The price of basic food items has rocketed in recent months, with inflation at a near 50 year-high as the country grapples with a balance of payments crisis that has seen it forced back into negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

“Nine people were trampled and were taken to hospital where one person died,” said Muhammad Arif, police chief for Charsadda in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the incident happened.

Arif said hundreds of people gathered at the local market for the handouts, one of hundreds of distribution points set up by the government during Ramadan.

Millions of low income families across the country are registered under the scheme.

In a nearby district, a man died and four others were injured when a wall they were sitting on collapsed as crowds amassed for free flour.

Authorities told AFP it was not clear why the wall collapsed.

Pakistan’s finances have been wrecked by years of financial mismanagement and political instability — a situation exacerbated by a global energy crisis and devastating floods that left a third of the country under water last year.

The South Asian nation is deeply in debt, and needs to introduce tough tax and utility price increases to unlock another tranche of a $6.5 billion (£5.2 billion) IMF bail-out and avoid defaulting.

(AFP)

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On Friday (17), the state government’s general administration department issued an order to advance the Muslim employees’ duty hours by an hour for the month-long Ramadan and asked the home department to even modify the biometric attendance system in the offices, the report added.

On Saturday (18), state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal said the order would benefit the PFI’s objective of making India an Islamic country by 2047, the year India’s independence completes 100 years. Accusing chief minister Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, he told reporters in state capital Patna that it is very much part of the agenda of the duo.

It was only a few months ago that the PFI and its affiliates were banned by India’s Narendra Modi government for five years for allegedly having links with terror outfits.

The ruling parties hit back at the BJP saying by making such remarks, its state leaders were insulting the saffron party’s Muslim leaders.

Ajeet Sharma, a leader of the Indian National Congress, said it was a practice to give relief to Islamic followers during Ramadan since they have a fixed time for praying, the Hindustan Times report added.

“Hindus too are given enough liberty during their festival periods,” he was quoted as saying.

The principal secretary of the general administration department said the department has been issuing such orders advancing the duty hours for Muslims employees during Ramadan since 2000.

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The purpose of fasting during Ramadan is believed to purify the soul and raise one’s devotion to Allah. Muslims also spend more time praying and reading their holy Quran during this month. Many mosques offer additional services during Ramadan, including Taraweeh prayers — special nightly ones that are longer than the usual daily ones.

Ramadan is also a time when the poor and needy are given help. The period lasts for 29-30 days — from the sighting of the crescent moon to the next. The conclusion of Ramadan is marked by Eid al-Fitr, a ceremony of breaking the fast.

Crescent Moon Watch, a moon tracker run by the UK’s Nautical Almanac Office, Ramadan’s new moon will start on Tuesday (21) at 17.23 GMT or 8.23 pm Mecca time, with no sightings of any type expected the same night, Al Jazeera reported.

“On the night of March 22, the new moon should be easily visible to the naked eye across many parts of the Middle East, North Africa, Western Europe and the America. The first fasting day is thus expected to be March 23 for those countries,” it said, adding that the new moon could possibly be viewed without optical aid if the skies are clear from across India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran and South Africa.

The southeast Asian nations of Indonesia and Malaysia will most likely need optical aid to see the moon.

For those countries, if the moon is sighted, the first fasting day of Ramadan will also be Thursday (23). If not, then the first day of fasting will be on Friday (24).

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“I would request everyone not to do anything that causes public suffering. We have humanitarian responsibilities and we need sensible businessmen,” Munshi said at an event organised by Bangladesh’s Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection to mark World Consumer Rights Day on Wednesday (15), according to bdnews24.com.

“Globally, customers are offered special discounts during festivals, but our country is an exception. Ramadan is approaching and I would request traders to exercise restraint. Please charge ethical prices. We can’t monitor you all the time, so we leave it to your conscience,” the minister added.

He said the consumers should practise austerity during Ramadan and only buy goods that are necessary.

“A supply system exists in the market. If you start buying 20 kg (kilogram) of onions instead of 5 kg, supply can’t be increased overnight.”

“Don’t get attracted by flashy advertisements. Never believe someone if they offer you a motorcycle at a price cheaper than its production cost. They’ll just cheat you,” he warned.

The member of the ruling Awami League party added that there was a time when the people of Bangladesh were not aware of their rights as consumers but the situation has changed now.

“The directorate [of consumer rights] is active and consumers are being compensated when their rights are violated. Half of our job will be done if we can create awareness among the people,” he added.

Munshi expressed hope that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will double its sales during Ramadan and reach 10 million families.

The TCB will sell rice, pulses, edible oil, dates, and chickpeas, he said.

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According to a report by GNS, KPDCL managing director Yasin Choudhary confirmed the news to the media.

He said the process of installing the smart meters was going on for many months and the authorities aim at ensuring interrupted supply of power round the clock to those who have installed the meters.

Choudhary also said that the process has not been without challenges. He said people need to understand that smart meters have “genuine merits”.

“You will not only get just 24 readings, but your bill process will also be generated accurately as it is directly generated from the system, so there is no chance of any human errors. We are also providing good voltage and the efficiency has also been increased. All this is possible only because of smart meters,” he was quoted as saying by Greater Kashmir.

On the issue of tampering with meters, the KPDCL official said such an act can be dealt with strict law and punishment.

He said the power scenario will be much better by the time Ramadan kicks off and if required, the authorities will also make special arrangements to address the situation.

Choudhary also said that specified time slots for Sehri, Iftar or Tarawih will not be affected.

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Researchers of the study analysed criminal sentencing data, including almost half a million cases and 10,000 decisions given by judges, covering a 50-year-period in both the south Asian nations that are among the top three in the world with the largest Muslim populations.

Data revealed a “sharp and statistically significant” increase in cases of acquittals from Muslim judges during the month of Ramadan but no difference when it comes to non-Muslim judges, the researchers said.

The study, which was undertaken by researchers at the New Economic School in Moscow, Russia, and released on Monday (13), found that judges in both the countries gave around 40 per cent more acquittals during Ramadan on an average, compared to other periods of the year.

The researchers also tried to understand whether the more lenient decisions given during Ramadan were better or worse than those made during other times of the year. They had another interesting finding — defendants on the receiving end of the lenient verdicts were not likely to commit another crime. The study also said that the lenient judgments were less likely to face an appeal.

The probability of the initial verdict getting overturned was also lesser, Avner Seror, a co-author of the study and economist at Aix-Marseille University in France was reported as saying by media outlets.

According to him, the change in the judges’ decision-making during Ramadan could be linked to “the idea of clemency inherent in the Muslim ritual, a little like the spirit of Christmas among Christians”, he was quoted as saying.

But it goes further because it seems to help the judges make the right decision,” he added.

The latest study’s finding was in complete contrast to what was found by another study in 2011. According to the latter, judges in Israel were more likely to deny parole to criminals before they had their lunch than afterwards. Sultan Mehmood, the lead researcher of the latest study, said he was ‘surprised’ to see such an opposite result.

(With AFP, SBS News inputs)

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