Pakistan's Imran Khan threatens another march if elections not called within 6 days

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan has asked his supporters to stop holding mass protests after violent clashes with police near the parliament in Islamabad, but gave a warning that new unrest could occur unless early elections are called within six days.

Since being ousted in a no-confidence vote in April, Mr Khan has held nationwide rallies with tens of thousands of supporters, telling loyal followers that his government was toppled in a US-backed coup.

On Wednesday, thousands of his supporters rioted in the capital near government buildings. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the army and police were being deployed to maintain security.

“I want to give a message to this imported government to announce elections within six days,” Mr Khan said on Thursday morning. “Dissolve the assemblies and call an election in June.”

The latest tensions come after a policeman was shot dead last week, which prompted Mr Sanaullah to call the cricket star turned politician a “terrorist”.

The US and Pakistan's military have denied playing any part in Mr Khan's downfall.

A long-standing demand from Mr Khan has been the holding of early elections — in his view, so that he can defeat Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif by a popular vote, overturning parliament’s move to remove him.

Riots in Islamabad

Pakistan's two main parties, led by the rival Bhutto and Sharif families, teamed up to unseat Mr Khan. These two political dynasties have ruled the South Asian nation of over 220 million people several times before, whereas Mr Khan had barely come close to power until he emerged as the winner in the last election nearly four years ago.

A charismatic former captain of the national cricket team, Mr Khan broadened his appeal to both young and socially conservative older Pakistanis by taking a populist stand on nationalist and religious issues.

His call for a march on Islamabad had prompted the government to seal off main roads leading to the capital but, late on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered that the barriers be removed, telling the government to designate an open venue for Mr Khan's supporters to gather.

The protesters did not follow the court orders, however, and hundreds reached the heart of the capital, where they fought running battles with police over several hours before Mr Khan and the main body of the rally entered the city.

Police fired tear gas and baton-charged the demonstrators. Hundreds of protesters were arrested after trees, vehicles, shops, and a bus station on the main thoroughfare leading to parliament were set on fire.

At least 18 police and paramilitary troops were wounded, said Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, after dozens of the protesters breached the last line of security outside the parliament.

There were also clashes in several cities in Punjab province and the southern port city of Karachi.

Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015

- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France

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The biog

Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology

Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India

Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters

Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

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.”