The federal cabinet Thursday reviewed as many as 172 names on the exit control list (ECL) and sent 32 cases of them for review to a committee.
Speaking at a press briefing after the cabinet meeting, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said name of one Abdul Momin has been excluded from the no-fly list owing to his death. “Zardari has a solid place on the ECL list,” he said in response to a question. “Politics of Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari has effectively been phased out.”
Briefing the journalists about decisions taken at the meeting, the minister said the federal cabinet has accorded approval to Hajj Policy 2019, directing the Religious Affairs Ministry to provide optimum facilities to intending pilgrims desiring to perform the religious obligation through government hajj scheme. He said this year the hajj package would cost Rs 436,575 for northern and Rs 426,575 for southern regions. “For the first time in history, intending pilgrims of Balochistan will be airlifted directly from Quetta,” he said, adding that a temporary haji camp has being established in Gilgit to facilitate the intending pilgrims of the region.
The minister said as many as 184,210 Pakistanis will perform the sacred religious obligation this year. He said 10,000 seats have been reserved from senior citizens to secure their berth in government hajj scheme without balloting, adding that 1.5 percent quota has been reserved to accommodate hardship cases.
The federal cabinet also approved a new policy of granting visa-on-arrival facilities to 50 countries, and an additional provision of e-visas to citizens of 175 countries. The minister said business visa has been expanded to 98 countries and easy procedure has been adopted. Journalist visa scheme has been deferred for the time being and it will be announced after coordination between information ministry and the interior ministry.
184,210 Pakistanis to perform hajj this year
Fawad said that Finance Minister Asad Umar briefed the cabinet over the status of national economy. The cabinet was informed that the country collects Rs 5,571 billion tax per annum, out of which Rs 2,000 billion is needed to pay interests of loans. He said the debt has been increased by 84 percent during the tenure of previous two governments in past 10 years. He said the federal government used to get more amounts before the enactment of 18th Amendment, but now out of every 10 rupees collected through taxes and non-tax resources, six rupees go to the provinces. Prime Minister’s Task Force on Civil Reforms Chairman Dr Ishrat Hussain presented his task force’s report on institutional reforms.
The preliminary findings of task force included amendment in rules of business so that powers concentrated in Prime Minister’s Office could be devolved to ministries. As many as 43 organizations have been declared redundant which would be disbanded in phases. The report also suggests civil service reforms. The system of ACR and the concept of superior services will also be changed in phases.
Fawad said the cabinet approved the appointment of chairman of the Port Qasim Authority, the Pak-Libya Holding Company and the managing director of the National Investment Trust Limited (NITL). The cabinet also approved the transfer of Karachi Infrastructure and Development Company Limited (KIDCL) from Communications Division to the Cabinet Division, so that the prime minister could directly monitor its implementation status.
The rules for appointment of State Bank Deputy Governor Jamil Ahmed were approved by the cabinet, he said. Additional grant was approved for payment of outstanding dues of interns of Prime Minister’s Youth Training Programme, he added.
To a question, he said the government was introducing Protection of Journalists Bill in order to protect the rights of the working journalists.
The minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan has altogether changed the country’s foreign policy in only six months. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) ruler visited the country after 12 long years and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was also due this month. “Pakistan played an important role in the dialogue between US and Taliban, and if the talks conclude positively, the entire region will benefit from peace in Afghanistan,” he said. “Now the United States was following the approach of Prime Minister Imran Khan who always advocated dialogue for resolution of Afghanistan issue as he believes that issues cannot be resolved through wars,” he added.
Published in Daily Times, February 1st 2019.
