ISLAMABAD - The federal cabinet has abolished the job quota system for the legislators in the National Assembly.

Addressing a news conference after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said MNAs and MPAs were given a quota to recruit their own people. “We are abolishing all such quotas,” he said.

From now on, all hiring will be done through ballotting, the minister announced. He said there’s a need to revamp the federal service commission and increase its capacity.

“We have received complaints about the National Testing Service on the Citizen Portal. NTS is used for hiring on positions for grade 15 and above, he said. “It has been said that their testing service is not foolproof,” said Fawad.

The Establishment Division has been asked to revamp the testing service companies and make sure that they fulfil the criteria. “Only the companies approved by the Establishment Division will be able to conduct tests now,” he said.

Fawad said that an amendment in Pakistan Penal Code was being done for bringing the absconders like Altaf Hussian, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz and Ishaq Dar back to the country to face the law.

Announcing the decisions of Federal Cabinet shortly after its meeting, the information minister said that the federal cabinet had expressed serious concern over the ongoing money laundering cases and expressed the resolve that the cases regarding money laundering would have logical conclusion.

The minister said that owing to the flawed policies of past rulers, the country was facing inflation and economic crisis. He said that in the past, Sharif family and Zardari were allegedly involved in large scale corruption, loot and plunder.

He said that sons of Nawaz Sharif – Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz – and Ishaq Dar were not coming to Pakistan to face cases in the courts.

The minister said that 95 percent assets declared by Sharif family were based on telegraphic transfer (TT). He said that Cabinet members of the past governments were also involved in mega scandals and some members of the Muslim League-N cabinet got Iqamas from foreign countries to launder money.

He said as per investigation, $26 million were received by Shehbaz Sharif family through TT whereas Nawaz family got millions of dollars in Al-Azizia Steel Mills.

Fawad said out of the declared assets of Hamza Shebaz, 99 percent were TT-based whereas his mother Nusrat Shehbaz

 

 

 

 had received 85 percent money from abroad through telegraphic transfer.

He said that in just only one night, Rs 1.2 billion were transferred from Hill Metal to Nawaz Sharif account and similarly Rs 820 million were transferred in Maryam Nawaz account from which she used to buy properties and assets.

He made it clear that this investigation was not done during the PTI government tenure.

The Federal Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed the resolve to continue the crackdown against terrorists under the National Action Plan (NAP) to eventually eliminate the menace from the country.

The information minister said that the government was moving fast to implement the National Action Plan, and it was not far when the scourge will be eradicated from the country.

He said that external factors were involved in the terrorist incidents in the country, and the government was close to completely destroy that network.

Fawad Chaudhry said that full implementation of NAP was the yardstick to overcome incidents of terrorism and civil and military leadership had unanimous view on the NAP implementation. He said that the Cabinet offered Fateha for those martyred in the Quetta blast.

He that the prime minister has called a special meeting of the cabinet today to further discuss the Assets Declaration and Amnesty Scheme, 2019.

According to the minister, members were not able to sufficiently discuss the scheme yesterday and that there was still room for further talks, "which is why the prime minister has called a special meeting tomorrow to finish the discussions before it is sent for clearance."

The minister further said that the government is planning to make the Pakistan Steel Mills profitable again on the basis of public-private partnership. "The Steel Mills used to be a profitable entity up until the Zardari government came into power, they were the ones who drove it into the ground," he added.

"Now six major international companies are interested in helping us run the project," the minister said, adding that production capacity of the mills will be enhanced up to 3 million tonnes.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would launch Apna Ghar housing scheme today and in the first phase 135,000 apartments would be built.

He said that proposals were under consideration to enhance the capacity of Auditor General Office. He said that the issue of renewal of telecommunications licenses was also discussed in the Cabinet meeting.

The Minister said that the Cabinet gave three-month extension to Chairman, CDA Amir Ali Ahmed. The cabinet also gave approval to the proposal of appointment of Dr Amir as chairman of the Evacuee Trust.

He said that the Cabinet gave green signal for appointment of the new chairman of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC).

Answering a Information Minister said that there was no plan to reshuffle the Cabinet and when there would be any change in portfolios, the PM Office would make a formal announcement in that regard.

To another question, he said Quetta incident was tragic, but there should be no politics on the issue, adding that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari may not know but during the PPP rule the incidents of terrorism were quite common which now had been controlled to a great extent.