Tag: Cabinet

  • Zulfi Bukhari will rejoin cabinet once his name is cleared in Rawalpindi Ring Road inquiry: Ghulam Sarwar Khan

    Zulfi Bukhari will rejoin cabinet once his name is cleared in Rawalpindi Ring Road inquiry: Ghulam Sarwar Khan

    Federal Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan revealed on Dawn News show ‘Live with Adil Shahzeb’ that former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari was not being investigated in the Rawalpindi Ring Road project. “Right now, an inquiry is being conducted against government officials who changed the alignment, disbursement, and other issues. No political figure played any role in this. Zulfi’s name will be cleared God-willing once the inquiry concludes.”

    When anchorperson Adil Shahzeb asked if Zulfi Bukhari will be back in the cabinet, Ghulam Sarwar said that Bukhari’s resignation has not been accepted. “He is young and emotional so he offered his resignation but it has not been accepted.”

    Zulfi Bukhari stepped down from his cabinet position on May 17 due to the Rawalpindi Ring Road inquiry.

    Ghulam Sarwar Khan, who was also named by the Opposition in the Ring Road scandal, said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was “satisfied since day one” that he had nothing to do with it.

  • Pakistan to send coronavirus relief assistance to Palestine

    Pakistan to send coronavirus relief assistance to Palestine

    Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Tuesday that Pakistan would send coronavirus and medical emergency relief assistance to Palestine on humanitarian grounds.

    This decision was taken during the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday. Fawad said the cabinet thoroughly discussed the prevailing situation in Palestine and expressed indignation over the unfortunate situation of Palestinians.

    “Pakistan was the first country that took a strong, clear, and unflinching stance on Palestine,” said Chaudhry.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi went on an official visit to Turkey, where he held a meeting with his Turkish counterpart on the Palestine issue.

    Foreign ministers of different Islamic countries including Pakistan, Turkey, Sudan, and Palestine will leave for New York in a group form to attend the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Palestine, he said.

  • Cabinet reshuffle, again

    Cabinet reshuffle, again

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has had another cabinet reshuffle this past week. The news of another reshuffle was doing the rounds for some weeks and finally it was announced on Friday, April 16. Except for one new but expected addition, all other portfolios have been given to already serving cabinet ministers. Only their portfolios have been changed.

    Hammad Azhar, who had just been appointed the finance minister less than three weeks ago after the ouster of Hafeez Shaikh, has now been removed and given the portfolio of energy. Shaukat Tarin, who served as the finance minister in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) regime, has been appointed as minister for finance. He has been given the additional charge of revenue as well. Tarin is the fourth finance minister under the current regime and the second ex-PPP finance minister after Shaikh. Asad Umar was originally appointed the finance minister by PTI before being removed unceremoniously after a few months into his tenure whereas Hammad Azhar’s stint as finance minister was the shortest of all in this government. Tarin will be finance minister for at least six months and then the government will have to get him elected for him to remain in the ministerial position. Tarin has been extremely critical of PTI’s economic management. We will have to wait and see how he turns around the economy.

    Omar Ayub has been made the minister for economic affairs; he was previously energy minister. Khusro Bakhtiar, who held Ayub’s portfolio has now been given the portfolio of industries and production – a portfolio held earlier by Hammad Azhar, who now has Ayub’s portfolio. If this does not make your head hurt, do not fret for we now have Fawad Chaudhry back as the Information Minister while his ministry – Science & Technology – has been given to former information minister Shibli Faraz. Musical chairs, much?

    Fawad Chaudhry was an asset as the information minister when the PTI government came to power but he was replaced by Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan. Shibli Faraz later replaced Firdous. Chaudhry is the fourth – yet the original – information minister. When Chaudhry took on the science ministry, he brought his ministry to the limelight by starting many new projects. One of Chaudhry’s feats was his tussle on moonsighting for Ramzan and Eid with Mufti Muneeb. Chaudhry won in the end through his use of technology. Unfortunately, the new science minister Shibli Faraz thinks that moonsighting and the use of technology for this should not be the science ministry’s concern. We hope that Faraz will not rollback all the good work done by Chaudhry.

    We also hope that we will not need a new finance minister or a new information minister anytime soon.

  • Cabinet reshuffled, again

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again reshuffled the federal cabinet, appointing Shaukat Tareen as new finance minister.

    Tareen has replaced federal minister Hammad Azhar, who was appointed as the country’s finance minister a few weeks ago when the premier replaced him with Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

    Other changes include Khusro Bakhtiar as the minister for industries and production, Shibli Faraz as the minister for science and technology, replacing Fawad Chaudhry, who has been appointed as the minister for information and broadcasting, replacing Faraz.

    Omar Ayub has been appointed as the minister for economic affairs, replacing Khusro Bakhtiar.

    Last month, Faraz had shared the premier’s intentions on reshuffling the cabinet, saying that he was bringing in a new team.

    Prior to that, the government had asked Hafeez Shaikh to step down and appointed Azhar in his place.

    Faraz said decisions were made keeping in view the realities of the country and that the PTI regime wished to give relief to the poor.

    “When a new individual comes along, they come up with new ideas,” he had said.

    Reports had earlier quoted sources as saying that PM Imran was considering bringing about important changes to the cabinet on a “big scale”, adding that ministers who did not perform up to the expectations will be removed from their portfolios.

  • Sarwar says cabinet ‘only listens to businessmen’ as PTI ministers attack own govt

    Sarwar says cabinet ‘only listens to businessmen’ as PTI ministers attack own govt

    Federal Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan has accused the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led cabinet of “only listening to businessmen” while paying no heed to its own members.

