Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif should resign from the post of the Public Accounts Committee chairman.
The federal minister was addressing media after a meeting of the cabinet, which was presided over by the prime minister.
While speaking on the subject of the NAB’s authority, he said that the probe body’s rights were not being reduced and it needed to be empowered.
He said that the NAB’ procedures needed to be transparent and impartial. “In the session, there was no discussion on Aleem Khan’s arrest under the NAB,” he said.
“The army and government currently have best coordination in the history,” said the federal minister. At the outset of the press conference, Chaudhry gave an overview of increases as well as reductions in prices of various products.
He said that, as per the statistics division, when the PML-N came to power in November 2013 prices rose by 5.8 per cent in the first six months, while during the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) first six months prices rose by a much lower 1.4pc.
Chaudhry said prices of chicken, garlic, onion, potatoes, chickpeas, lentils and potatoes had actually fallen, and that eggs, cabbage, high-speed diesel, petrol prices were also seeing a downward trend. On the other hand, tomatoes, out of city bus fares, cement, diesel, electricity, mutton and tea prices had risen, the minister admitted.
The information minister said that a committee has been formed under the leadership of Defence Minister Pervez Khattak to monitor the prices of various goods.
Chaudhry said that the formulas used by the Statistics Division will also be redone in an attempt to arrive at a more stable system of assessing prices. The minister further said orders have been issued for an external audit of higher gas bills charged to customers over the past two months.
He added that the gas slab system would also be revised. He said the system would aim to limit gas price increases for the vulnerable 70 per cent of the population.
He further noted that a portion of the natural gas was being imported from abroad and was expensive, “thanks to [former prime minister] Shahid Khaqan Abbasi”, but it was being subsidised and sold for less to domestic users. Chaudhry said Prime Minister Khan had ordered the housing minister to deal with those who were illegally occupying properties regardless of which socioeconomic class they belonged to. He cited the example of former Senate chairman and PPP stalwart Raza Rabbani and Senator Mushahidullah Khan, who he said had no entitlement to live in the Minister’s Enclave in Islamabad yet did so.
The information minister also announced that the human rights ministry will be introducing a bill for senior citizens which will protect them and provide them with facilities.
Published in Daily Times, February 8th 2019.
