ISLAMABAD  -  Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has proposed formulation of a joint strategy to Afghanistan with the sincerity of purpose to defeat the scourge of rising terrorism from across the border.

He expressed the confidence that the neighbouring country will seriously consider his proposal and work with Pakistan to make the region abode of peace.

The prime minister made these remarks while chairing the federal cabinet meeting here yesterday. 

The prime minister said collective efforts against terrorism will help establish peace in the region and address other issues such as that of poverty.

Expressing strong resolve and determination of the government against rising terrorism, the PM made it clear that Pakistan will not tol­erate any kind of terrorism em­anating from across the western border. The PM said security of geographical frontiers of Paki­stan are a redline.

He said Pakistan desires to have cordial relations with the neighbouring fraternal country (Afghanistan) to promote trade and economic relations.

“However, it is not acceptable that the land of the neighbour­ing country is used for terrorism against Pakistan”, remarked the PM. Highlighting the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in the war on terrorism, the prime minister reaffirmed the commitment to wipe out the menace of terror­ism as was done previously.

The Prime Minister paid glow­ing tributes to the sacrifices of the security forces and their families. Talking about the economic situation, the Prime Minister said the country is compelled to secure another IMF package. The prime minis­ter however affirmed the com­mitment to revive the economy and help it stand on its own feet. 

“We have taken a conscious decision to minimize borrowing and gradually rid the country of loans”, the PM remarked. 

He said an enabling environ­ment will be created to attract investments across various sec­tors including agriculture, in­dustries, Information Technolo­gy and mines and minerals. 

He said Special Investment Fa­cilitation Council is serving as a robust platform to facilitate in­vestment in the country.

Alluding to the pending tax cases worth Rs2400 billion, the Prime Minister appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to direct the courts to dispose of these cases at the earliest. 

The Prime Minister also ex­pressed the resolve to enhance the tax base and bring the po­tential sectors into the tax net. 

He said the FBR will be com­pletely digitalized. For this pur­pose, the process of hiring con­sultants will be completed by the third or fourth week of the next month. He said the digita­lization process will be super­vised to ensure its early com­pletion. He said the services of honest and dedicated officers in the FBR will be duly recognized.

Shehbaz Sharif said a commit­tee has also been established to cut the expenditures of the gov­ernment. He assured that its rec­ommendations will be fully im­plemented.

He said there will be zero tol­erance to electricity and gas pil­ferage. The Prime Minister em­phasized the importance of collaborative efforts amongst the federal and provincial gov­ernments to steer the country out of multifaceted challenges.

Shehbaz Sharif expressed the confidence that the cabinet will live up to the confidence of the masses in terms of its perfor­mance and responsibility.

During the meeting, the prime minister and his cabinet mem­bers decided to voluntarily for­go their salaries and other perks and privileges in line with the austerity drive of the govern­ment. The president of Pakistan has already decided not to draw salary and other privileges. 

The Cabinet Division has no­tified the decision taken in the cabinet meeting. 

The cabinet also accorded ap­proval for the formation of Pa­kistan International Airlines Holding Company, which is a significant step forward toward privatization of the national flag carrier. The cabinet was briefed about the Staff Level Agreement with the International Monetary Fund by Finance Minister Mu­hammad Aurangzeb to revive the national economy and boost investors’ confidence.

Meanwhile, the prime minis­ter while chairing the first meet­ing of the special committee on legal and judicial reforms here, instructed the committee to im­mediately prepare a package of constitutional and legal amend­ments for judicial reforms.

He expressed the desire that purpose of the reforms is to pro­vide people easy and prompt justice. The PM directed to for­mulate a plan of action to ease the legal procedures for the con­venience of the common man. 

Regarding tax matters, the Prime Minister said tax proce­dure and laws should be made easy for the general public, espe­cially the business community.

He advised the committee to present legal suggestions to en­sure effective tax collections. 

The prime minister, while chairing another meeting to re­view the economic situation, di­rected the authorities concerned to consult international experts and national stakeholders re­garding initiatives for economic stability and development of the country. He said the government will focus on increasing the tax net to increase revenue instead of levying more taxes. The prime minister said provision of access to the global market will be ensured to the export indus­try and small, medium and large scale industries will be devel­oped in the country.