PML-N, PPP reluctance in granting voting rights to expats beyond understanding: Fawad

“They are, in fact, were afraid of the expats as they considered them (expats) as the staunch supporters of Prime Minister Imran Khan,” he added.

The minister was briefing media persons about the decisions taken in the federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Fawad maintained that whenever they were provided the opportunity to vote in the elections, the expatriates would express full confidence in the prime minister's leadership.

Fawad said the overseas Pakistanis were immensely contributing in the national economy by remitting over Rs 1,000 billion [per annum] to the country. Over 90 per cent of the total remittances was based on less than $ 500 dollars, which showed that the major portion of total amount was being sent by the overseas workers, he added.

He said the expats were sending huge remittances as they had complete trust in Imran Khan's in the leadership. On the contrary, “they did not send the money during the regimes of PPP and PML-N as they knew about the corrupt practices of their leaders Asif Ali Zardari, and Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif," he added.

“The overseas Pakistanis are of the considered opinion that the two opposition parties' leadership are corrupt and will devour their (sent) money,” he remarked. 

'Govt determined to make election process transparent' 

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was an administrative body as per Constitution, which was bound to implement the laws enacted by the Parliament.

He said the ECP could not raise questions about the Parliament, as it was the supreme law making institution.

Similarly, he said, the Parliament had the prerogative to frame laws, while only the Supreme Court could declare whether any legislation was ultra-vires to the Constitution, or otherwise.

The political leadership had the right to decide as to which procedure should be adopted for holding elections, he added.

The minister said the government had already announced a comprehensive strategy to make the election process transparent and immaculate, that too in consensus with all the stakeholders.          

He urged the ECP to take measures for holding the forthcoming local bodies and bye-elections through the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).

“This will not only help overcome the shortcomings in the electoral process but also strengthen the people’s confidence in the EVMs,” he said, adding it would eventually ensure the use of the gadgets in the next general election.

He said the government was also committed to granting the right of vote to some 8.5 million overseas Pakistanis by introducing I-voting or the Internet voting mechanism.

Law to retrieve state land from grabbers okayed

The minister said the Federal Cabinet okayed the ‘Public Properties (Removal of Encroachment) Bill, 2021’, aimed at retrieving state land from the grabbers.

Under the law, he said, a Federal Government officer would be empowered to issue show cause notices to the encroachers of state land and initiate actions against them on their unsatisfactory reply.

The law also proposed fine and punishment for the land grabbers and encroachers, with setting up a special tribunal for speedy trial in such cases, he added.

Elucidating the law, he said the Federal Government departments would point out their encroached properties to a designated officer, who would have the power to issue show-cause notices to the grabbers.

The tribunal would have to decide the matter within 30 days if a petition were filed by the person to whom the show cause notice issued, he added.

Fawad said rent of the encroached property would accrue if a person did not vacate it even after the decision of tribunal against him. In case the person moved  the court against the tribunal's verdict, then again rent of the property would pile up till  the decision, he added.

The station house officer of area police station would also be held responsible for delay in the retrieval of property as per the tribunal's decision, he said.                    

Sukuk bonds, wheat import  

The minister said the cabinet approved the proposal of floating Sukuk bond with the objective to promote Islamic banking industry.

He said the cabinet also gave green light to import of one million metric tonnes (MT) of wheat to meet increasing demand of the commodity in the country. The government had already allowed the import of 3 million MT of wheat, he added.           

The country would continue importing wheat despite bumper crops as its population was increasing at a rapid pace, Fawad remarked. 

Appointments 

The minister said the cabinet gave the nod for appointments of Sajid Baloch as the Executive Director of International Vocational and Technical Training Commission, Aslam Khan as chairman of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) Board, and Asim Rauf as Chief Executive Director of Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (for next three months), besides five directors of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam Company.

It also approved the grant of dual nationality facility to Pakistanis living in Luxembourg, he added.

Fawad said the cabinet directed the Ministry of Finance to submit a comprehensive report about writing off loans from various banks.                        

He said a committee was constituted under the command of the Minister for Human Rights to examine the matters related to a housing society for the Supreme Court staff.

He said the cabinet also accorded its consent to the decisions taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) in its meetings held from June 16 to 21.         

He said the international community had appreciated Pakistan's vaccination programme and strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

About the non-recognition of various vaccines yet to get approval in some countries, he said the World Health Origination was negotiating with those states for resolving the issue, which would hopefully be resolved soon.

Responding to another question, he said Pakistan would be using more sophisticated EVMs, which had generate both electronic and paper votes. “Our  EVMs will not only provide electronic, but also the paper trail,” he added.    

As regards Shehbaz Sharif's proposal of convening an All Parties Conference over the electoral reforms, he said Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly was becoming the part of a conspiracy, which was meant to weaken the Parliament.

The government, he said, would discuss the electoral reforms only with the parliamentary leaders. “We do not deem the persons like Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Maulana Fazlur Rehman as stockholders in the system," he added.