UK lists former Pakistan PM’s son as ‘deliberate tax defaulter’ over £9.4 million unpaid dues/node/2594221/pakistan
UK lists former Pakistan PM’s son as ‘deliberate tax defaulter’ over £9.4 million unpaid dues
Hassan Nawaz (C), the younger son of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, arrives to record his statement before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) at the Federal Judicial Academy in Islamabad on June 2, 2017. (AFP/File)
ISLAMABAD: The United Kingdom’s tax authority listed Hasan Nawaz, son of Pakistan’s three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as a “deliberate tax defaulter” this week, imposing a penalty of £5.2 million on unpaid taxes totaling £9.4 million.
According to details, Hasan Nawaz, identified as property developer, failed to pay the amount between April 6, 2015, and April 5, 2016. The list ranks him as the second-highest defaulter.
In the UK, a “deliberate tax defaulter” is an individual or business that has intentionally evaded taxes or made false declarations to underpay their tax liabilities. Under the rules, those who owe more than £25,000 in tax and have received penalties for deliberate default can have their names published on the list of deliberate tax defaulters.
“Amounts in the list relate to the tax/duty on which penalties are based and the penalties charged, where the penalty meets the criteria for publishing under the Publishing Details of Deliberate Defaulters legislation,” His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, responsible for enforcing tax laws, inscribed at the outset of the document. “The list does not necessarily represent the full default of the taxpayer.”
Nawaz Sharif and his family have long faced corruption allegations, including the Panama Papers case, which led to his disqualification as prime minister in 2017. While he has denied such charges against him in the past, the revelation that his son has defaulted on millions in UK taxes revives concerns about financial impropriety and hidden wealth.
In 2024, Hasan Nawaz was declared bankrupt by the High Court of Justice in London following a petition filed by HMRC over unpaid liabilities.
HMRC regularly publishes a list of tax defaulters, updating it quarterly to include individuals and businesses penalized for deliberate tax defaults.
ISLAMABAD: United States President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday the imposition of reciprocal tariffs on several countries, including a 29 percent tariff on Pakistani products, a move widely seen as a jolt to the global economy still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision came after Trump defended the measures as necessary to address long-standing trade imbalances and what he described as unfair treatment of American goods abroad.
The US leader has called for realigning trade with both allies and competitors since taking office, arguing that high tariffs imposed by partner countries have effectively subsidized their economies at America’s expense.
According to a list of tariffs shared by Reuters, Trump has imposed a 29 percent tariff on Pakistan.
“Pakistan has been charging us a 58 percent tariff on our goods,” he was quoted as saying by Geo TV. “Hence, we are imposing a 29 percent tariff on their products.”
The US remains one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners.
According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, total goods trade between the US and Pakistan was estimated at $7.3 billion in 2024. US exports to Pakistan reached $2.1 billion, marking a 4.4 percent increase from the previous year, while imports from Pakistan totaled $5.1 billion, up 4.9 percent compared to 2023.
Alongside Pakistan, the US has also slapped a 26 percent reciprocal tariff on India, in a blow to New Delhi’s expectations of tariff relief.
“In many cases, the friend is worse than the foe in terms of trade,” Reuters quoted Trump as saying during the announcement. “We subsidize a lot of countries and keep them going and keep them in business. Why are we doing this? I mean, at what point do we say you got to work for yourselves.”
“We are finally putting America first,” he added, calling trade deficits “a national emergency.”
Trump held up boards displaying the new tariff rates, ranging from 10 percent to 49 percent for most countries. He said that in most cases, the US was imposing about half the tariff rates that other countries charge, though in some instances the rates were matched exactly.
With input from Reuters
PESHAWAR: Over 51,000 tourists flocked to various picturesque destinations across Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province during the first two days of the Eid Al-Fitr holidays, the provincial tourism authority spokesperson said this week.
