ISLAMABAD // Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan on Thursday called off talks with the government aimed at ending protests to remove the prime minister for alleged election fraud.
Mr Khan and a populist cleric, Tahir ul Qadri, have led followers in protests outside parliament for the past two days, demanding that the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, quit.
Talks to end the stand-off – which began a week ago with “long marches” from the eastern city of Lahore – started on Wednesday but made little headway.
Mr Khan insists the May 2013 general election, won in a landslide by Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party, was rigged, despite independent international observers judging it free and credible.
The former cricket star has demanded Mr Sharif resign and call new elections and on Thursday repeated his insistence the PM must quit before talks.
“The talks with the government are over. How can these talks proceed when we first want resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif?” he said.
“I want to tell you Nawaz Sharif that I will not leave this place until you step down.”
Between them, the protest rallies of Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Mr Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek parties drew tens of thousands of supporters this week.
But as Mr Khan made his address from the top of a shipping container outside parliament on Thursday, there were barely a few thousand scattered across the protest site.
Mr Qadri’s party has said it wants “meaningful dialogue” and the powerful army has called for a negotiated end to the showdown.
A number of Pakistan’s key trade partners – and aid donors – including the United States, Britain and the European Union have also urged a political solution.
The showdown has added to instability in a country that has had three military coups since its creation in 1947 and which is struggling with a homegrown Taliban insurgency, a crippling power crisis and a sluggish economy.
The two protest movements are not formally allied and have different goals, beyond toppling the government. But their combined pressure – and numbers – have given extra heft to the rallies.
If Mr Qadri’s party were to reach a settlement with the government and withdraw, the position of Mr Khan’s party would be significantly weakened.
Neither movement has mobilised mass support beyond their core followers and opposition parties have shunned Mr Khan’s call to unseat the government and begin a campaign of civil disobedience.
On Thursday the lower house of parliament passed a unanimous resolution rejecting calls for Mr Sharif’s resignation and vowing to uphold democracy.
Lawyers also staged a national strike in protest at the sit-ins organised by Mr Khan and Mr Qadri.
“This style of politics and call for disobedience is harming Pakistan’s economy, a call for civil disobedience is equal to a constitutional coup,” said Yaseen Azad, a senior leader of supreme court bar association.
* Agence France-Presse
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Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE DETAILS
Kaala
Dir: Pa. Ranjith
Starring: Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi, Easwari Rao, Nana Patekar
Rating: 1.5/5
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Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
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