Sunday, 5 June, 2022 I 5 Dhul-Qadah, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 336 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition
PM orders to reduce outages to two hours g
Shehbaz Sharif claimS imran’S government ‘miSerably failed’ gwadar ISLAMABAD
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stAff report
rime minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday directed the power authorities to limit loadshedding across the country to two hours, warning that he wanted results not explanations over the matter. chairing a meeting to address the issue of hours-long unannounced loadshedding in the country, Shehbaz Sharif asked the power division officials and federal ministers to do whatever was necessary to minimise the loadshedding to two hours in a day. Shehbaz Sharif while rejecting explanations over the loadshedding duration said that the officials should minimize the miseries of the masses rather than giving explanations.
“i only wanted to provide relief to the masses and will not accept the ongoing situation of loadshedding,” a defiant Pm said and added that he would not compromise on it and will not let any minister and official rest until the situation improves. he directed the officials to work day and night to restore power supply to businesses. the prime minister also directed the finance minister to arrange all necessary resources for dealing with the issue. meanwhile, Pm Shehbaz Sharif claimed that despite “wasting” billions of rupees, the government of the Pakistan tehreek-i-insaf (Pti) party could not complete any project for the resolution of water and electricity crises for the people of gwadar who rendered great sacrifices for the port city. in a series of tweets, the prime min-
ister, while referring to his friday’s visit to gwadar, wrote he was convinced more than ever before that development of Pakistan was linked to peace, stability and progress of balochistan. he said the government of the Pakistan democratic movement (Pdm) parties was determined to assist balochistan by working with its government and tribal leaders to chart the way forward. the prime minister, during his visit to the city, also issued a number of directions for the completion of different projects. “during my visit to gwadar, i witnessed how the Pti government miserably failed [sic] the people of gwadar. despite wasting billions of rupees and precious time, it could not complete any project for resolution of water and electricity issues for the locals who gave great sacrifices for gwadar port,” he tweeted.
President returns NAB, Election amendsment bills for ‘further consideration’ ISLAMABAD stAff report
President dr arif alvi Saturday returned back to the Prime minister the bills seeking his nod to the constitutional amendments in the nab and election laws, insisting that he was not informed about the legislative proposal under article 46 before they were tabled in Parliament. the national assembly had last week passed bills to abolish the Pti government’s election reforms giving overseas Pakistanis the right to vote through i-voting and electronic voting machines (evms), as well as the nab laws. meanwhile, a press release issued by the president’s office said that dr alvi returned the national accountability (amendment) bill, 2022 and elections (amendment) bill, 2022 for “reconsideration and detailed deliberation” to Parliament and its committees under clause (1) (b) of article 75.
the president has contested that article 46 was violated as he was not informed about the legislative proposals before they were brought before the Parliament. article 46 states that “the prime minister shall keep the president informed……. on all legislative proposals the federal government intends to bring before majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)”. dr alvi also noted that the bills were passed “in haste and without due diligence”. he noted that both the bills have
“far-reaching impact on society” and should have been discussed in detail. on nab laws, President alvi noted that the amendment shifts the burden of proof on the persecution and would make the accountability watch dog’s laws similar to the code of criminal procedure. “this will make it impossible for the prosecution to prove cases of corruption and misuse of official authority by the state persons and will bury the process of accountability in Pakistan,” claimed dr alvi. he also noted that the amendment is “against the spirit of islamic jurisprudence”. “this amendment would make the tracing money trail for the acquisition of illegal assets almost impossible especially when the records of the property/assets/wealth are neither digitised nor can be traced especially in benami properties by the investigators,” said the president.
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Federal cabinet gives nod to US$2.4 billion loan from China ISLAMABAD AhmAd AhmAdAni
federal cabinet has granted its necessary approval for obtaining a loan facility worth two billion forty crore dollars from china at one percent margin for the period of next three years. according to sources, the federal cabinet has granted its important approval through a circulation of summary to obtain the loan facility at one percent margin from china for a three years period under an agreement signed by the outgoing Pti government in year 2019. “[the] cabinet has approved the finance ministry’s summary to get a two billion and forty crore dollar worth loan from china,” said the sources. they added that the Prime minister has approved the placement of the summary before the cabinet through circulation under rule 17 (1) (b) of the rules of business 1973 in view of the urgency to relieve the current pressures on the exchange rate. according to available document titled as rmb 15 billion syndicate loan facility from china development bank, industrial and commercial bank of china and bank of china, china development bank in capacity of agent bank to the
syndicated loan facility from consortium of chinese banks i.e. china development bank, industrial and commercial bank of china and bank of china has granted to extend rmb 15 billion facility (US$2,4000.00 million) for a three years period at six month Shibor+1.50 percent margin. this facility was earlier extended in march 2019 which matured on march 24, 2022. the chinese side has reduced the margin by one percent as compared with the previous facility. the draft facility agreement shared by china development bank was forwarded to the ministry of law and Justice and the office of the attorney general for Pakistan for vetting and clearance in light of the cabinet decisions dated may 14, 2019. as per the document, the ministry of law and Justice has cleared the draft agreement subject to fulfilment of all codal formalities. the clauses under waiver of immunities in the draft facility agreement are the same as those under facility agreement executed on march 19, 2019. “approval of the cabinet is solicited to the draft facility agreement in terms of rule 16 (1) (d) of the rules of business 1973 as well as in view of the observations of the office of attorney general for Pakistan,” the document added.
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