Thursday, 7 July, 2022 I 7 Zil Hajj, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 368 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition
PM orders inquiry into ‘criMinal delay’ in Gwadar breakwater Project ISLAMABAD
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RIME Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday ordered an inquiry into what he called the “criminal delay” in Gwadar breakwater project as the Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf’s government had ignored it despite availability of grants. On his Twitter handle, the prime minister said $445m grant, $484m soft loan and feasibility were available but it baffled the mind as to how the previous government ignored the project. From energy to infrastructure, every project suffered costly delays under the PTI regime, he added. “In a meeting today, I ordered inquiry into criminal delay in Gwadar breakwater project. It baffles mind how PTI govt ignored it despite availability of $445m grant, $484m soft loan & feasibility. From energy to infrastructure, every project under PTI suffered costly delays,” the prime minister posted a tweet. Earlier, the prime minister chaired a meeting to review different development projects in Balochistan and Gwadar. He directed the PM’s Inspection Commission chairman to submit a comprehensive report
over such criminal negligence within one week. In a related tweet, he stressed that time for presentation was over as it was time for action. He said Gwadar was not just about infrastructure development, being part of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor), it had political, economic and strategic value. He further resolved that turning Balochistan’s backwardness into prosperity was his mission and their collective responsibility.
for which $445 million grant and $484 million loan was provided by the Chinese government but it hit the snags. The prime minister said due to its location, the Gwadar port was an important and most suitable hub for the global trade. Through the port, they would have to ensure supply of imported goods to the upper and northern areas of the country. He said for the purpose, there should be best and efficient road and railway infrastructures, adding that through hard work, they would have to move ahead and remove all the deprivation of the province. The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail, Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Faisal Sabzwari, Minister for Energy Engineer Khurram Dastagir, Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique, PM’s Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi and other high officials, the PM Office Media Wing said in a press release. The prime minister also directed for taking of all the steps to ensure Chinese investment in Gwadar. so as to promote exports and provide employment opportunities to the people, especially the residents of the area.
ISLAMABAD Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday categorically said that the government would not influence by the threats of Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan. Citing reference of recent video of Imran Khan, in which PTI Chairman claimed that they were being harassed, teased or pushed to the wall, the minister said whether any false cases were registered against him “(Imran) or he was put in Kot Lakhpat Jail or provision of medicines were stopped to him. Addressing a press conference, the interior minister said the previous regime had taken all shameful actions against their political opponents and critics and lodged baseless cases against them during their three and half years rule. “Mere asking questions about corruption, embezzlement of Rs50 billion public money, Rs5 billion assets, transferring 458 kanal lands in the name of Bushra Bibi and acquiring 240 kanal land in name of Farah Gogi at Banigala came under harassment, he questioned. He said the PTI chief should also inform the nation about the 2014 sit-in and on whom instructions he held that prolong gathering. The minister said that only inquiry has been started into alleged corruption cases of the former government. No response has been received in ‘Tosha
Khana’ embarrassment of Rs50 billion in public money and Rs5 billion assets cases so far from Imran Khan, the minister posed another question. Sanaullah said that Imran Khan should also tell the nation about drug worth Rs150 million, which was claimed to had been seized from his (minister’s) possession. Referring to a drug case against him, he urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the incident and probe the issue. If I was found involved in any such activity, the court award me capital punishment, he said. However, he said if he was not involved in the drug case then the culprits behind this heinous crime should be given at least life imprisonment. Whether Imran Khan wanted power or NRO, the minister questioned. Replying to a question, he said dialogue process with Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) would be taken forward under the supervision of parliament. He said the military leadership gave a comprehensive briefing to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security. It was decided to set up a committee comprising government officials and representatives of political parties to look into the matter with political consensus. He said the parliament would decide to accept or reject any outcome in that regard. To another question, he said PTI has been exposed for opposing the people-welfare plan of
ISLAMABAD staff report
Punjab government for provision of free electricity to consumers up to 100 units. He said election was being held in few districts while the relief was for entire province. Commenting on the purported audio clip of Bushra Bibi, the Federal Interior Minister said that any recording — video or audio — made to expose a person’s criminal offences or misdeed could not be considered a crime, unless it was done to blackmail someone.
Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Wednesday said the country had received 87% above normal rainfall during the ongoing monsoon season whereas the death toll due to heavy rains has surged to 77 since June 14. The minister held a press conference to share the situation of the current monsoon damages across the country where she was flanked by Additional Secretary Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) Jodat Ayaz, and Member Disaster Risk Reduction, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Irdees Mahsud. Sherry Rehman said that the monsoon and premonsoon events were going on along with continuous environmental incidents taking place across the country. “Pakistan has become the sixth most affected country due to climate change whereas the Prime Minister also directed to focus climate change events. Media is also requested to sensitise masses to precautionary measures during the monsoon disasters,” she said. The pre-monsoon started in June that received more precipitation and there were 16 glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) events recorded this season due to extreme heatwave which were previously only 5-6 events on average, the minister said. She added that the casualty count had jumped up from 68 in the morning to 77 in the afternoon from June 14 till date after the onset of monsoon season. She commended the efforts of provincial disaster management authorities (PDMAs) and NDMA saying, “PDMAs and NDMA did a great job in ensuring monsoon preparedness.” The minister underlined that overall 87% more rains above average were recorded in the country and the ratio was recorded 49% in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) -28%, Punjab -22%. The highest above normal monsoon rainfall was witnessed in Balochistan and Sindh that received 274% and 261% above normal rainfall, she told the media persons. The PDMAs, she mentioned that had already directed the district administrations to ensure cleanliness and dredging of Nullahs or drains. She lamented that it was a national tragedy to witness 77 deaths which was a great loss for any state and governments had to respond to such tragedies. “The first spell of monsoon started on June 29 and is expected to persist further,” she cautioned.
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“Time for presentations is over. Time for action is now. Gwadar is not just about infrastructure development; being part of CPEC, it has political, economic & strategic value. Turning Balochistan’s backwardness into prosperity is our collective responsibility & my mission,” he posted a tweet. Briefing the prime minister in the meeting, the secretary maritime affairs said the breakwater project at the Gwadar port under concession agreement had to be constructed
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Govt unmoved by Imran’s threats: Sanaullah staff report
77 deaths so far: 87pc above normal rainfall wreak havoc in Pakistan: sherry
Senior politicians for national dialogue to fix ‘broken’ civil, military ties ISLAMABAD staff report
Top politicians from three major political parties of the country on Wednesday called for a national dialogue to fix the ‘broken relationship’ between the civil and military leadership, acknowledging that the use of military as a prop by political parties has aggravated the civil– military imbalance. They were speaking at a high-level political party leaders’ dialogue hosted by the Islamabad Policy Institute, a thinktank, on civil–military imbalance. The discussion, participated by leaders of the three major political parties – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) – was held to analyse
the state of civil-military ties in the context of political instability in the country. Speaking on the occasion, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said all three major parties had suffered from the imbalance in the relationship with the military, therefore they should prudently look at the past mistakes and try to rectify them. Urging cooperation among political rivals on this issue, Qureshi asked them not to remain stuck in the past. “If we continue with the blame game, we won’t be able to move ahead,” he said, adding that national consensus would have to be forged on this issue. Criticising the government for giving a role to the Inter-Services Intelligence in vetting postings and appointments of government officials, he said the move
would strengthen spy agency’s involvement in civilian matters. He regretted that PML-N and PPP did not fully implement the Charter of Democracy, which they signed in 2006 for restoring balance of power between various state institutions and reclaiming the space lost by the mainstream political parties. The PTI leader stressed the need to study why these signatories did not fully implement CoD. “There is now a need for an expanded CoD,” he maintained. Chairman Senate Defence Committee Senator Mushahid Hussain, who represents PML-N, said political parties should decide among themselves that “road to Islamabad would not lie through Rawalpindi, Washington or London, but through Constitution and ballot
box” and if they remain steadfast on this then “neither ISI nor any general can encroach on their domain”. He furthered that there should be a realisation that if political parties use military to get power and then rely on them for running affairs, the military would keep deciding the time of their exit. Dealing with this imbalance, Mushahid added, might look difficult, but it could be done if there was a political will and unity among the political forces on the issue. He recalled how the PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formalised ISI’s role in domestic politics through an executive order issued in 1975. Addressing the audience, PPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar said that a dialogue between political par-
ties on this issue was not enough. “Once the political forces reach some sort of consensus on ties with military, a two-pronged strategy would have to be adopted vis-à-vis the army – holding a dialogue with their top brass, but at the same time increasing parliamentary oversight of defence related matters.” He cautioned that civil-military imbalance was no more a governance issue and had instead started undermining the national security because of the widening disconnect between the people and the military. In his concluding remarks, Executive Director of IPI Prof Sajjad Bokhari said it was time for politicians to stop seeking military’s patronage for their electoral prospects. “This opens the door for manipulation,” he remarked.