Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that ministers should show ownership towards the decisions of the government and that if they disagree, they may resign from their posts.
“Ministers should show some ownership towards the decisions of the government. If they go against the policies of the PTI, they are free to resign from their posts,” a private TV channel quoted the prime minister as having told the cabinet meeting. “If they maintain their [opposing] approach, I will myself decide whether to keep them in the cabinet or not,” he added.
The TV channel reported that Imran Khan lamented that even after two years, no reforms could be introduced in the state institutions and the system of governance could not be improved either. He said that all the ministers will have to improve their performance. He also directed the ministers to prepare a comprehensive report on matters related to state institutions that could be presented before the public.
According to the TV channel, the prime minister maintained that the truth is shared with the nation in the Broadsheet case. “You must tell the nation how these people attempted to negotiate with Broadsheet,” he said.
Later addressing a press conference, Minister for Information Shibli Faraz said that an inter-ministerial committee has been formed to probe the Broadsheet LLC scandal.
An interview of Broadsheet CEO Kaveh Moussavi recently surfaced on YouTube in which he made several claims regarding the firm’s investigation into the assets of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif held abroad.
“This is a problem that started in 2000 when an NRO was given to PML-N and [PPP] and then it was as if the matter went into cold storage […] 200 names were given [to the asset recovery firm] of people who illegally sent the country’s wealth abroad. Different interviews have come forth and after the high court’s decision in England, an inter-ministerial committee has been formed to further dissect the matter,” he said.
Faraz said that the committee will not only minutely probe the fine points of the case, it will also determine “how the country’s wealth was looted, and how the firm, after it made important discoveries, was approached by someone said to be Nawaz Sharif’s cousin to have the family’s name removed from the matter, after which the CEO said ‘we don’t deal with crooks'”. He said that those who ‘made a mockery out of the state institutions, hurt the nation’s wealth and dragged the country into litigation which has caused great embarrassment’ will be dealt with after the committee shares its own findings soon.
He said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and others influenced that inquiry to save their own skin and now the government under Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to make those names public, after thorough scrutiny of the available material.
The cabinet approved amendments in the relevant laws to enhance powers of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) to ensure transparency. Shibli said that after the amendment, the purview of the AGP would be extended to autonomous bodies which as of now get their accounts audited from private firms. He said that some of the audit paragraphs are about procedural issues which when reported create unnecessary sensation. He said that the functioning of AGPR would be digitalized and automated and issuance of cheques would be done through automation and human involvement would be reduced to increase transparency.
Shibli said that PM’s Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain informed the meeting that over 100 institutions of the federal government were either merged or abolished to reduce the burden on the exchequer. He said that the cabinet was informed that about 71,000 posts from grade 1 to 16 which remained vacant for over one year would be abolished. He said that after passage of 18th Amendment many ministries were devolved but the number of federal government employees have increased.
Shibli said that Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his strong displeasure and annoyance over opening of fire by the police on a youth Osama Satti. Minister for Planning Asad Umar raised the incident of the death of Osama Satti in police firing. He said that the Joint Investigation Committee formed to investigate killing of Osama Satti has presented its report to the interior secretary, but the prime minister expressed the resolve that new probe would be arranged if family members of the deceased youth are not satisfied with JIT’s findings. He said an inquiry will be organized to the satisfaction of Osama Satti’s family to take the culprits to the task.
