ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to make an end to the false practices of landing into the Upper House through money and in this regard, the federal government is going to approach the apex court to make Constitutional amendments.
While addressing a Press conference following the meeting of Federal Cabinet, which held here on Tuesday in the chair of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said that for the first time in the history of the country, the federal Cabinet had made recommendations to make Pakistani visas process online for 192 countries.
He said that a draft has been submitted to the Law Ministry for the establishment of National Asset Management Authority, and the Cabinet has also approved to constitute a panel comprising on impartial individuals as an alternative settlement system under the law to resolve any issue.
He said that the Cabinet had directed the special committee on missing persons to formulate its recommendations within six weeks.
He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had stated that the government is committed to seek solution on permanent grounds to the issue of missing persons.
The government is determined that there will be no incidents of missing persons under the present regime, he added.
Information Minister said that the PM wants to make an end to the corrupt practices relating to come to the Senate through money, for which Prime Minister is going to approach the Supreme Court to make Constitutional amendments.
He said, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed that all the details of the police squad provided by the federal government and provincial governments to various personalities be sought so that the system could be rationalized.
The Minister stated that the Prime Minister had said that the provision of unnecessary police squads was a waste of State resources which was against the policy of the present government.
Constitutional amendments needed to stop money use to reach Senate: Shibli
Talking about the ongoing campaign against land grabbers, various Ministers in Cabinet meeting opined that thousands of acres of land of government departments like civil aviation and Railways are under illegal occupation.
The Cabinet was informed that government lands worth billions of rupees have been retrieved in the last two and a half years from illegal land grabbers.
He said, presenting the details of lands retrieved in Punjab before the Cabinet, it was informed that land worth Rs 210 billion has been relinquished in Punjab province so far by PTI Government.
Earlier, the cabinet was told that unfortunately in the past not only the illegal landmafia was sponsored at the official level but also personalities of some political parties were involved in illegal land grabbing.
The federal cabinet was briefed that so far, 8,000 acres of state land of worth Rs 24 billion have been retrieved from 36 political figures of PML-N.
Meanwhile, details of various persons belonging to the previous government and the subsequent details of State lands retrieved from their possession were presented before the federal Cabinet.
The Cabinet was informed that to keep a complete record of government lands, relinquishment of government property from illegal occupation and to make ensure effective utilization of these retrieved state lands, National Asset Management Authority is being set up .
The authority will be responsible to ensure effective utilization of these State lands and in this regard, a draft of the proposed law has been sent to the Law Ministry.
The Cabinet was told that with the approval of the Ministry of Law, the process of drafting the law will begin.
The Cabinet was also briefed on the progress made so far in various ongoing projects under the New Pakistan Housing Scheme, especially in providing homes to low-income people.
The details of various incentives given by the government in respect of houses including tax incentives, bank financing, mark-up subsidy, facilitation of approval process were presented.
The Cabinet was informed that half of the mark-up was given by the government and the Government has provided Rs 36 billion in subsidies.
The Cabinet was informed that about 650 projects were approved in Punjab province in last three to four months while for Sindh province, the number is 19 so far.
The government has decided to take stern action against the land grabbers to retrieve the state land, the Minister added.
The Minister said, in this regard, Railways Minister Azam Khan Swati was directed to take serious measures for retrieving Railways land.
Chairman ‘New Pakistan Housing Development Authority’ informed the Cabinet that the private sector is showing keen interest in construction projects after the government’s incentives and initiatives.
Apart from government lands, 57 proposals have been received so far for construction of housing units under public-private partnership on private lands, out of which 34 projects have been approved.
Under these projects, more than 63,000 units will be constructed on more than 20,000 kanals of land. There are 45 projects related to the approval of more than 18,000 kanals by the provinces in urban areas.
In addition, 23 more housing projects are underway.
The Cabinet was informed that Punjab province has provided 9500 kanals of Peri-Urban land for which there are 87 projects.
The Cabinet was informed by the Ministry of Housing that as a result of commencement of work on projects which have been delayed for years, work is underway on 35,000 units of worth Rs. 139.71 billion. Most of these projects will be completed in two years.
As a result projects launched by the Ministry of Housing during last year and this year, a total of more than 136,000 units are being constructed and the total value of these projects is of worth Rs. 657.49 billion (including units with pending projects). In addition, so far 229,295 housing units, valued at Rs. 830 billion, have been shown interest in various projects being considered by various companies.
The Secretary Housing briefed the Cabinet on the projects to be launched in different parts of the country.
The Prime Minister directed that details of housing and construction projects initiated by the district administration in all the districts should be obtained.
The Cabinet approved a policy to run 200 government-provided buses for school children under the Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Programme.
Under this policy, the school management committee of the concerned schools will look after the management of these buses.
The Cabinet was informed about the formation of a Cabinet Committee on Missing Persons. The Cabinet directed the committee to formulate its recommendations within six weeks.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the government was committed to a permanent solution to the issue of missing persons so that no incident of Missing Persons would take place during the tenure of the present government.
Under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act 2017 (Alternative Settlement Law), the Cabinet approved the formation of a panel consisting of the following neutral personalities, including Justice (Retd) Maulvi Anwarul Haq, Advocate Tahir Abbasi, Shirin Imran, Humaira Masihuddin, Hafiz Arafat Ahmed, Hadia Aziz and Natalia.
The meeting also endorsed the decisions of the Cabinet Committee on CPEC, which held on January 26, 2021 and the decisions of the Economic Co-ordination Committee dated January 28, 2021.
In the following meeting, decisions were taken under the Prime Minister’s Relief Package, effective government subsidy system for essential commodities, pilgrims management policy and tariff rationalisation for power sector.
The meeting also endorsed the decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation which held on January 21, 2021.
The Cabinet also approved the appointment of Dr. Samih Khan and Prof. Dr. Arshad Javed to the two vacant posts of members of the Board of Governors under the Federal Medical Teaching Institute Ordinance 2020.
The Cabinet also approved the setting up of a committee comprising Minister of Railways, Minister for Privatization, Adviser on Institutional Reforms, Secretary Finance and Law Secretary to implement the directions of the Supreme Court on the issue of lease of Railway lands in Karachi.
The Federal cabinet approved the deployment of Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the by-elections to National Assembly seat NA-45 (Kurram-I) and Provincial Assembly seat PK-63.
The Cabinet approved in principle the recommendations of the Cabinet Committee on Facilitation of Visa Policy.
The Cabinet was informed that for the first time in the history of the country, Pakistani visas process have been made online for 192 countries.
In response to a question, Federal Minister Senator Shibli Faraz said that government believes in freedom of Press.
The government’s actions are communicated to the people through Press.
In any government, if this source is affected in any way, it is an undesirable act.
He said that January 31 has passed and now the media should ask the Opposition where the resignations are?
In response to a question, he said that talks are underway for understanding on the issue of Melody, Aabpara road closure, good news will come in a month, we believe that there should be no go area in the country.
He said that for Senate Election Open Balloting, the Supreme Court has been approached.
On the other hand, they are also moving towards Constitutional amendments, said Information Minister.
There is no precedent in the past for the government to take such a step on its own, he said.
The way to come to the Senate with money is to be blocked forever, he added.
The Minister said that we want the Senate election to be transparent. Replying to a question, he said that after the bill is passed by the Standing Committee, it is passed in the House as per the Parliamentary tradition.
He said that the Prime Minister reviews the issues related to inflation every week, inflation has come down, if the prices of imported goods go up globally, then it also affects us.