The northwestern province is home to many picturesque locations and scenic spots dotted with mountains, valleys and lakes. Some of the popular tourist spots in the province can be found in Swat Valley, Malam Jabba, Abbottabad, Kaghan, Naran and Shogran which Pakistanis from all over the country visit during Eid holidays.
Pakistan marked the three-day Eid Al-Fitr holiday, which is celebrated by Muslims across the world when the fasting month of Ramadan ends, from Mar. 31-Apr. 2.
“Tourists flocked to various tourist destinations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Eid-Al-Fitr,” Muhammad Saad, the spokesperson for the KP Tourism Authority, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“More than 51,000 tourists were recorded in the first two days.”
He said the highest number of tourists came to KP’s scenic Naran valley, 28,112, during the first two days and the Galiyat region saw 17,000 visitors during the same time period.
At least 3,100 tourists visited Kumrat valley, he added.
“Tourism police personnel are performing their duty at various tourist destinations,” the official said.
Tourism saw a massive surge in KP during last year’s Eid holidays, registering an increase of over 360 percent compared to 2023. As per data released by the provincial tourism authority last year, at least 580,000 tourists visited northwestern Pakistan during the five-day holidays in April 2024.
While Pakistan’s inflation has declined considerably since last year, militant attacks, particularly in KP, have peaked recently.
Militant attacks in Pakistan surpassed 100 in March for the first time in over nine years, marking it to be the deadliest month since 2015, leading security think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said on Tuesday.
The think tank said KP and Balochistan were the hardest hit provinces last month, though Punjab and Sindh also experienced an uptick in militant activity.
Islamabad has repeatedly blamed Afghanistan for providing shelter to militant groups targeting civilians and security forces in cross-border attacks in KP, an allegation denied by the authorities in Kabul.
ISLAMABAD: For staff at Pakistan’s leading reference and research library, the biggest challenge is handling an overwhelming volume of data and lack of funds, the facility’s director general said this week, detailing a digitization campaign launched nearly eight years ago to preserve the country’s literary and journalistic heritage.
Established in 1951 in the federal capital of Islamabad, the National Library is the country’s largest repository of printed material and serves as the official legal depository for a variety of publications.
According to Director General Rana Javed Iqbal, the library’s main objective is to comply with the Copyright Ordinance of 1968, which mandates the preservation of “the best copy” of all publications in Pakistan, including newspapers and periodicals.
The ordinance is a legal framework designed to protect the rights of creators and authors over their original works. One of its sections mandates that a copy of every published work produced in the country, such as books and newspapers, be deposited with the library for preservation.
“In 2018, a decision was made to digitize 16 major newspapers covering the period from 1968 to 2015,” Iqbal told Arab News. “We have digitized over 5.4 million pages in Urdu and English, scanning approximately 15,000 pages daily from 2018 to 2021.”
One of the biggest challenges in the endeavor was “handling the sheer volume of data,” with the library receiving around 300-350 newspapers daily in various languages, a problem exacerbated by financial constraints.
The library is now developing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities in both English and Urdu, a technology that converts scanned text into machine-readable format, enabling efficient keyword and title searches for easier access to digitized records.
The primary objective of the digitization exercise is to make access to information more convenient for students and scholars, eliminating the need for manual searches and enabling users to retrieve information within minutes on their desktops.
The National Library also actively collaborates with government departments to prevent duplication of digitization efforts, ensuring a more streamlined and efficient approach to preserving Pakistan’s printed heritage.
“Our goal is to digitize all magazines and newspapers under copyright,” Iqbal said. “Increasing the number of scanners would further enhance our capacity.
“Digitizing is an ongoing process,” he added. “We continue to receive a large volume of newspapers, and we are working on digitizing publications from 2016 onward.”
The library initially outsourced the digitization process, but later decided to bring it in-house to reduce costs and maintain efficiency by acquiring its own equipment and leveraging skilled staff.
