Pakistan says won’t risk rushing Saim Ayub’s recovery for Champions Trophy

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of Pakistan’s federal cabinet has approved an upward revision in gas tariff for industries, the Finance Division said on Saturday.

The development came after an ECC meeting to discuss a summary submitted by Petroleum Division for an upward revision of the indigenous gas tariff for industry, or captive power plants, as well as non-protected domestic slabs.

A captive power plant refers to an electricity generation facility owned and operated by a specific industrial or commercial entity to primarily power their own operations, rather than selling electricity to the public grid. It’s dedicated to supplying electricity solely for the needs of the company that owns it, like a large factory or industrial site, minimizing reliance on the national power grid.

While the committee approved a revision in prices for industrial consumers, it declined to increase the tariff for domestic consumers to protect them from additional burden, according to the Finance Division.

“The ECC, following a through discussion, decided to approve upward revision in gas tariff for captive power plants from Rs3,000 per mmbtu (metric million British thermal unit) to Rs3,500 per mmbtu to ensure required revenue for the gas sector during FY2024-25,” the Finance Division said in a statement.

Pakistan’s caretaker government increased the prices of natural gas by up to 67 percent for residential consumers in February 2024, in a bid to meet one of the key fiscal tightening conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a final review of its last bailout program, worth $3 billion, that helped saved the country from a default.

In August last year, Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik had said his government would keep the gas prices unchanged until winter months of December 2024 and January 2025, amid rising costs of living in Pakistan at the time.

Pakistan, which imports most of its energy needs, saw days of protests in July and August 2024 over the rising costs of living, mainly fueled by energy price hikes. The protests had prompted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to announce a three-month, Rs50 billion subsidy for electricity consumers using up to 200 units a month.

PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday freed a worker of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), who was kidnapped among more than a dozen others this month in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, and handed over body of another employee who had died in captivity, police said.
The Pakistani Taliban, which have recently stepped up attacks in Pakistan’s restive northwest, had kidnapped more than a dozen workers of the sensitive government agency, responsible for nuclear energy projects, from the volatile Lakki Marwat district on Jan. 9.
Eight of them were later released through joint efforts by tribal elders and amid a search operation conducted by police and security forces in the dense forest area where the militants had reportedly taken the kidnapped employees.
While the Pakistani government had not issued a statement on the incident, Shahid Marwat, the Lakki Marwat police spokesperson, had confirmed that a group of nearly 18 “civilians” working on “atomic and mining projects” had been kidnapped by armed gunmen.
“Following hectic efforts by local administration and [tribal] elders, one of the abductees has been set free, while they [kidnappers] have handed over dead body of another abductee to the elders,” Marwat told Arab News on Saturday.
“Eight employees are still in kidnappers’ captivity.”
There was no immediate confirmation of the development by the Pakistani government or the PAEC, but the Pakistani Taliban said they released the worker as a “goodwill gesture.”
“An atomic energy commission official was released as a goodwill gesture at the request of tribal elders,” they said in a statement.
Marwat said it wasn’t immediately clear how one of the abductees had died in captivity.
“His dead body is in hospital for postmortem to know if he was killed by the kidnappers or he had died of natural causes,” he told Arab News.
Earlier this month, the militants released a video of the abductees, in which a man was seen reading out the demands laid by the kidnappers, requesting the government to “immediately” accept them.
The demands included the release of militants arrested in Lakki Marwat, the release of families of militants allegedly in government custody, a commitment not to demolish the homes of militants and their relatives in the future, and compensation for the homes already demolished in the region.
Lakki Marwat is situated on the edge of Pakistan’s northwestern tribal districts bordering Afghanistan, where the TTP has frequently targeted security force convoys and check-posts, in addition to engaging in targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in recent months.