ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to develop a wide-ranging mechanism to provide generous assistance to the victims of terrorism that would ensure dignified livelihood, education and employment package for the families of martyrs.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif announced this while chairing a federal cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) here.
Nawaz directed that a comprehensive policy be formulated for the victims of terrorism across the country. The policy must envisage an integrated livelihood, education and employment package for the families of the deceased. The policy is to be placed before the next cabinet meeting for consideration.
The federal cabinet meeting, which continued for about four hours, took a number of important decisions. Discussing the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Prime Minister Nawaz stated that it will ensure equitable benefits amongst different parts of the country, including the most-underdeveloped areas.
It will not only connect 200 million people of Pakistan but also open up avenues of cooperation amongst people, communities and states across the region.The prime minister took his cabinet into confidence on various important national issues.
The political situation and law and order situation also came under discussion, the sources said.The members of the cabinet offered Fateha for the victims of the recent terrorist incident in Quetta.
The prime minister, during a detailed briefing on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), stressed that the projects in the programme were the top priority of the government and, accordingly, concerted efforts should be made to ensure timely progress.
The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms was directed to ensure completion of the first batch of projects in energy and infrastructure sectors by 2017-18.He further stated that speedy progress on these projects was necessary for addressing the existing shortfalls and future demands.
He said completion of early harvest projects will go a long way towards eliminating loadshedding by the summer of 2018.
Nawaz noted that significant progress was being made on the Western Route of the CPEC project. “Employment opportunities will be generated for the local populace, which will generate economic activity and enhance national wealth,†he said.
The cabinet was informed that considerable part of portfolio under the CPEC had been energised while the remaining was in the pipeline.
The prime minister expressed his firm support for the Thar Coal project and stated that had its potential been exploited 50 years back, the nation would now have been anenergy exporter.
Progress made so far on the Gwadar port project and allied infrastructure facilities was also reviewed. The prime minister directed the departments concerned to make progress on initiation of work on Gwadar Airport and the Eastbay Expressway at the earliest.
He added that work on the technical and vocational training institutes of Gwadar be done on a fast track basis, making them operational as soon as possible.
The prime minister stressed upon the ministries concerned to expedite the process of land acquisition for the hydel power projects and adopt a forward looking strategy for overall economic development including energy and infrastructure components so as to cater to the needs of the future generations.
The cabinet, while approving in principle the summary of the Housing and Works Division regarding the Joint Venture Policy for Land Development in collaboration with the private sector, with the objective of providing accommodation or plots to government servants before retirement, formed a committee to fine tune the policy guidelines.
The policy envisages providing plots to 100,000 federal government employees. The committee shall comprise Minister for Housing and Works Akram Khan Durrani, Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid and may co-opt any other member.
The committee will present its report to the cabinet. The cabinet considered and approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the governments of Pakistan and Turkmenistan on defense cooperation.
The cabinet permitted for entering into negotiations for memorandum of understanding between the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan and the National Audit Department of Malaysia on cooperation in public sector auditing.
The cabinet accorded approval for signing of an MoU between the Supreme Audit Institution of Pakistan and the State Audit Office of Vietnam on cooperation in public sector auditing.
It gave approval for initiation of negotiations between the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Central Bank of Russia on signing of an MoU on “Banking Supervisory Cooperationâ€.
Approval was accorded for signing of an agreement between Pakistan and Turkmenistan on abolition of visa for holders of diplomatic passports.
â€"Originally published in The News
Â
Â
