Ali Bilal

[State of Palestine @Palestine_UN]

Genocide.

[Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar @mustafa_nawazk]

Next fiscal year will be even tougher for ordinary Pakistani’s. IMF has set the revenue targets 13% higher than the previous year, at Rs 17000 billion. Where the hell are we going to get that money from? By squeezing the already taxed?

This is going to be Shahbaz govts 5th budget and there’s no sigh of relief for anyone ; for businesses, salaried class, daily wage earners or farmers. Absolute incompetence.

At this point, the question we should be asking ourselves : is IMF program worth staying in? With back-breaking IMF induced taxation and an already overburdened tax base, our economy is stuck in a “negative loop”. There’s simply nothing left to tax.

Quit IMF, get back the control on your budget, reduce extravagant expenses and give relief to the public!

[Zeteo @zeteo_news]

“In the Shadow of Iran Diplomacy, Pakistan Bulldozes Hundreds of Homes of the Poor

Days after the American delegation left Islamabad, the city administration unhoused more than 200 families.”

[Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office @amnestysasia]

PAKISTAN: 42 years after Pakistan banned student unions, the rights of millions remain suspended.

The ban violates:
📌 Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Right to peaceful assembly
📌Article 22 of ICCPR, Right to freedom of association
📌Article 19 of ICCPR, Right to freedom of expression

📢 Student unions are essential for free and inclusive campuses.

✊ Stand with students.
👉 Demand for the ban on student unions to be lifted.
#RestoreStudentUnions

[Soch سوچ @SochVideos]

In Pakistan's 2024 general elections, MQM-P won the majority of National Assembly seats in Karachi, seventeen constituencies according to the Election Commission. But did the returned candidates really win, or were results altered after polls closed?

This investigation examines three Karachi constituencies: NA-242 (Mustafa Kamal vs Dawa Khan Sabir), NA-238 (Sadiq Iftikhar vs Haleem Adil Sheikh), and NA-236 (Hassaan Sabir vs Alamgir Khan).

We compared National and Provincial Assembly results, analyzed turnout patterns, examined Form 45 documents, and identified mathematical fingerprints revealing vote manipulation.

All data and evidence mentioned in the video is publicly available for independent verification:

https://t.co/y9uIgYTeJj

[brief. @brief_pk]

The jute of East Pakistan built Karachi while Bengal starved. Today the gas of Balochistan powers Lahore while the province sits in darkness. A federation that harvests without planting writes its own end. The state is not threatened by Baloch demands. It is threatened by its own refusal to meet them. History offers its lessons only once. Pakistan must choose wisdom over repetition.
https://t.co/8RuiLPb5qc

[Asad Rahim Khan @AsadRahim]

Imaan and Hadi’s arrests mean that anyone with the courage to stand up for Pakistan’s most vulnerable will be persecuted and silenced; that any rights – for anyone – can be extinguished overnight.

Please raise your voices.

[Miftah Ismail @MiftahIsmail]

If you read just one column to understand Pakistan’s economy and governance priorities, you cannot do better than read this insightful piece by Dr Faisal Bari.

https://t.co/2hiv53NBZj

[Atif Mian @AtifRMian]

There is a common misperception that high remittances are good for GDP, and growth - *not necessarily*

A simple scenario:
Y = C + I + X - M is the accounting equation linking GDP (Y) to consumption (C), investment (I), exports (X) and imports (M)

One scenario is that 10B dollars of remittance inflow raises consumption by the same amount, and are used to finance additional imports by the same amount

The economy has higher consumption, but same output. Remittances have ZERO effect on GDP in this example

More generally …

[fatima bhutto 🇵🇸🇱🇧🇮🇷 @fbhutto]

Imran Khan served his country, he was the Prime Minister of the country and he cannot be hidden in darkness. This is not a question of politics or what party one belongs to, it is a question of basic human decency. No prisoner should be treated so inhumanely.

[Maleeha Lodhi @LodhiMaleeha]

My weekly column in Dawn today
Slide into authoritarianism https://t.co/V332mpgB6F

[Dawn.com @dawn_com]

Walking through Village 76-5R, one hears the same refrain: “Not a single promise was fulfilled.”

https://t.co/BSopO8SAIp

[Miftah Ismail @MiftahIsmail]

Our exports in the first 3 months of this quarter are down by $300 mn or 4%, imports up by $2 bn or 14% and trade deficit up by $2.4 bn or 34%. This is worrying.

With income and sales tax rates some of the highest in the whole world, electricity and gas prices highest in the region and in comparable countries, Pakistanis companies unable to compete globally.

The government needs to reduce the burden of its inefficiency and corruption on our companies and people.