Iqbal said 11,000 rare books and manuscripts had also been digitized, though access was only available on various campuses, with plans to upload them online.
“Our next major initiative involves digitizing 1,500 different magazines,” he said. “We have also undertaken the digitization of the Gazette of Pakistan from 1949 onward.”
Speaking to Arab News, Rana Asad Ullah Khan, a serving additional attorney general who was visiting the facility this week, praised the library management for preserving valuable written material to promote art, education and culture.
“I found a treasure of newspapers in this library which I couldn’t in Lahore,” said Khan, who is researching the history of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, which was founded in 1861.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani actor Fawad Khan will mark his Bollywood comeback with the upcoming film “Abir Gulaal” on May 9, as per a teaser of the flick released this week.
The movie features Indian actress Vaani Kapoor in the lead role alongside Khan. Abir Gulaal has been directed by filmmaker Aarti S. Bagdi and produced by “Indian Stories” and “A Richer Lens” in association with Aarjay Pictures.
Producers of the flick include Vivek B. Agrawal, who has been involved with stellar Indian hits such as “Queen,” “Udta Punjab,” “Sacred Games,” and Avantika Hari and Rakesh Sippy.
“The wait is over!” Kapoor wrote in an Instagram post alongside the teaser on April 1. “Bringing love back to the big screen with Abir Gulaal and Fawad Khan. See you in cinemas on 9th May!“
(please embed Vaani Kapoor Instagram post here)
The teaser of the movie features Khan sitting behind the steering wheel of a car, crooning an iconic Bollywood song with Kapoor in the passenger seat beside him while it rains outside.
“This heartwarming tale unfolds in the picturesque streets of London, weaving a love story filled with unexpected turns, tender moments, and pure magic,” the film’s synopsis states.
“Audiences can expect a delightful blend of laughter, tender moments, and the undeniable chemistry between Fawad Khan and Vaani Kapoor.”
Khan enjoys heartthrob status in both Pakistan and India. He has played the lead in Bollywood hits “Khoobsurat” (2014) and “Kapoor & Sons” (2016). He also starred in “Ms. Marvel” (2022) and “The Legend of Maula Jatt” (2022), Pakistan’s biggest hit of all time.
Khan’s impressive run in Bollywood came to a halt due to an unofficial ban on Pakistani artists by Indian producers in 2016 as tensions between both neighboring countries escalated. Pakistan has also banned the screening of Indian movies after ties with New Delhi reached a new low in 2019 over the disputed Kashmir region.
However, in 2023, the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition seeking to officially ban Pakistani artists from working in India.
“Arts, music, sports, culture, dance, and so on are the activities which rise above nationalities, cultures, and nations and truly bring about peace, tranquility, unity, and harmony in nation and between nations,” the court had said in its ruling.
The movie, however, has already earned the ire of India’s conservative politician Raj Thackeray.
A few hours after the teaser released, Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party opposed the film’s release in Maharashtra.
“We only learned about this film’s release today when the makers announced it,” MNS spokesperson Ameya Khopkar told Dainik Bhaskar, a Hindi-language newspaper, on Tuesday.
“But we are making it clear that we will not allow this film to release in Maharashtra because it features a Pakistani actor. Under no circumstances will we permit such films to be released in the state,” he added.
Previously, the Indian release of Khan’s Maula Jatt film was paused after a right-wing fringe group objected to it.
SHIKARPUR, Sindh: Standing on seven pillars in the middle of the Kirthar Canal, a unique mosque in Pakistan’s southern Shikarpur district is more than just a place of worship — it is a symbol of defiance and resistance against British colonial rule.
With its whitewashed walls rising above the flowing waters, the Amroti Mosque’s architecture is as unique as its story.
The mosque was first constructed from mud, wood and palm tree trunks on a mound around 1890 under the guidance of scholar and educationalist Syed Taj Mahmood Shah Amroti, who was the first to translate the Holy Qur’an into the Sindhi landguage and provide detailed explanations of its teachings. For years, the mosque served as a place of workshop for the residents of Junejo village in Shikarpur until its location became an issue when the British colonial rulers of India decided to build the Sukkur Barrage and its canals, ordering the demolition of the masjid.
