ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that he is confident the masses will witness a visible change in all sectors within a few months.
The prime minister chaired a string of meetings in Islamabad covering new local bodies system, defence production and problems of the mega city of Karachi.
Talking to Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) from Karachi who called on him, Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed upon the elected representatives to highlight the public issues and play role for their resolution.
The prime minister said the PTI government took reign of the government in difficult times and declared that soon there would be a clear change in the country in the next few months. He said that he was fully cognizant of the public woes.
The MNAs highlighted the issues faced by the residents of Karachi including water, sewerage, etc.
Sindh Governor Imran Ismail briefed the meeting about the progress on Karachi package which was announced by the prime minister.
Minister for Maritime Ali Zaidi also informed the meeting on the steps being taken to address water and transport issues, besides job creation opportunities for Karachi.
The prime minister also cut Diwali cake along with the parliamentarians.
ministry of defence production
Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday stressed the need of including private sector in various projects of the defence production in order to get full benefit of the available capability of the sector.
Chairing a briefing of the Ministry of Defence Production in Islamabad, the premier said the government would provide every possible support to cater the needs of the Ministry.
He said that the government would fully cooperate in construction of Gwadar Shipyard.
Secretary Defence Production gave a detailed briefing about functions and performance of the Ministry and its associated departments and exchanged views about other matters relating to the ministry.
The PM hailed performance of the ministry and appreciated its accomplishments in commercial and social ventures besides meeting country’s defence needs.
Minister for Defence Production Zubaida Jalal, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Iftikhar Durrani, Secretary Defence Production Lt Gen (R) Ijaz Chaudhry and senior officers participated in the briefing.
fresh LG system to devolve power
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that they wanted to introduce such a local government system where the powers would be devolved at local level in real sense and the people at village and union council level would have a lead role in development work.
The Prime Minister expressed these views while chairing a meeting to restructure the local government system in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and Punjab with the aim and target to empower people at grass-root level.
The meeting was attended by Federal Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak, Advisor to Prime Minister Mohammad Shahzad Arbab, Senior Local Bodies Minister Punjab Aleem Khan, KP Minister for Local Government Shahram Taraki, KP Finance Minister Tamoor Jhagra, KP Law Minister Sultan Khan and senior officials from both the provinces.
Various options and proposals came under discussion in the meeting and the main thrust of the deliberations was on devolving maximum powers at village and Tehseel level so that the people would be made the master of their destiny in real sense.
Premier Khan was of the view that with the devolution of powers at local level the governance would improve at one hand while wastage of the funds and its spending on non-productive projects would be checked on the other hand.
The Prime Minister said that they wanted to come up with legislation in such a fashion which would help plug the loopholes of corruption and people would be doing the accountability of their representatives directly.
He further said that in the new system the selection of development projects would be made in direct consultation of the people who would benefit from these projects. So in this type of system the most suitable development projects would be executed as these would be approved directly by the people who would benefit from it.
Imran Khan said that all what they wanted is to make the people master of their destiny and give them power to prioritise the development projects of their choice in their respective areas.
As the people would be picking the development projects for their areas so they would be taking its ownership and a special monitoring system would be put in place to check the embezzlement in these projects wherein too the key role would be with the people in their respective villages and Tehsils.
Phone call from Antonio
Underscoring the need of respecting religious sentiments of all, Prime Minister Imran Khan hoped that the European countries leadership would redouble efforts to raise awareness about religious sensitivities of Muslims, particularly relating to the respect and sanctity of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Premier Khan was talking to President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani who rang him up on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister stressed the need for respecting each other’s religions and sentiments, while calling for enhanced dialogue as well as cooperation for promoting inter-cultural and inter-faith harmony.
Tajani thanked Khan for ensuring safety and security to Asia Bibi and her family. He assured the EU Parliament’s cooperation with government of Pakistan, while conveying that the debate on Asia Bibi in the EU Parliament had been postponed.
The Prime Minister reaffirmed the government’s resolve to respect the judgment of the Supreme Court, adding that as citizens of Pakistan, Asia Bibi and her family were entitled to all rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Prime Minister also conveyed serious concerns of the government and people of Pakistan on the issue of blasphemous cartoons and caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), underscoring the need to redouble efforts in European countries to avoid such provocative incidents; raise greater awareness about religious sensitivities of Muslims, particularly the respect of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and promote inter-faith harmony.
The Prime Minister welcomed the European Court of Human Rights’ recent decision not to allow acts of blasphemy under the cloak of right to freedom of expression. He also expressed the hope that European countries would follow the decision of the European Court and take steps to enhance respect for each other’s religions and inter-faith harmony.