Pakistan Army to backstop govt’s efforts for economic revival: COAS

NO COMPROMISE ON WRIT OF STATE: SIFC.

ISLAMABAD  -  Special Investment Facilitation Coun­cil (SIFC) Saturday here declared that there would be no compromise on the writ of the state and nobody would be allowed to impose its agen­da through the use of force and bar­rel of the gun.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Ab­bas Jilani conveyed the declaration on behalf of the Apex Committee of SIFC after its fifth meeting.

He was addressing a press confer­ence along with Minister for Infor­mation and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi, Minister for Interior Sarfraz Bugti, Minister for Information Tech­nology Umar Saif, Minister for Law Ahmad Irfan Aslam and Advisor to PM Jawad Sohrab Malik.

The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) resumed the proceed­ings of 5th Apex Committee Meeting on Saturday. The 2nd session was ar­ranged to seek input from the Min­istries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Information Technology & Telecom­munications, National Food Security & Research, and Water Resources for improving business and in­vestment climate in the coun­try. The meeting was chaired by the caretaker Prime Minis­ter Anwaarul Haq Kakar and attended by Chief of Army Staff, federal cabinet, pro­vincial chief ministers and high level government offi­cials. Ministries presented comprehensive plans, cover­ing milestones, timelines and solutions to overcome ma­jor challenges. The commit­tee unanimously decided to take all decisions in larger in­terest of the country and deal with the menace of smug­gling, hoarding and mar­ket manipulations with iron hands through an elaborate enforcement mechanism.

The prime minister direct­ed the ministries to optimally utilise the short interim peri­od for a positive contribution while also initiating medium and long term policy inter­ventions. Chief of Army Staff pledged unwavering support of Pakistan Army to backstop the Government’s efforts for ‘Economic Revival’ of the Country.

Also, Anwaarul Haq Kakar said that important decisions regarding new visa regime have been taken in the Spe­cial Investment Facilitation Council meeting, held in Is­lamabad on Saturday. Talking about the meeting, he said easy provision of visa will be made possible to the busi­ness community adding that people related to investment institutions will also have an easy access to take visa in this regard. The prime min­ister said Pakistan is going to enter in to new era after tak­ing such steps.

‘PAKISTAN PURSUING PRO-ACTIVE DIPLOMACY’

Caretaker Foreign Minis­ter Jalil Abbas Jilani said Sat­urday that Pakistan is pursu­ing a pro-active diplomacy and its relations with other countries are improving. He was addressing a news con­ference in Islamabad flanked by Caretaker Interior Minis­ter Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti, In­formation Minister Murtaza Solangi, IT Minister Dr Umar Saif, Law Minister Ahmed Ir­fan Aslam and SAPM on Over­seas Pakistanis Jawad Sohr­ab Malik following a meeting of Special Investment Facil­itation Council. The foreign minister said the SIFC meet­ing was briefed about Paki­stan’s foreign policy.

He said our relations with China are very strong and ties with the United States are wit­nessing positive trajectory. Jalil Abbas Jilani said that Pa­kistan also enjoys good rela­tions with Saudi Arabia, Mid­dle East, GCC, South Asian and Central Asian countries. Terming Africa as an import­ant region, Jalil Abbas Jilani said Look Africa Policy has been formulated and our re­lations with African coun­tries will be further enhanced. He said the ties with Europe­an countries also hold signif­icance and trade with the EU will be promoted. The Foreign Minister said steps are being taken to solve the problems of international investors. Jalil Abbas Jilani said long-term vi­sas will be provided to the in­vestors. Speaking on the occa­sion, Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti said the interior ministry has made visa policy business friendly. He assured to issue visas to in­ternational investors on easy terms. The minister said spe­cial measures have been taken to prevent smuggling and the government has a zero-toler­ance policy against this men­ace. He said law enforcement agencies have achieved great success in the war against terrorism. He warned that no one will be allowed to im­pose their agenda at gun­point. When asked by The Na­tion’s reporter that country has just spent 34 billion ru­pees on digital census, if that that data is not good enough. He replied stating that NADRA will make that data better and reconfirm it and it will take just 2-3 months. He said chil­dren without B-form would not be able to get admission in schools anymore which is also a step that would help in reg­istration of more population. Jawad Sohrab Malik, in his re­marks, said a cell will be estab­lished in collaboration with the Interior Ministry where issues related to the over­seas Pakistanis will be solved. Meanwhile, Dr Umar Saif said taxation system is being digi­talized and it will help in docu­menting the economy. He said training will be provided to two hundred thousand youth in IT sector whereas freelanc­ing facility will be provided for five hundred thousand peo­ple across the country. Also, when asked about kidnapping of football players in Baloch­istan, the interior minister confirmed the incident which took place in my constituen­cy on early Saturday. He said the FC, police and other LEA’s in supervision of commis­sioner were doing search op­erations. Interim law minis­ter Irfan Aslam, when asked about their long term poli­cy statements, said that the interim setup had been ap­pointed under the Constitu­tion of Pakistan. Article 230 of election act gives us this mandate.