ISLAMABAD: Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said a task force will be set up to resolve the problems of slums in order to bring them into the mainstream.
Briefing media about cabinet decisions in Islamabad Friday evening, the Minister said the government wants to improve the living standard of people and resolve their issues.
The Minister said the cabinet took another important decision to ban the use of all discretionary funds of President, Prime Minister and MNAs as it is an insult to taxpayers.
He added from now onwards, the development projects will be discussed in parliament and their approval will be given after a detailed review.
Fawad Chaudhry the discretionary powers of all the ministers to grant funds have also been revoked.
The Information Minister said funds worth 21 billion rupees were spent by previous government last year. In addition, thirty billion rupees were allocated to MNAs for development projects, making it a huge amount of 51 billion rupees.
He said previous governments used national exchequer like their own property.
Fawad Chaudhry said as part of austerity drive of Prime Minister, it has been decided that special plane of Prime Minister will not be used for foreign visits. Rather, he will travel in ordinary passenger planes and use the club class instead of business or first class.
This discretion has also been abolished for President, Chief Justice, and other senior officials.
The Minister said cabinet also took the decision to hold a forensic audit of all mass transport projects including Multan Metro bus project, Lahore Orange Train Project, and Peshawar Metro Bus. He said, if needed, FIA will investigate the issues.
The cabinet also decided to start urban tree plantation projects in Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, and Lahore from next month. The purpose is to make these areas green and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change.
He said the cabinet decided that working hours will be changed from 9 am to 5 p.m. and the weekly holiday of Saturday will not be abolished. It will also be ensured that public servants dedicate full time to their jobs during the working hours.
Commenting on an incident in Faisalabad, Fawad Chaudhry said it was a law and order situation matter between two groups and had no religious dimension.
Replying to a question, the Minister said it is being considered to abolish the Ministry of CADD and merge its employees into other departments.
On a question regarding information ministry, he said there will be visible changes in his ministry soon.
He said PTV and Radio Pakistan have been given directions to give equal coverage to all political parties and their leaders and there is no editorial censorship on both.
He said the duration of English transmissions on PTV and Radio Pakistan will be enhanced in order to give the world a picture of what is happening in the country.
He said PTV World will highlight the regional issues of the country.
Fawad Chaudhry told a questioner that task forces set up by the government are for short-term goals and long-term goals and they will work accordingly.
On another question, a mechanism is being evolved to hold a complete inquiry on Result Transmission System of Election Commission of Pakistan, so that such delays do not occur in future.
Govt abolishes all discretionary funds of president, PM, MNAs
Govt abolishes all discretionary funds of president, PM, MNAs
Imran Khan’s party shutdown draws mixed response; government calls it ‘ineffective’
- Ex-PM Khan’s PTI party had called for a ‘shutter-down strike’ to protest Feb. 8, 2024 general election results
- While businesses reportedly remained closed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, they continued as normal elsewhere
ISLAMABAD: A nationwide “shutter-down strike” called by former prime minister Imran Khan’s party drew a mixed response in Pakistan on Sunday, underscoring political polarization in the country two years after a controversial general election.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PIT) opposition party had urged the masses to shut businesses across the country to protest alleged rigging on the second anniversary of the Feb. 8, 2024 general election.
Local media reported a majority of businesses remained closed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, governed by the PTI, while business continued as normal in other provinces as several trade associations distanced themselves from the strike call.
Arab News visited major markets in Islamabad’s G-6, G-9, I-8 and F-6 sectors, as well as commercial hubs in Rawalpindi, which largely remained operational on Sunday, a public holiday when shops, restaurants and malls typically remain open in Pakistan.
“Pakistan’s constitution says people will elect their representatives. But on 8th February 2024, people were barred from exercising their voting right freely,” Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri, the PTI opposition leader in the Senate, said at a protest march near Islamabad’s iconic Faisal Mosque.
Millions of Pakistanis voted for national and provincial candidates during the Feb. 8, 2024 election, which was marred by a nationwide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties. The caretaker government at the time and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) both rejected the allegations.
Khan’s PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 elections as independents after the party was barred from the polls. They won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government, which was made by a smattering of rival political parties led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The government insists the polling was conducted transparently and that Khan’s party was not denied a fair chance.
Authorities in the Pakistani capital deployed a heavy police contingent on the main road leading to the Faisal Mosque on Sunday. Despite police presence and the reported arrest of some PTI workers, Jafri led local PTI members and dozens of supporters who chanted slogans against the government at the march.
“We promise we will never forget 8th February,” Jafri said.
The PTI said its strike call was “successful” and shared videos on official social media accounts showing closed shops and markets in various parts of the country.
The government, however, dismissed the protest as “ineffective.”
“The public is fed up with protest politics and has strongly rejected PTI’s call,” Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on X.
“It’s Sunday, yet there is still hustle and bustle.”
Ajmal Baloch, All Pakistan Traders Association president, said they neither support such protest calls, nor prevent individuals from closing shops based on personal political affiliation.
“It’s a call from a political party and we do not close businesses on calls of any political party,” Baloch told Arab News.
“We only give calls of strike on issues related to traders.”
Khan was ousted from power in April 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with the country’s powerful generals. The army denies it interferes in politics. Khan has been in prison since August 2023 and faces a slew of legal challenges that ruled him out of the Feb. 8 general elections and which he says are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from power.
In Jan. 2025, an accountability court convicted Khan and his wife in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust land corruption case, sentencing him to 14 years and her to seven years after finding that the trust was used to acquire land and funds in exchange for alleged favors. The couple denies any wrongdoing.
