ISLAMABAD     -    Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif Monday said that bridging of the dif­ferences between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a re­markable achievement and positive develop­ment was seen by Pa­kistan with happiness and hope. 

Speaking at an Iftar dinner hosted by him in honour of ambassa­dors of Islamic coun­tries here, he said, "be­cause of the blessings of Ramazan, Saudi Arabia and Iran have bridged their differences and this is a remarkable achievement.

"We are all happy about this positive de­velopment and the fol­low up has been ex­tremely speedy. It is a great pleasure to wit­ness meetings of for­eign ministers, and del­egations visiting Riyadh and Tehran.

"This development is seen by Pakistan as a message of great hap­piness and hope. I am sure this progress will multiply in many ways in the future," he added.

Talking about the Pal­estine issue, he said hundreds of people were killed in Palestine in the last many months in naked aggression. The Prime Minister of Pales­tine and some of his cab­inet members had made statements saying the violence against the Pal­estinians was increas­ing, he continued. 

PM Shehbaz Sharif said the world had wit­nessed a rough period and one could see what happened in global mar­kets. Prices of oil and other items had gone be­yond the reach of devel­oping countries includ­ing Pakistan and other countries, he noted. 

He said Pakistan suf­fered unprecedented floods because of cli­mate change and then there was a massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The PM said the Pakistani govern­ment was grateful to Is­lamic countries, includ­ing Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Malaysia for their very valuable and timely assistance for the flood affectees.

Every Muslim country came to help Pakistan at a difficult period and “we will remember your sup­port for all times to come”, he re­marked. The prime minister said the occupation forces in Palestine had shown disdain and crossed red lines without any qualm. He said Ramazan was a holy month which emphasised upon re­straint, empathy, kindness, self introspection, generosity and ef­fort to bridge differences.

‘PULWAMA INCIDENT’

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said the revelations by the ex-Governor of Indian Ille­gally Occupied Jammu and Kash­mir (IIOJK) about the reality of Pulwama incident, had exposed India’s designs against Paki­stan. In a tweet, he said the rev­elations showed how the Indian government exploited the situ­ation for political gains, which vindicated Pakistan’s position.

He urged the internation­al community to take notice of India’s dangerous brinkman­ship that could have led to di­sastrous consequences for the region. The Foreign Office, in a statement, said the disclo­sures demonstrated how the Indian leadership had habitu­ally used the bogey of terror­ism from Pakistan to advance its sham victimhood narrative and the Hindutva agenda, clear­ly for domestic political gains. “We hope that the internation­al community would take cog­nizance of the latest revelations and see through India’s propa­ganda campaign against Paki­stan, driven by selfish political considerations and based on lies and deceit,” it said.

The FO said it was time In­dia be held accountable for the actions that imperiled region­al peace in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.

‘TRIBUTE TO LATE MUFTI ABDUL SHAKOOR’

Prime Minister (PM) Muham­mad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday paid tribute to the late Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Ab­dul Shakoor who died in a traf­fic mishap in the Capital a few days back.

Addressing a session of the National Assembly (NA), the PM said that the late Mufti was a renowned religious scholar and an honest and hardworking member of his cabinet.

“Late Mufti ran his election campaign in his constituency on a motorcycle.”

During the cabinet meet­ings, he found the late minis­ter as a straightforward and clear-minded speaker.

The PM said that due to his hard work and dedication, no complaints were reported during the Hajj arrangements when compared with those is­sues related to mismanage­ment that had emerged during the previous government’s tenure.

The late minister made ex­cellent arrangements with his hard work and honesty, he fur­ther lauded. “Today, not only this house and parliament, but the whole country lost a great scholar, mufti, and thinker,” he added. He said that former member of the cabinet had no other sources of income except his salary.

THE PM FURTHER NAMED THE LATE MUFTI ‘A GEM’ OF THE JUI-F.

He mentioned that the King­dom of Saudi Arabia had gra­tuitously granted a loan of $2 billion to Pakistan, and, the country received $1 billion committed by the United Arab Emirates.

He said all the terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been met.