[Ammar Khan @rogueonomist]

There is rapid de-industrialization happening, with the industrial base contracting, and not much being done to consolidate the same. 46 out of the 83 products tracked by LSM Index have seen a consistent decline in last two years. In absence of any serious industrial policy, it is only going to get much worse. The median decline in last two years is 10.9%

Demand destruction has taken hold, and that has led to contraction in output across the board. A 24-month view of all major declines is being illustrated here.

[Reuters @Reuters]

As Pakistan undergoes a solar revolution, farmers are increasingly ditching diesel and grid power for sun-powered tube wells. The solar boom has coincided with the rapid depletion of water tables in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province https://t.co/ND1Z4nHntO

[M. Jibran Nasir 🇵🇸 @MJibranNasir]

In the name of humanity, we must thump our chest, condemn surrender, protest genocide, and demand accountability from those responsible.

But as Pakistanis, we must face reality—even if we cannot embrace it. We are a nation drowning in debt. We are ruled by an unelected administration, propped up by military masters, governing through brute force rather than popular will. Our relevance is narrow: a strategic location with limited leverage, a nuclear arsenal that deters but does not advance our cause, the ability to parade Chinese-made weapons as an alternative to the Western military-industrial complex, and, to some extent, mineral reserves we cannot exploit ourselves. None of this gives us bargaining power on Palestine.

When we declare Palestine a “red line” or a unifying cause, we are either playing to the gallery, deceiving ourselves, or masking our guilt for lacking the unity and courage to resist our own oppressors. We are not united against being robbed of our vote. We are not united against military operations and drone strikes on our own soil. We are not united against the abduction of thousands of our citizens. We are not united against the slaughter of thousands in fake encounters.

Let’s be honest: before claiming to stand for others, we must first learn to stand for ourselves. Before vowing to fight imperial forces abroad, we must confront the ones who have enslaved us at home. Otherwise puppets will continue to rule and make decisions in our name like this one.

[Profit @Profitpk]

Financial inclusion in Pakistan has gone from 7% in 2014 to 35% in 2024. This means more Pakistanis have access to loans than ever before. But the data reveals a troubling trend: Pakistanis are borrowing for all the wrong reasons and from all the wrong places {THREAD}

[brief. @brief_pk]

1/15 A Commonwealth Observer Group report on Pakistan’s February 2024 elections was buried for over a year after the military government requested its suppression. This marks the first such suppression in the organization’s 70-year history. The leaked document exposes systematic electoral fraud that reversed the clear verdict of Pakistani voters.

[Ali Bilal @alibilal2002]

Pakistan has received $4.9B in climate financing since 2023. Yet we still drown every monsoon because poor planning, broken infrastructure & lack of accountability turn rain into disaster.

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

Pakistan has been reeling from flooding triggered by torrential rains, with nearly 400 people killed since August 14. So, what’s causing these deadly floods?

🔗: https://t.co/VbYWn1UEJn

[أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif @AnasAlSharif0]

This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

Allah knows I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of the Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that Allah would extend my life so I could return with my family and loved ones to our original town of occupied Asqalan (Al-Majdal). But Allah’s will came first, and His decree is final. I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification—so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who choked our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half.

I entrust you with Palestine—the jewel in the crown of the Muslim world, the heartbeat of every free person in this world. I entrust you with its people, with its wronged and innocent children who never had the time to dream or live in safety and peace. Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart and scattered across the walls.

I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland. I entrust you to take care of my family. I entrust you with my beloved daughter Sham, the light of my eyes, whom I never got the chance to watch grow up as I had dreamed.

I entrust you with my dear son Salah, whom I had wished to support and accompany through life until he grew strong enough to carry my burden and continue the mission.

I entrust you with my beloved mother, whose blessed prayers brought me to where I am, whose supplications were my fortress and whose light guided my path. I pray that Allah grants her strength and rewards her on my behalf with the best of rewards.

I also entrust you with my lifelong companion, my beloved wife, Umm Salah (Bayan), from whom the war separated me for many long days and months. Yet she remained faithful to our bond, steadfast as the trunk of an olive tree that does not bend—patient, trusting in Allah, and carrying the responsibility in my absence with all her strength and faith.

I urge you to stand by them, to be their support after Allah Almighty. If I die, I die steadfast upon my principles. I testify before Allah that I am content with His decree, certain of meeting Him, and assured that what is with Allah is better and everlasting.

O Allah, accept me among the martyrs, forgive my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family. Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for me with mercy, for I kept my promise and never changed or betrayed it.

Do not forget Gaza… And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.

Anas Jamal Al-Sharif
06.04.2025

This is what our beloved Anas requested to be published upon his martyrdom.