Pakistan's currency exchange union offers $1 billion to government in case of war
KARACHI: The Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) has offered $1 billion per month to the government in case of war or an emergency, the organization said on Thursday, as fears have grown that the worst confrontation in two decades of conflict between India and Pakistan could escalate.
India on Wednesday struck what it said was 'terrorist infrastructure' in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir and Pakistan said it retaliated by shooting down five Indian aircraft. The Indian strikes killed 31 people and injured 57, Pakistan's army said.
On Thursday, Pakistan's military said it shot down 29 drones from India at multiple locations, including the two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore and the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home to the army's headquarters.
The Indian defense ministry said Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in northern and western India from Wednesday night into Thursday morning and they were 'neutralized' by Indian air defense systems. In response, Indian forces targeted air defense radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan on Thursday, the ministry said.
'We are capable of providing the government with $1 billion (Rs280 billion) dollars per month in case of war or emergency,' ECAP Chairman Malik Muhammad Bostan said. 'There is no panic in the currency markets.'
Exchange companies provide $25 million (Rs7 billion) daily to the interbank market, the statement said, adding that they had managed to sell $10 million (Rs2.8 billion) in the interbank market despite fresh tensions between Pakistan and India.
The statement quoted Bostan as saying the inflow of dollars would increase after flight operations returned to normal.
The ECAP offer came amid a record-breaking 6,482-point plunge at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), marking the largest single-day decline in the index's history as investors feared escalation in the standoff between India and Pakistan.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947. The countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed many times.
The countries, which both claim Kashmir in full and rule over parts of it separately, acquired nuclear weapons in the 1990s.
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