LAHORE  -  Caretaker Prime Minis­ter Anwaarul Haq Ka­kar Tuesday reiterated that Pakistan was per­sistently raising the Pal­estine issue at the global fora and recent horrible, condemnable and inap­propriate aggression by Israel was leading to hu­man catastrophe. 

During an interac­tion with the media persons during his vis­it to Mayo Hospital, he said that recently Paki­stan co-hosted the Or­ganisation of Islamic Cooperation Organiza­tion (OIC) emergency session along with the Kingdom of Saudi Ara­bia over the issue. 

The prime minister further said during his interactions with differ­ent global leaders, Chi­nese leadership and the international media, he had highlighted the is­sue and in unequivo­cal terms, conveyed the sentiments and stance of the government and Pakistani nation. Pa­kistan would continue playing its role over the issue till its resolution, he reassured.

Considering the cur­rent crises, he said Pa­kistan demanded im­mediate ceasefire and opening up of human­itarian corridor. The caretaker prime minis­ter said Palestine was a historical and chronic issue but there was no reason for the inappro­priate aggression ex­hibited by Israel.

To a question, he reit­erated that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was a constitu­tional body that would give a specific date for holding of the general elections in the country. 

He said the delimita­tion process was a con­stitutional requirement and the previous par­liament had done leg­islation over the issue while the Constitution mandated the proce­dure to be executed. 

The prime minister assured that the interim set-up was ready to assist the ECP in the process, adding it was the fundamen­tal mandate of the ECP to give a date but the caretaker govern­ment could not dictate it in this regard. About participation of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the upcoming elections, he said nei­ther the ECP had placed any re­strictions on PTI nor there was any move to dismantle it as a political party.

Moreover, it was also the do­main of the ECP to allocate elec­tion symbols, he added. 

He further clarified that the caretaker set-up would not re­sort to any illegal and unconsti­tutional acts. 

The caretaker prime minister further elaborated that it was the government’s policy that all the big and small registered political parties had the equal rights and opportunities to con­test the upcoming polls.

He said that they did not see any hindrance to the politi­cal activities in the country. Those who were raising appre­hensions over provision of lev­el playing field also have the freedom to make such claims, he added. To a query regard­ing the repatriation of the ille­gal migrants, the prime minis­ter said they had categorised the illegal aliens into three groups. There were around 1.7 million registered refugees over whom the government was ful­filling its international obliga­tions, but there were foreigners who, without any documenta­tion, had been living in Pakistan for years and doing business, he said, adding they had not been visible their system. 

He said that there was no per­petual ban on these foreign­ers, as they could return after completing their valid and le­gal travel documents and visas. They could come to Pakistan for education or business purposes and the government would fa­cilitate them. 

While the third category fell in the Identity theft and over whom they had devised a mech­anism to remove them from the database, he added.

The prime minister empha­sised that the government was focusing on the regulated move­ment. Responding to anoth­er question, he said that among these foreigners who had any self-claims over businesses and properties, they could approach the relevant legal forums and institutions as the government’s policy was not meant for usur­pation of their assets. 

The relevant forums and courts were fully functional as these would eventually de­cide their claims, he added. The prime minister, to a question of media persons, replied that Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) was a statutory body to whom full support was provided by the previous parlia­ment through legislation. Its de­cisions could not be challenged or undone, he added. 

He said the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund were going on smooth­ly and they were confident that further negotiations for the second tranche would be held during IMF team visit to Paki­stan in the month of November. 

The prime minister said that due to the government’s mea­sures of crackdown on smug­gling and illicit currency trade, positive impacts had been caused on inflation with tangi­ble reduction in the US dollar and petroleum products rates. The US dollar was now trad­ing at around Rs 278 instead Rs 330 which also helped re­duced the country’s circular debt, he added. Due to crack­down on illegal smuggling, es­pecially under Afghan transit trade, the local industry had been encouraged which was now returning to productivity, he said, adding that economic indicators were showing posi­tive trend.

He also stressed upon pro­jecting the history and culture of Pakistan to the outer world to boost tourism sector in the country and lauded the provin­cial government for taking im­portant initiatives to attract re­ligious tourism and vice versa.

Tourism had immense role in the economic development of the country, he said and asked other provinces which had his­torical sites to focus on this area. 

The prime minister also laud­ed Mayo hospital administra­tion for revamping and im­proving their existing structure which was a precedent for them as such measures proved very cost-effective. 

He also reassured the support of the caretaker federal govern­ment to the provincial govern­ments, in its limited time, to re­alize such projects.

‘BRIEFING ON SL-3 LAHORE RING ROAD’

Caretaker Prime Minister An­waar-ul-Haq Kakar on Tuesday received a briefing regarding the construction of the south­ern portion (SL-3) of Lahore Ring Road.

He was apprised that 8-kilo­meter long southern portion of the SL-3 would be completed by January 30, 2024 which would significantly ease vehicular traf­fic coming from South Punjab, the PM Office Media Wing said in a press release. The prime minister appreciated the Pun­jab Government’s efforts to ex­pedite the uplift projects.

‘IMAMIA COLONY FLYOVER’

Caretaker Prime Minister An­waar-ul-Haq Kakar on Tuesday was apprised that 70 percent construction work on the Ima­mia Colony flyover, Shahdara had been completed.