might lose my mind.”

But Ding, like many across the country, also expressed unease with the rapid change. Even after much of the world relaxed pandemic restrictions, China continued to lock down entire cities and send all Covid-19 patients to central quarantine facilities, while restricting others merely for visiting an area where a positive case was detected.

On Wednesday, China’s health authorities overhauled the zero-Covid policy with a 10-point national plan that kept some restrictions, but largely scrapped health code tracking for most public places, rolled back mass testing, allowed many positive cases to quarantine at home and imposed limits on lockdowns of areas deemed “high risk.”

“How can it change so fast?” Ding asked. “It gives me the feeling that we are like fools. It’s all up to them. They said it’s good, so then it’s good … that’s what I feel right now. It is so unreal, but I have no choice. All I can do is follow the arrangement.”

David Wang, 33, a freelancer in Shanghai, said although the changes were welcome, they had also sparked a feeling of disbelief in the city, which underwent a chaotic, more than two-month-long, citywide lockdown earlier this year.

“Of course I was very happy about these new changes – (but) most of my friends are showing typical signs of PTSD, they just can’t believe it’s happening,” he said.

Top health officials in Beijing on Wednesday said the changes to the rules were based on scientific evidence, including the spread of the comparatively milder Omicron variant, the vaccination rate, and China’s level of experience in responding to the virus.

But the changes, which come on the heels of a wave of unprecendented protests across the country against harsh Covid restrictions, are a swift about-face for a government long bent on stamping out all infections. While health authorities made slight policy revisions and cautioned officials against overreach last month, the central government up until last week had shown no signs of preparing for an imminent shift in its national strategy.

The government and state media had long emphasized the dangers of the virus and its potential long-term effects – and used this to justify the maintenance of restrictive policies.

Now, a flood of articles highlighting the more mild nature of Omicron and downplaying its risks have created a feeling of whiplash for some, and fall well short of the kind of public messaging campaigns that some other countries carried out before their own pandemic policy changes.

As China moves away from zero-Covid, health experts warn of dark days ahead

That’s left many unprepared for what experts say could be an impending surge in cases in a country where the vast majority of people have not been exposed to the virus.

On China’s heavily moderated social media platform Weibo, topics and hashtags related to what to do if infected by Omicron trended high on Thursday morning, while there were numerous reports of panic buying of fever medications.

Online retailer JD.com said in a statement Thursday that sales of drugs including cold and cough medicine, fever reducers, and anti-inflammatories on its health platform were 18 times greater over the previous seven days than the same period in October, while the search volume for Lianhua Qingwen pills – traditional Chinese medicine touted by the government as a treatment for Covid-19 – had surged 2,000 times year-on-year.

Sales of face masks increased 682% year-on-year in the first six days of the month and antigen test sales were up 462% compared to the previous week, the company said, adding it was taking steps to ensure stable supplies and prices.

“People were not told what kind of medicine they should have and what they should do if infected until there was widespread infection. In fact, we should have started doing this a long, long time ago,” said Sam Wang, 26, a lawyer in Beijing, who added that the policy release felt “sudden and arbitrary.”

Others expressed concerns about living with the virus. Aurora Hao, 27, an English teacher in Beijing said: “I want to keep myself safe, because I could be fine after my first infection, but if I am reinfected a second or third time, I’m not sure what harm that will bring to my body.”

Fears about the impact of Covid-19 within China may also play out along generational and geographic lines, as younger people and those in more cosmopolitan urban centers may be more likely to support reopening the country and relaxing rules, residents said.

Wang in Shanghai said the larger conversation in China was polarized. Among his own friends, those in the metropolis had been hoping for a relaxation of rules, while others in smaller cities were more trusting of the government’s long-term narrative about the dangers of coronavirus infection.

Meanwhile, his mother was now buying high-grade N95 masks and preparing for a “nuclear winter” until a potential initial wave of cases passed, Wang said.

While the changes were greeted with relief by many and sparked discussion online of freer travel within the country – and perhaps even international travel in the future – there was also a sense of uncertainty about what lay ahead.

Already there has been some contradiction in how the guidelines are implemented as local authorities adjust – and many are watching to see the impact in their cities.

In Beijing, authorities on Wednesday said a health code showing a negative Covid-19 test would still be required for dining in at restaurants or entering some entertainment venues – in conflict with the national guidelines.

Hao, in Beijing, said on Wednesday evening that her health code had turned yellow – which would usually bar her from entering most public places, until she queued up for another test that returned a negative result. Now, with the new rules she knew she could largely go out freely, but instead she stayed at home to “wait and see.”

“We are still waiting and watching. It is not the case that people all rushed out once the seal is off,” she said.

By Simone McCarthy and Cheng Cheng, CNN

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