Historical accounts say Amroti sent over 20 letters to authorities asking to change the canal’s route but received no response and the British eventually issued a warrant for his arrest.
“In 1922, the British government started the Kirthar Canal project to irrigate uncultivated lands of Sindh and Balochistan [provinces],” Sayed Rushdullah Shah Amroti, the administrator of Amroti Mosque and the great grandson of Amroti, told Arab News.
The picture taken on March 19, 2025, shows blue tiles in the Amroti Mosque in Pakistan’s southern Shikarpur district. (AN Photo)
“When Hazrat Amroti came to know that the British government wanted to demolish the mosque, he decided to camp here and offered stiff resistance to British authorities.”
When British officials arrived with machines to demolish the mosque, local villagers joined Amroti in a massive protest. In the end, the British agreed not to destroy the mosque and instead promised to strengthen its structure so that both the mosque and the canal could remain.
“The impact of the resistance was that the British government was forced to kneel down,” Sayed said. “They left the mosque as it was and made the canal around its four sides.”
The mosque in its present shape was subsequently built, serving as a reminder of the importance of both faith and rebellion as it stood amid the waters of the Kirthar Canal, which originates from the Indus River at Sukkur Barrage and became operational in 1932 as a vital watercourse for Balochistan, particularly districts like Jafarabad and Naseerabad.
The picture taken on March 19, 2025, shows Amroti Mosque constructed in the middle of Kirthar Canal in Pakistan’s southern Shikarpur district. (AN Photo)
“STRANGE SPIRITUAL STATE”
In the past, residents would use boats to reach Amroti Mosque for prayers but after independence from British rule in 1947 and the creation of the two separate nations of Pakistan and India, the government rebuilt a proper structure for the mosque, constructed a bridge for easier access and ensured that water continued to flow beneath it.
Though the small mosque only allows 10-12 people to pray at a time, it holds great cultural and spiritual value for the people of the area.
“We are very proud of the religious and Islamic achievements of our ancestors, and wherever we go in the world, the respect we receive because of our connection to Amroti Sharif is largely due to the role of this mosque,” Rushdullah said.
Nasim Bukhari, a local writer, described the mosque as a “great symbol of resistance in history.”
Worshippers pray at the Amroti Mosque in Pakistan’s southern Shikarpur district. (AN Photo)
“And this has been the history of Sindh, that we have never accepted defeat. Even if we had to face defeat, we would die with our names still alive. We never ran away,” he said.
Amroti’s struggle was part of a larger resistance movement in Sindh, according to Bukhari.
“Syed Taj Mahmood Amroti fought against the British in his time and became a symbol of resistance. The people of that time, unarmed, fought with perseverance,” the author said, highlighting Amroti as an inspiration for others. One of his disciples, Syed Salah Aajiz Memon, later became the first Sindhi and Muslim figure against whom the British filed a case for rebellion.
“The name and deeds of our leader, Syed Taj Mahmood Amroti, have had their impact, but the resistance movement led by his followers and disciples also carries a remarkable legacy,” Bukhari said.
The picture taken on March 19, 2025, shows aerial view of the Amroti Mosque constructed in the middle of Kirthar Canal in Pakistan’s southern Shikarpur district. (AN Photo)
To date, the mosque continues to serve as a place of deep spirituality and worshippers describe a “profound sense of peace” at the place, especially when the water runs high and the mosque appears to be floating in the canal.
“While praying here, a strange spiritual state occurs,” Maulana Shahnawaz Baloch, the prayer leader at the mosque, told Arab News.
“At this time, the water level is low, yet there is still a spiritual atmosphere. When the water level is higher due to the season, a completely different spiritual experience takes place.”
