Pakistan
Pakistan exposed Indian network in Lahore blast, govt getting disgruntled Baloch leaders on board: Fawad
Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Tuesday said Pakistan had exposed the India-linked network involved in Lahore’s Johar Town blast, lauding the efforts of security agencies for busting the perpetrators.
“We have arrested majority people involved in the blast and details regarding transfer of money from Delhi to Pakistani banks will be brought to the public soon,” the minister said while addressing a press conference.
The minister was briefing the media about the decisions taken by the federal cabinet. The meeting discussed various agenda items on development projects and other issues of importance, according to the PM Office.
He said the government has begun talks with the disgruntled Baloch leaders, who are not affiliated with India, in an attempt to bring peace to Balochistan, adding a strategy had been formulated in this regard.
Fawad told reporters that the cabinet had held 141 meetings and took 3,000 decisions in their tenure, adding 123 decisions faced delay in executions.
He said the prime minister had ordered to bring transparency in the recruitment process of government jobs, adding testing services needed improvement including use of technology.
Regarding use of electronic voting machines, Fawad said the cabinet participants discussed in detail the introduction of electronic voting.
He said local companies would manufacture electronic voting machines by July 15.
Fawad claimed that the prices of daily used items are going downwards that indicated price stability.
“The government had issued Rs116 billion loan to the private sector and the money is being spent on the establishment of new industrial units.”
He said the cabinet was informed that since coming to power in 2018, the present federal cabinet held 141 meetings in which 3,776 decisions were taken, out of which 3,444 had been implemented, whereas 66 were in the process of implementation. The ratio of implementation of the Cabinet decisions was 91 per cent, he added.
He said a four-member ministerial committee was constituted to ensure appropriate testing mechanism for new recruitments on vacant posts in public sector departments.
The minister said the Cabinet decided that Skardu and Gilgit airports would be expanded and upgraded to make them all-weather facility for tourists.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan would virtually address an event, related to centenary celebrations of the creation of Communist Party of China.
The federal cabinet issued directives to the Chairman Capital Development Authority to give a comprehensive briefing on green areas and encroachments in the Federal Capital.
Fawad further said the Prime Minister did not approve the construction on green areas and so far allotment of hundreds of acres had been cancelled as hese were covered with greenery.
He said that the Prime Minister took notice of the reports about use of unnecessary protocol and security by government functionaries and directed that ministers and governors should be careful in using protocol and security.
The Prime Minister indicated that he himself did not move out in the evenings as this might cause inconvenience for general public, so the government functionaries should also be careful about it, he added.
The PM also said that only federal ministers and other designated officials were entitled to use the national flag on the official vehicles and next week a detailed policy would be announced in this regard, he said.
In a major development, Fawad said that the Cabinet accorded approval to the proposal to convert the Civil Aviation Authority to regulatory body whereas a new institution was being set up to handle services at the airports.
The Information Minister said that the PM also issued directives that 3-G and 4-G Internet services should be provided to A-category districts of erstwhile FATA as the population of those areas could not be deprived of such facilities due to security issues.
He said that the Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony had proposed that Imams of mosques in the Federal Capital be given monthly stipends.
He said that Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar informed that for apt handling of coronavirus, an international magazine - The Economist - had rated Pakistan among top three countries along with New Zealand, Hong Kong. The Cabinet congratulated the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) for this landmark achievement, he added.
He said that the Cabinet gave approval to the proposal of constituting an authority to look after and dispose of federal government lands.
Chaudhry Fawad said that Pakistan would get the relief worth $3.7 billion in repayment of foreign loans. He said that according to the latest index issued by the Bureau of Statistics, prices of daily use items were stabilizing.
He said during the past ten years, for the first time the current account was surplus now, and when the PTI came to power it was in deficit of $20 billion. He said that textile sector was working to its full capacity which indicated its revival.
He said that forex reserves of the State Bank had reached $5.7 billion whereas $700 million were with Digital Pakistan. He said that Rs 300 billion was being invested in the construction of new factories and tax collection had touched Rs 4.60 trillion mark which would further increase by next year.
The minister told reporters that the buyers of small cars would soon be hearing good news regarding price reduction.