    As per the details, the minister attacked his own government during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Agriculture. He, however, wasn’t the only one expressing concerns as Fehmida Mirza also pointed out high prices of agricultural inputs and low rate of output.

    Expressing his dissatisfaction with the government’s policies, Sarwar, the aviation minister said that within the past two and a half they had not been able to do anything for the agricultural sector. Mirza, the inter-provincial coordination minister, said that no relief had been given to growers.

    However, Finance Minister Hammad Azhar and Food Security Minister Fakhar Imam defended the government policies.

    According to The Express Tribune, Azhar said that the price of DAP fertiliser had been increased because of the hike in international price, adding that increasing support price of wheat would affect the flour price.

    The meeting was chaired by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, which was also attended by Usman Dar, Shandana Gulzar and others. Gulzar informed the committee that the government would initiate ‘Kamyab Kisan’ programme.

    “We could not give any relief to the agricultural sector. The government gave relief to industry and services but not to agriculture. The voice of the people for sectors other than agricultural is more powerful,” Sarwar lamented.

    “We are importing wheat but the government is not ready to give anything to its own growers. Imported wheat costs Rs2,400 [pre 40 kilogrammes] but we’re are giving Rs1,800 to the growers [in the shape of support price],” he told the committee.

    After the meeting, Qaiser said that the stance of Ghulam Sarwar in the meeting was his personal viewpoint.

  • Imran govt likely to rid PIA of Rs500 billion debt

    Imran govt likely to rid PIA of Rs500 billion debt

    The federal cabinet is likely to take a decision regarding the hefty Rs500 billion debt burden on the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

    According to reports, PIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Air Marshal (r) Arshad Mahmood Malik will brief the federal cabinet, scheduled to meet today (Tuesday), about restructuring reforms introduced in the national carrier to make it self-sustainable “without seeking financial help from the government”.

    “Even with operational profits, the airline will not not be able to come out of the financial quagmire,” reports quoted sources as saying. “The burden of debt servicing is unsustainable.”

    They said the cabinet would also be briefed on the airline’s foodservice division (FSD), technical ground service (TGS), base management of the engineering department, revenue enhancement strategies, human resource restructuring, financial restructuring, and measures pertaining to Precision Engineering Complex (PEC).

    The PIA management has been evaluating the possibility of giving a management contract of food services at Karachi and Islamabad. While this will not generate much in terms of cost-saving, it will definitely improve product quality and customer satisfaction.

    Similarly, the PIA management has been evaluating the possibility of giving an operation and management contract for technical ground service.

    Reports said the airline is also evaluating different options to get out of the courier business which was launched by PIA in 2003. It has been considering outsourcing or partnering options for Speedex.

    Moreover, they added, the airline is tackling revenue enhancement strategies, route rationalisation, product improvement, yield enhancement, enhanced focus on corporate business, network optimisation, ancillary revenue, codeshare of the alliance to expand the network, revamping of web business portal and offering special packages for online users and reduction in distribution cost by implementing HITIT portal plus.

  • Cabinet bans employing children as domestic workers

    Cabinet bans employing children as domestic workers

    The federal cabinet has approved a bill against the employment of children as domestic help across the country, Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari has said.

    According to details, the minister during her speech in the Senate on Friday said it will be applied once further work on the bill is finalised.

    “Violence and mistreatment of children start from these households,” Mazari said, mentioning that the new bill is government’s effort to end the violence against children.

    According to the new clause, any child under the age of 14 years can not be hired as domestic help. If anyone violates the law, strict action will be taken against them.

    The move came after several child abuse cases were reported from across the country. A campaign was also started on social media against the domestic employment of children. The government had also faced criticism for its lack of laws on the issue.

    Dr Mazari had been trying to include domestic labour by children as an unsafe line of work under this act.

  • Rs10 billion subsidy approved to control inflating food prices

    Rs10 billion subsidy approved to control inflating food prices

    To counter the effects of inflating food prices, the federal cabinet on Tuesday approved a detailed package of Rs10 billion subsidies for Utility Stores, Dawn reported.

    According to reports, the government will open thousands of stores in Pakistan, moreover, consumer items at subsidised rates will be supplied to 50,000 tandoors and dhabas.

    To address the sugar crisis in Pakistan, the cabinet meeting presided by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan also decided to lift the ban on sugar import and regulatory duty on it. Also, the cabinet in its meeting decided to establish five “free zones” along the Pak-Afghan border, where Utility Store Cooperation will set up its stores to curb smuggling.

    RATES:

    Under Rs10bn subsidy, a 20 kg bag of wheat flour will be sold for Rs800, sugar will be priced at Rs70 per kg, ghee at Rs175, pulses at Rs15 and rice will be available at Rs20 per kg at Utility Stores.

    In the meeting, the cabinet agreed that rupee devaluation against the dollar and the increase in gas and electricity tariffs were some of the reasons for the increase in food items prices. Cabinet also agreed that there would be no further increase in gas and electricity rates.

    Advisor to PM on Information and Broadcast Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan. addressing a press conference, said, “The government would provide Rs2bn monthly subsidy to the USC for wheat flour, rice, sugar, pulses and ghee. She said the basic objective to give Rs10 billion subsidy was to ensure a sufficient supply of food items through Utility Stores.

    The also meeting decided that the government would use Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation as a reservoir to store sufficient quantity of essential items so that in times of crisis these reserves could be utilised.