Kickstart Pakistan - Stories worth telling, from us to you

  The future of about 20,000 workers is in jeopardy as nearly all of the country's 30 mobile phone assembly plants, including three operated by foreign companies, have closed due to manufacturers' claims that they have run out of raw materials due to import restrictions. After paying workers half of their April wages in advance, the majority of businesses have placed them on furlough. They have been informed that they will be contacted once manufacturing has started up again.  Assembly unit owners attributed the closure of all mobile production units to the "incompetent and odd policies" of the finance minister. He was alluding to government regulations that have made it challenging for importers to obtain letters of credit (LCs), which are documents from banks that promise that payments from buyers to sellers will be made on time and in full.  As a result, shipments of crucial machinery and parts used in the production of mobile phones have been halted. The letter, p...

Pakistan's ongoing political crisis, which has lasted for months and shows no indications of ending, has given rise to a new constitutional crisis. The government introduced a measure on Tuesday in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, to curtail the Supreme Court's authority because, according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, it was causing "political instability" in the nation. Suo motu refers to when a court initiates proceedings on its own initiative after taking cognizance of a matter it determines to be of public concern. All you need to know is this: What action did the administration take? A resolution accusing the Supreme Court of "judicial activism" and requesting its "non-interference" in issues pertaining to the ECP was adopted by the National Assembly on Tuesday. The resolution stated that "this house believes that the primary cause of political instability is an unnecessary interference of the judiciary in the po...

The European Commission has removed Pakistan from its list of "High Risk Third Countries," which presents serious risks to the financial system of the European Union, the Ministry of Commerce stated on Wednesday. The ministry claimed in a statement that Pakistan's inclusion on the EU's list in October 2018 put an excessive regulatory load on "Obligated Entities" within the Union and hampered legal and financial transactions with people and organizations with a base there. The document went on to say that "Obligated Entities" of EU member states would no longer be required to perform "Enhanced Customer Due Diligence" when dealing with people and businesses founded in Pakistan. Credit institutions, financial institutions, auditors, outside accountants, tax advisors, notaries, independent lawyers (acting on behalf of and for their client in any financial or real estate transaction), estate agents, and people engaged in commerce are among the...

Pakistan's LAHORE, March 15 - Following pitched battles in which police baton-charged Imran Khan's supporters and used water cannon and tear gas, a Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered police to stop their effort to arrest the former prime minister. Security forces left the area around his house in the eastern city of Lahore, reducing political unrest in the nuclear-armed country that is going through a financial crisis and is waiting for a bailout from the IMF. Amir Mir, the provincial information minister, told that the Lahore High Court instructed police to wait until Thursday before making any attempts to apprehend Khan. A senior police officer had earlier claimed that security forces had dispersed to make room for the Pakistan Super League (PSL), cricket's premier national competition, which is taking place at a stadium a few kilometers (miles) away. After Khan disobeyed orders to appear in court on allegations that he illegally sold state gifts provided to him by fore...

In order to arrest former prime minister Imran Khan PTI in the Toshakana case, the only one in which his arrest warrants are not suspended, a large police contingent arrived at Zaman Park on Tuesday. As they approached the location, law enforcement officers and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members began to fight. The PTI chairman requested that his team members continue the battle for the "rule of law," make sure that they do so no matter what, and take to the streets in response to the development. PTI activists have responded by staging demonstrations in a number of important cities, including Karachi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Vehari, Peshawar, Quetta, and Mianwali. Since yesterday, a squad of Islamabad police has been present in Lahore to carry out court-ordered arrests of the PTI chairman, who is charged with multiple offences in various cities. While exercising caution, the riot police are dispersing the party members as they advance in their efforts to apprehend Khan by ...

After a passenger on board died, a private Indian airline's aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Pakistan. On a Monday morning on IndiGo flight from Delhi to Doha, the event took place. The captain reported that a Nigerian passenger "was not breathing and had no pulse," according to the airport in Karachi, which is where the flight was diverted. There are no planes that connect Pakistan and India directly. The two nations have a tense relationship because they are neighbours and have fought three wars since 1947, when Pakistan was established and India was divided after gaining freedom. Five months after it had been shut due to a standoff with India, Pakistan completely reopened its airspace to civilian aircraft in July 2019. Around midnight on Monday, a 163-passenger IndiGo aircraft touched down at Karachi's Jinnah Terminal International Airport. According to Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority, the 60-year-old man became ill mid-flight, and the ca...