PM orders stepping up sick SOEs’ privatisation

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar has directed the relevant authorities to speed up the process of privatisation of loss-making State-owned Enterprises (SOEs). He was talking to Minister for Privatisation Fawad Hasan Fawad, who called on him here on Monday and apprised him of progress on privatisation of these enterprises.

The prime minister said that privatisation of loss making enterprises is vital to save the national exchequer from further loss. He said role of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in this regard is commendable.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has directed the Ministry of Religious Affairs to present the Haj Policy 2024 at the meeting of the Federal Cabinet at earliest for final approval.

Chairing a briefing on the performance of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony here, the caretaker prime minister directed to ensure the provision of the best facilities to the pilgrims at a low cost.

He said massive steps should be taken to make the Haj-like religious obligation easier and cost-effective. The PM said a strict vigilance of the private Haj tour operators should be ensured so that the pilgrims performing Haj under the Private Scheme should not face any kind of difficulties.

Minister the Religious Affairs Aneeq Ahmad apprised the prime minister of the progress on the preparation of Haj Policy 2024 and steps taken in this regard.

He told the premier that his Ministry with the support of Ministry of Information Technology was working on paperless Haj operation and digitalisation of the whole process. He said they along with the Aviation division have already started working on Haj flight operation.

Aneeq Ahmad said that after Islamabad, the Road to Makkah project would also be launched from the Karachi airport to facilitate pilgrims from the next Haj season.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf called on Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar here on Monday, the PM Office said. The meeting discussed the administrative and professional matters pertaining to the Pakistan Navy.

The prime minister expressed confidence that under the supervision of the new naval chief, the Pakistan Navy would play an effective role in the defence of the country.

Meanwhile, Caretaker Minister for Energy Muhammad Ali called on Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar here on Monday and discussed matters relating to energy and petroleum division’s affairs.

During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed on measures being taken to promote foreign investment in mineral sector in Balochistan and other parts of the country under Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). The meeting was also briefed on energy reforms’ measures and crackdown against the power thieves.

The prime minister appreciated the energy ministry and law enforcement agencies for launching operation against the power thieves.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, stressing the need to hold national dialogue on important national issues including governance structure, politics and economy, said the parliament could play a leading role in this regard to ensure a healthy and prosperous society in the country.

In an interview with the digital media platform ‘Talk Shock’ on Sunday night, he said to control inflation in the country, the federal government was taking concrete measures in collaboration with all provinces that would yield positive results in the days to come.

To a question whether the caretaker government would allow all political parties to participate in general elections, he said this was a judicial matter and if the judiciary allows the PTI chairman, he would definitely take part in the electoral process.

On the decision regarding the deportation of foreign nationals, the prime minister said this was meant only for unregistered persons and without legal documents or forged documents. The foreigners, he said, who had no legal documents had no legal or moral justification to live in Pakistan.

Asked if the government had taken the United Nations or the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) in confidence on the expulsion of the illegal foreigners including Afghans, the prime minister said in this scenario, Pakistan was the only stakeholder, and different relevant domestic organisations and departments were made part of the consultative process.

Of the three categories of foreigners living in Pakistan, he said 1.8 million registered Afghan people fall in the first category who would continue to live in the country.

In the second category, he said there were illegal aliens who were not only Afghans but also from other nationalities. “They are living in the country without passports, visas or any other legal document.” He said their role was not clear whether they were criminals or engaged in other such activities as the government had no data about them. “They are not part of the system that is why the State is asking them to leave the country.” The prime minister, however, assured that the government would not humiliate them if they left the country voluntarily.

In the third category, he said were those people who kept forged documents and had illegally become part of the local family trees. “We will scrutinize and eliminate them from our system.”

To another question, the prime minister said as most of the illegal migrants belonged to Pashtun families some might say that the government was deliberately targeting them. He assured that not a single Pashtun Pakistani citizen would be mistreated and their basic citizenry rights would not be compromised in any case.

For those in the third category, the prime minister said the government would adopt multiple options including taking their DNA tests.

Regarding any possible visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to Pakistan, the prime minister said both sides were engaged in communication regarding some projects and were very close to the agreements on those projects.

He said in Saudi Arabia alone around 3 trillion worth of construction activities were going to be held in the next 20 to 25 years and there was a potential of sending around 2 million Pakistanis to the country.

In this regard, he said the government was holding special meetings to provide the relevant skills to the youth of the country. He informed that next meeting on this issue would be held later this week.

PM Kakar said Pakistan was an energy-deficient country and was using very expensive energy sources. To reduce the burden of expensive energy in the country, he said the government was actively engaged with Turkmenistan to import gas from the country.

In this connection, he said the energy minister would attend the Energy Week in Turkmenistan in the next couple of weeks. “The potential of gas in Turkmenistan is very huge and I hope that by the end of the tenure of caretaker government, we will reach a practical conclusion in this regard.”

Pakistan stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people and would utilise all multilateral forums like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to galvanize a collective stance for the protection and dignity of Palestinians in a manner that supported their demand.

On Palestine, he said Pakistan always took a firm stance on the issue and reaffirmed its position as ‘a friend of Palestine.’ Pakistan would continue extending diplomatic, social and political support to them at all global fora, he said.

The prime minister stressed that the two-nation State was the key to the resolution of the Palestine and Israel conflict and would bring stability in the Middle East. He also categorically reiterated that Pakistan did not recognize Israel.

Palestinians had reached an agreement with Israel over the two-state mechanism, but the due right was constantly denied by Israel, he added.

The caretaker prime minister cautioned that unless ‘the Palestine question’ was addressed, the issue of radicalisation would increase and stressed that the two political issues including Palestine and Kashmir should be resolved.

To a question, he said that Pakistan wanted normal relations with all its neighbours but with regard to India, there were three parties, including Kashmiris. Their demands and aspirations should be met by India and if they were not made part of the normalisation process with regard to bilateral ties by India, it would amount to a ‘non-starter’, he added.

The prime minister differentiated the history of relations between Pakistan and India and that of China and India.

About the ICC Cricket World Cup being played in India, the prime minister said like every Pakistani, it was his desire that the Green Shirts should bring laurels to the country. So far, he said, there was no practical proposal to visit India in this regard and pointed out that India should have issued visas to Pakistani fans and journalists.

Sports should be kept separate from politics, he said, adding that on the other hand, they would have issued visas to Indians if the World Cup was held in Pakistan.