HINA KHAR CALLS ON PM

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on Monday called on Prime Minis­ter Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.

During the meeting, the min­ister of state briefed the prime minister about her recent vis­it to Uzbekistan, Pakistan’s ties with the neighbouring coun­tries and the matters related to her ministry, the PM Office Me­dia Wing said in a press release.

‘SMUGGLING OF SUGAR, WHEAT, UREA’

Prime Minister Shehbaz Shar­if Monday reviewed measures for the stoppage of smuggling of sugar, wheat, flour, and urea from the country and sought a comprehensive strategy to overcome the problem for the long term.

Chairing a high-level meeting, he said the smuggling of essen­tial items outside the country, was not acceptable in any way. He directed that an immediate operation should be launched against the persons involved in the heinous activity of smug­gling. Smuggling was a menace for any society and in the pres­ent economic situation, Paki­stan could not bear smuggling in any way, he added.

He expressed displeasure at the slow pace of work regarding the end of smuggling and asked for an increase in check posts in the border districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

He ordered immediate action against warehouses involved in hoarding and smuggling and said honest reputable officers should be posted at the interna­tional border.

He stressed that no pres­sure should be entertained while removing corrupt offi­cers involved in smuggling and draft legislation for stoppage of smuggling should be presented as soon as possible.

He said anti-smuggling courts should be immediate­ly made effective and function­al and number of these courts should be increased. He said the number of highly reputable judges and prosecutors should be increased in the anti-smug­gling courts.

The prime minister said ex­emplary punishment should be given to those who were caus­ing loss of billions of dollars to the country.

He directed that the chief sec­retary should provide figures of demand for these items in the border districts of provinces so that supply in these districts should not exceed more than a set limit.

He said the sugar and urea confiscated during the opera­tion against smuggling should be sold in the bazaar according to the price fixed by the govern­ment. During the meeting, Fed­eral Board of Revenue (FBR), Interior Ministry and law en­forcement institutions briefed the prime minister about the measures taken to stop in­tra-provincial and out-of-coun­try smuggling.

The meeting was informed that a countrywide operation was continuing against the smuggling of urea fertilizer and sugar. FBR and the law enforce­ment institutions on Sunday seized 49 trucks while Frontier Corps also foiled attempts to smuggle thousands of tonnes of urea and sugar and confiscated the commodities.

It was informed that joint pa­trolling teams were being set up to stop cross-border smug­gling and on the reports of in­telligence agencies four joint patrolling checkpoints were established in Balochistan where law enforcement insti­tutions and FBR would work together.

It was told that the govern­ment had declared wheat, flour, sugar and urea as “items”.

The prime minister directed that SUPARCO should provide real-time satellite imagery of the country’s borders and data of movement in order to put a stop to smuggling.

It was further informed that warehouses in the border dis­tricts were being identified and dealers and their facilitators were being located with the help of a track and trace system after the seizure of goods during failed attempts of smuggling.

The meeting was also apprised of a list comprising names of of­ficers involved in the facilitation of smuggling. The representa­tives of intelligence agencies told that not only smuggled goods and smuggling routes were identified but the persons involved in such activities were also pinpointed and action was being taken against them.

It was told that 740 ware­houses used for hoarding, were being identified in the border districts across the country. In the last four days the law en­forcement agencies confiscat­ed 2800 metric tonnes of sugar and 1400 metric tonnes of urea during numerous raids.

The PM instructed Chief Sec­retary Punjab to supply the sugar seized during the recent failed attempts of smuggling, to the shopkeepers . It should be ensured that sugar should be sold at the government’s fixed rate of Rs 95 per kilo.

He directed Federal Minis­ter for Food Security to call a meeting of the Sugar Advisory Board to determine the support price of sugarcane crop. He said all these measures should be strictly implemented and a re­port along a long-term strategy should be presented in the next two days.

Federal Ministers Rana Sanaullah Khan, Makhdoom Murtaza Mehmood, Tariq Bashir Cheema, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Ahad Cheema, senior officers of relevant in­stitutions and law enforcement agencies, attended the meeting. Chief Secretaries of four prov­inces participated in the meet­ing through video link.