ISLAMABAD: The civil press on Tuesday rejected the lately- released inspection report which suggested billions of rupees of irregularities in Covid-19 expenditure, vaccination process and Ehsaas relief programme.
The press meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan also asserted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was bound to hold the coming general choices on the base of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in line with the recent legislation carried out by the congress.
The press expressed its satisfaction over the‘ reduction in prices of food particulars by0.67 per cent while media reported that according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), affectation had risen to over 11pc in November.
On the issue of sheltered Justice Rana Shamim, the press believed that a conspiracy had been incubated against former Supreme Court chief justice Saqib Nisar by prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Key Points:
• Minister says funding of elections may be linked to use of EVMs
• Sindh blamed for high price of commodities
• Leaked ex-CJP audio termed conspiracy
• Fawad says gas reserves depleting
Prime Minister Khan also banned press members from travelling abroad to ensure austerity.
“ The press rejected the inspection report on Covid-19 spending and asked three applicable organizations to give their donations in this regard,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said in a press conference after the press meeting.
The report on “ expenditures incurred on Covid-19 by civil government” released by the finance ministry had refocused out irregularities in government interventions to ensure vacuity of five essential particulars — sugar, wheat flour, canvas and ghee, beats and rice — in Utility Stores at subsidized rates.
Mr. Chaudhry said the finance ministry had formerly rejected the inspection report and the Ehsaas program was in charge and PM’s assistant Dr. Sania Nishtar had also clarified the position of her organization.
About the use of EVM in the choices, he said “ The press was of the view that following legislation on electoral reforms, the ECP was bound to hold the coming general election (in 2023) through EVM.”
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He said the press expressed reservations about vids circulating on social media which showed votes being bought for the forthcoming by- bean in Lahore.
“ Similar illegal conditioning would not have come to the fore if the way had been taken by the ECP against steed trading in the recent Senate election,” he added.
Free and fair pates were a lifeline for a popular system and were the base for conformation of a government, he said, prompting the ECP to take the matter of vote purchase by specific political parties in Lahore to a logical conclusion.
Still, the government might not be suitable to fund them,” he said, “ If choices aren’t conducted through EVMs.
He said Law Minister Dr. Mohammad Farogh Naseem was of the view that on prima facie, the government could only give finances to the ECP for choices held through EVMs.
The government had formed a commission in this regard and the law ministry would give its opinion on the matter, he added.
The minister said the Election Commission should ensure the use of EVMs in the coming choices as the Parliament had given accreditation in this regard.
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Speaking about the former judge of Gilgit-Baltistan, the information minister said during hail on the matter on Tuesday, retired Justice Shamim told the court that he hadn’t yet examined the affidavit attributed to him.
When asked whether he’d given it to a review, the former judge had responded in the court, “ My affidavit is sealed in a locker in the UK. I don’t know how it was blurted.”
Nominating the development “ surprising”, Mr. Chaudhry said if the affidavit was in a locker how did it reach the review that originally reported it, adding that “ it seems that the affidavit reached the review through Nawaz Sharif”.
“ A crusade has been launched against the bar and fortified forces and we hope that the court would take the matter to its logical conclusion,” he added.
According to a media report, Justice Shamim revealed in an alleged affidavit that he’d witnessed Saqib Nisar relaying instructions to a high court judge not to release former high minister Nawaz Sharif and his son Maryam Nawaz in corruption references.
Prices of goods
Federal Minister Chaudhry claimed that except for tea, Pakistan had the cheapest prices of all other kitchen goods in the region, comprising India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
“ We’re doing whatever we can in these times of global affectation,” he remarked.
The minister also blazoned that a cushion rice crop was anticipated this time with a crop of nine million tonnes.
He said in just a month’s period, the cost of sugar had come down to Rs60 per kg, condemning the Sindh government for the increase in price.
“ Affectation is rampant in the metropolises like Karachi and Hyderabad. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government is being portrayed as inexperienced whereas the party that has been governing the fiefdom for over 30 times has failed to check food affectation,” he added.
The 40pc upward trend in the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) was due to affectation in Karachi and Sindh, the minister said, adding that the price of tomato had registered15.4 pc drop, onion,7.4 pc and the cost of funk had fallen by6.6 pc. The price of a bag of wheat flour had reduced by 1pc, he added.
The minister said in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, and Faisalabad, a flour bag was available for Rs1, whereas, in Karachi, it was priced at Rs1, and Rs1, in Hyderabad due to bad governance of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government.
He said also, in the transnational request, a sack of urea was available for Rs10, per bag while in Punjab, it could be bought for Rs1.
Gas deficit
Talking about gas, of which the country was seeing a deficit with the onset of downtime, the minister advised that gas reserves in the country were depleting.
“ And we haven’t discovered any new coffers,” he said, pressing the need for a strategy to address the issue of fading indigenous reserves of gas and the arising space of the commodity.
He said only 28pc Pakistanis were actually being supplied gas, while “ the rest of the country, deprived of the commodity’s force, eased this small chance”.
It has been learned that PM Khan has barred press members from traveling abroad to insure austerity and prompted them to work more roundly in their separate ministry to attack profitable challenges in the country.
Still, talking to Dawn, Fawad Chaudhry said the high minister hadn’t issued similar instructions for any specific reason but had been prompting press members in nearly all meetings to borrow austerity measures and avoid gratuitous foreign passages.
He said the press had also expressed concern over the possible spread of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, and asked parochial governments and citizens to ensure that inoculation was complete.
“ The contagion is surely going to reach the country, thus wearing masks were necessary,” he emphasized.
Participating in other developments from the press meeting, Mr. Chaudhry said formalities had been completed to admit$ 3 billion in safe deposits and$1.2 bn worth of canvas inventories on remitted payments from Saudi Arabia.
The meeting had also given the blessing to limit the construction of structures around airfields and assigned Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam to formulate a long-term policy on gauze in Lahore.
The minister said the Federal Investigation Agency had also been asked to launch a program against mortal trafficking.
Pakistan would also be transferring tonnes of wheat to Kabul and hosting an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Council of Foreign Ministers to bandy the situation in Afghanistan, he added.
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