In his farewell address, Shehbaz Sharif holds previous govt responsible for current price hike n Says he will hold consultations today with Opposition Leader for nomination of caretaker PM n Announces various incentive packages for overseas Pakistanis.

 

ISLAMABAD  -  President Arif Alvi late Wednesday night dis­solved the National As­sembly on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, just a couple of days before the comple­tion of its five year term. 

A short official com­muniqué issued by the presidency late night said that President Arif Alvi under Article 58(1) of the Constitution ap­proved the summary sent by the prime min­ister. Earlier, PM She­hbaz Sharif signed the summary sent to him by parliamenta­ry affairs Ministry late Wednesday night and immediately forwarded it to the president for his consent and orders. 

The summary was sent under Article 58 of the Constitution by the prime minister through proper official channel to the president for ap­proval. A statement is­sued by Parliamenta­ry Affairs Ministry said that under Article 224 of the Constitution the installation of caretak­er PM and the cabinet had been requested. 

The statement said the parliamentary affairs ministry would issue no­tification of dissolution of the national assembly after approval from the president. Sources told The Nation that PM She­hbaz Sharif would con­tinue as prime minis­ter till the appointment of caretaker PM under the Constitution which may take two to three days more. The cabi­net division issued no­tification about the dis­solution of the National Assembly and the feder­al cabinet as well. 

Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif Wednesday expressed firm commit­ment to make Pakistan an economically self-re­liant and a debt free country through collec­tive efforts. 

In his farewell speech in the Na­tional Assembly, he said that the coalition government success­fully tackled the challenges on the economic front during the last sixteen months. The prime minister said the government tactfully averted default, re­vived the IMF programme and extended all possible support to the flood affected people.

PM Sharif also said the gov­ernment had given an econom­ic revival vision. He said under the Special Investment Facilita­tion Council, areas such as agri­culture, information technology, mineral and exports have been targeted. He said whosoever forms the next government af­ter the general election will take forward this vision of economic revival. The prime minister re­called that it was the first time in ten years that the country witnessed a bumper wheat crop this year and it is expected that cotton will also see a good pro­duction. Shehbaz Sharif strong­ly criticised the performance of the previous government, saying their conduct damaged our relations with the United States, China and some other brotherly countries.

Referring to the conviction of the PTI Chairman in Toshakha­na case, the prime minister said the present government during the last sixteen months has not targeted any of its political op­ponents. He said it is not a mat­ter of celebration that a leader of a political party has been sen­tenced. Shehbaz Sharif said the previous government pushed the opposition to the wall during its four year stint.

Strongly condemning the 9th May violent incidents, the prime minister said these were a rebellion against the State of Pakistan, the Armed Forces and the Chief of Army Staff Gen­eral Asim Munir. He acknowl­edged the sacrifices rendered by the Armed Forces and Secu­rity Agencies of the country to defeat terrorism. He said this House should again take notice of the May 9 conspiracy and pass a condemnation resolu­tion so that nobody could dare repeat such acts in future.

Regarding some points raised by BNP Chief Sardar Jan Akhter Mengal, Shehbaz Sharif said he tried his best to fulfill all the le­gitimate demands of the peo­ple of Balochistan. He said wa­ter and electricity projects in Gwadar have been complet­ed in a short span of sixteen months. He, however, assured the House that all the unre­solved issues of the province would be addressed with the collective approach as Pakistan cannot move forward without the development of Balochistan. Talking about future course of action, the prime minister said he would send the advice to the President of Pakistan for the dissolution of the National As­sembly tonight. He added that tomorrow he would hold con­sultations with the Opposition Leader for the nomination of a caretaker Prime Minister in ac­cordance with the Constitution.

Paying tributes to former Prime Ministers Nawaz Shar­if and Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, Shehbaz Sharif expressed his deep gratitude to all the coali­tion partners, Opposition Mem­bers and his Cabinet Members for their support and guidance in running affairs of the gov­ernment. He also thanked the Speaker National Assembly, the Chairman Senate and the staff of the Parliament for their consistent cooperation. Lead­er for opposition in the Nation­al Assembly Raja Riaz Ahmed, in his farewell address, came down hard on PTI’s Chairman Imran Khan on his wrong pol­icies. He said it was a right de­cision by the parliamentarians to dislodge the PTI government through a no-confidence mo­tion. Riaz also lauded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for pre­venting the country from eco­nomic default. Minister for Defence Minister Khawaja Mu­hammad Asif has said econom­ic stability will be the biggest challenge for the next Nation­al Assembly. Minister called for collective efforts to put Pakistan on the path of economic stabili­ty by utilizing its own resourc­es instead of relying on foreign loans. “We need to provide re­lief to the people of Pakistan from the increasing inflation in the country,” he said.

The House on its last day passed “The Pakistan Electron­ic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2023” aimed at protecting rights of journal­ists and media workers. The bill was moved by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb. Minister congratulated the media organi­zations including Parliamentary Reports Association, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists as well as the Rawalpindi and Is­lamabad Union of Journalists upon the passage of the bill

‘Sacrificing politics for sake of country’ Prime Minister She­hbaz Sharif says the coalition government actively worked for welfare and prosperity of the country during a very short span of sixteen months. Addressing the farewell meet­ing of the Federal Cabinet in Is­lamabad, the prime minister said the coalition government sacrificed their politics for the sake of the country and to save it from economic default.

He said the country was bad­ly affected by the floods last year and rehabilitation of the flood hit people was a big chal­lenge for the government.

Shehbaz Sharif lauded the ef­forts of NDMA, Pak Army and all other rescue institutions which worked for the rehabil­itation of flood affected people. 

He said eighty billion rupees have been distributed trans­parently among the flood af­fected people across the coun­try under Benazir Income Support Programme. About inflation, the prime minister said the previous government is responsible for the present price hike in country, but the incumbent government took difficult decisions to strength­en the national economy.

The Prime Minister thanked for valuable support of Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Re­ham, Chaudhry Shujaat Hus­sain, Khalid Maqbool Siddique, Aimal Walli Khan, Khalid Magsi, Nawab Akhtar Mengal, Aslam Bhootani, Aftab Khan Sherpao, Allama Sajid Mir, Shah Zain Bugti and Abdul Malik Baloch for running the government af­fairs. He appreciated the lead­ership of the allied government for their valuable contribution, positive criticism, and support during the tenure.

Referring to the IMF agree­ment, Shehbaz Sharif said we have made no politics over the agreement with IMF. He lauded the support of Chinese ex-pre­mier in this regard. Shehbaz Sharif termed the Chinese 25 billon dollars investment in the second phase of CPEC say­ing that long awaited projects of CPEC regarding energy and wa­ter completed in Gwadar with the special attentions of Baloch­istan government. He thanked the Chinese government for rollover of its five billion dollars commercial loans. About 9th May violent incidents and at­tacks on national installations, the Prime Minister said under a well hatched conspiracy against state, Pak Army and Chief of Army Staff, such attacks were carried out and martyrs monu­ments were disgraced.

He termed it terrorism and reaffirmed that the culprits in­volved in these attacks will be brought to justice at all cost.

He said the Army Chief and force showed restraint, other­wise, the situation would have been much deteriorated. The Prime Minister stressed the need of political harmony among federal and provincial’s govern­ments and all political parties to bring the country out of cri­ses. He thanked all the provin­cial Chief Ministers and govern­ment officers who contributed and supported the government during the last sixteen months.