Inside story of Cabinet meeting: Ministers say people, media questioning gas load-shedding
Pakistan
They were of the view that suspension of gas supply to export industry will affect country’s export.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The inside story of the Federal Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan came to light in which the ministers while discussing the issue of gas shortage said that the media and people are asking questions on gas load-shedding.
They were of the view that suspension of supply of gas to export industry will affect country’s export.
Energy Minister Hammad Azhar briefed the cabinet on the present gas supply situation to industries and measures being taken by his ministry to overcome the challenge of gas load-shedding.
The prime minister directed Hammad Azhar to ensure the provision of gas supply to export sector. He also formed a three-member committee to look into the issue of gas supply to industries. The committee includes Shaukat Tarin, Hammad Azhar and Razzak Dawood.
Meanwhile, briefing media on decisions taken in cabinet meeting, which met in Islamabad with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, the information minister said that cabinet approved the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2020-25.
Under the trade policy, various sectors including the traditional sectors like textile, leather, surgical instruments, sports goods, carpets, rice, cutlery and developmental sectors including engineering goods such as auto parts, pharmaceuticals, marble and minerals, processed food and beverages, footwear, gems and jewelry, chemicals, meat and poultry, fruits and vegetables, seafood and services sector would be focused on for the enhancement of exports.
On KP local government polls, the minister said the cabinet did not discuss recently concluded local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it was a federal cabinet meeting, not a meeting of PTI’s core committee.
“We will talk about local body elections in the party’s core committee meeting,” he said and added that it was party’s own mistakes that had given chance to other parties to grab seats in LG polls.
The federal minister further said: “The rise of extremist political parties such as the recently unbanned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam would ultimately harm the country.
He claimed the ruling PTI was the only “national party” in the country.
The minister was of the view that JUI-F had ruined the education and finance sectors when it was in power in KP in 2002, adding that the rise of parties such as the TLP and JUI-F would ultimately harm the country.
The federal cabinet extended gratitude to all the foreign dignitaries for attending the moot. The minister said that on the occasion of OIC FM conference, Pakistan’s viewpoint on Afghan humanitarian crisis was resonated across the world.
The minister said that the cabinet decided that Ministers for Science and Technology and Information Technology would meet the Chief Election Commissioner on Wednesday (tomorrow) to assure all out assistance from the government in holding Islamabad local government elections through EVMs.
He said that textile sector has shown 30 per cent growth and information technology exports have risen by 47 per cent so far and hopefully they would be doubled by the end of the fiscal year.
The federal cabinet has given approval for amendments in section 122 of the Election Act 2017. The amendments have been made in light of directions of the supreme court while the draft law would be presented to the federal cabinet committee on law.
The cabinet, the minister said, gave approval for 3.98 billion $ ex-post facto loans granted during December-2020 to November 2021.
The government was borrowing loans on long-term basis to reduce the external debt burden which was taken during the previous governments on short-term basis on expensive interest rate.
The cabinet has accorded approval of official appointments in Institute of Chartered Accountant of Pakistan (ICAP), the minister said .Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Deputy Governor of State Bank Syed Najam Ali and Syed Feroz Rizvi would be its members.
The cabinet also appointed Jawadullah from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as member National Commission on the Rights on Child.
The Police Act, he said would be sent to the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) for deliberation on Islamabad Police Act.
The Cabinet gave approval for appointment of Dr. Shamshad Akhtar as official member at Port Qasim Authority in place of Vice admiral Zahid Ilyas.
The cabinet notified members for National Food Security and Management Committee headed by the Prime Minister. Ministers, planning, food security, finance, industries, chairman federal board of revenue, all the chief ministers and chief secretaries has been made member to the Committee.
After 18th amendment the country has faced food security issues, he said while referring to the price of wheat flour bag in Karachi which was being sold at over Rs 1300 while the same bag was available at Rs 1100 across the country. There has been anomaly that required rationalization.
The Cabinet was informed about the production and supply of Urea fertilizer. He made it clear that the country has witnessed a huge production of Urea. The Urea per bag price in international market was Rs 10,000 while on contrary in Pakistan the fertilizer was available between Rs1700-1800 per bag.
He said a meeting would be convened tomorrow on special directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan to address the issues related to fertilizer in the country. The agriculture sector will remain on priority for the present government, he said citing farmers’ profits that they made Rs.1, 100 billion from various crops.
The Cabinet has okayed the appointment of Muhammad Najam Nawaz Saqib as community welfare attaché in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.
Fawad said the Cabinet has appointed Ikhlaq Ahmed Syed as independent member in board of directors in GENCO Holding Company on the recommendation of Ministry of Energy.
He said Muhammad Shafiq-ur-Rehman has been appointed as Chairman while Arshad Ali as independent member on board of Jamshoro Power Company. Chief Engineer MEPCO Allah Yar Khan would continue to perform his duties on temporary basis, he added.
The Cabinet, he said has endorsed the decisions of Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and agenda of CLC Committee.
