Budget 2018-19

  Pakistan has deliberately left loopholes in small savings accounts to help financing terrorist groups, many of whom enjoy the patronage of the state Pakistan has deliberately left loopholes in small savings accounts to help financing terrorist groups, many of whom enjoy the patronage of the state to dodge the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) scrutiny. The FATF has been asking Pakistan to comply with international standards and rules of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws and regulations. Fabien Baussart, writing in a blog post of The Times of Israel said that although Pakistan has complied with some of the conditions set by FATF, with great reluctance, there is one area which has not paid due care to plug the terrorist financing – small savings accounts. Small savings in Pakistan generate over Rs 4 trillion in over seven million accounts held by individuals, equal to 28 per cent of all bank deposits. The possibility of terrorist groups and individuals holdin...

  UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced to set aside millions of pounds to establish a world-leading Counter Terrorism Operations Centre (CTOC) based in London UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced to set aside millions of pounds to establish a world-leading Counter Terrorism Operations Centre (CTOC) based in London. As part of a Spending Review for the next year’s budgetary plans tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, the finance minister said he would allocate an additional 400 million pound to help recruit 20,000 more police officers by 2023, with 6,000 new officers in 2021-22; 63 million pound to tackle economic crime; and 337 million pound extra funding for the criminal justice system, which will include the new CTOC — expected to be fully operational within five years. “Our police and intelligence agencies do an extraordinary job every day to protect us all from terrorist activity,  Rishi Sunak  said. “Bringing these partners together to form a world-leading operati...

  The blast occurred at the seminary in Dir Colony in interior Peshawar city A powerful bomb blast ripped through a seminary in northwest Pakistan’s Peshawar city just after the morning prayers on Tuesday, killing at least seven children and wounding over 70 others, senior police officials said. The blast occurred at the seminary in Dir Colony in interior Peshawar city. A bag filled with explosive materials was kept close to wall of the seminary by some unknown person which went off, killing 7 children and injuring over 70 others, superintendent of police in Peshawar city Waqar Azeem said. He said the bag is believed to have had an IED device that went off when the children started filling in the seminary. An official from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said 4 to 5 kilogramme explosives were used in the blast. Most of the children who died and were injured in the bast were aged between 7-11 years, the official said, adding that many of them were from Afghanistan. The hospit...