ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has issued directives to the relevant ministries and departments to use all available resources to complete all energy projects before the year 2018.
The prime minister was chairing a high-level meeting in Murree yesterday where he was briefed on the ongoing development projects in all sectors with special focus on energy areas, says a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office here.
Nawaz held the marathon consultative meeting to take important decisions and take forward the party’s development agenda for rest of the 22 months of its mandated term.
The PM directed that the pace at which the projects were being completed be increased in order to make sure their in-time completion.
The meeting decided that in coming weeks Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would himself be visiting various development projects to see the pace of work on it while a monitoring committee would be working under his direct supervision to check the execution of these projects.
According to sources, the development funds would be given preferably to those parliamentarians of the ruling PML-N who have shown serious concerns over the way they were ignored by their Cabinet colleagues.
They said that this move has been taken in an attempt by the ruling PML-N to remove the genuine reservations and keep the party united.
The PM was already provided the performance evaluation of various ministries and divisions so in the light of the report some of the ministers would be losing their jobs, a source in the party confirmed to The Nation.
The meeting with the selective party leaders also had a detailed review of the government’s performance over the past three years, the challenges facing the party on various fronts, including the Opposition parties agitation threats on Panama leaks issue and the future development plans and agenda of the govt.
The PM and his select Cabinet members also discussed the Panama issue, the Opposition’s possible agitation plan on this issue and its negative fallout on the incumbent political dispensation.
It was decided in the meeting that no more laxity would be shown on this issue, however, Opposition’s reasonable demands on finalisation of terms of reference would be given due weightage.
QADIR, TAHIR NOMINATED FOR
AJK SPEAKER, DEPUTY SLOTS
In a separate consultation meeting with select Cabinet members, the prime minister nominated Shah Ghulam Qadir and Farooq Tahir for the slots of Speaker and Deputy Speaker AJK Legislative Assembly respectively.
The party’s AJK Chapter President Raja Farooq Haider was also part of the meeting.
Shah Ghulam Qadir a veteran politician had served on the slot of Speaker AJK Legislative Assembly from the platform of AJK Muslim Conference while Farooq Tahir was also a seasoned politician and loyal party worker.
The newly-elected members of AJK Legislative Assembly will take oath on Saturday (today) while the elections for the slot of Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
Raja Farooq Haider was already nominated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as Leader of House in AJK Legislative Assembly and with a thumping majority in the House of 49 he would be elected the next Prime Minister of AJK for which the schedule would be announced by the Speaker soon after his election.
Sources in the PML-N informed Prime Minister Nawz Sharif had held series of meetings in Murree pertaining to various issues mainly deciding the future set-up of the AJK government and the way forward to highlight the Kashmir cause at international level.
Sources informed that for the rest of the 22 months some new faces in the federal cabinet would be introduced as well while some of the State Ministers would likely to lose their jobs to accommodate the new faces in the party.
He further informed that the reshuffle in the Cabinet would not all be depending on the performance but the reason behind the change would be to give chance to some new party faces so that they could be prepared for the job in future.
Sources aware of the meeting informed The Nation that it was decided in the meeting that government would respond to the politics of agitation by some Opposition parties with the execution of the swift development in various areas.
During the performance review, the Prime Minister stressed that they must bridge the gap in development targets which the government had failed to meet owing to the prolonged sit-in and other hiccups facing the ruling PML-N.