PM Imran Khan on petrol shortage: Arrest culprits, cancel licences

ISLAMABAD: A report on the petroleum crisis has been presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan who issued directives to initiate action against Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and those found responsible in the matter.

The sources said on Thursday that the petroleum crisis was declared artificial in the country. The report on this crisis has been submitted to PM and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) held Petroleum Division responsible for petroleum crisis.

According to report, 9 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) created the crisis deliberately. DG Oil Dr Shafi Afridi and Petroleum Division officials failed in discharging their duties, the report said. The PM directed initiation of action against companies and those found responsible in petroleum crisis besides arresting those found involved in this crisis and supplying the hoarded petrol to the market forcibly.

The PM warned that the petroleum crisis will not be tolerated at any cost. The licences of the companies involved in petroleum crisis be suspended and revoked, he said. It may be made binding on all oil marketing companies to ensure oil is stocked by them for 21 days.

Meanwhile, the federal government decided that it would reach out to the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) to address its grievances. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan here in Islamabad. Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak, Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood and Adviser to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan attended the meeting.

During the meeting, PM Imran Khan directed the government negotiation team to remove the reservations of PTI-led government allies including the BNP-M. In this connection, PM Imran tasked Pervaiz Khattak to meet with representatives of disgruntled allies and address their concerns. The government negotiation team briefed the prime minister about the dialogues and contacts made with BNP-Mengal, who then directedthe team to formally restart negotiations with BNP-M. The meeting agreed that all allies of government are important and their reservations will be addressed.

In a related development, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that elimination of apartheid in the country's education system was the top priority of the incumbent government. He directed that out-of-the-box solutions be proposed to address the challenges facing the education sector so that the mission of promoting quality education and easy access can be taken forward while tackling the challenges.

Prime Minister Imran Khan gave these instructions at a review meeting on progress on reforms in education system and advancing the government's agenda on education in the light of the corona situation. The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, Special Assistant for Information Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa, Punjab Provincial Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun, Chairman Higher Education Commission Tariq Banuri and senior officials. He directed that efforts be made to formulate a uniform curriculum and implement it across the country. Prime Minister Imran Khan directed to bring the madrassas into the mainstream, especially to equip the children studying in the madrassas with modern sciences and to make them skilled, and to implement the strategy agreed with the madrassas.

In view of the coronavirus situation, the prime minister asked the Federal Minister of Education to formulate a joint strategy for the future course of action in the field of education and teaching in consultation with all the provincial ministers of education. At the same time, he emphasised a strategy should be formulated to address the financial difficulties of educational institutions and concerns over parental fees in the current situation.

A detailed briefing to the prime minister on the progress made so far in introducing uniform curriculum in the country, reforms in madrassas, promotion of skilled Pakistan and reforms in the field of higher education. He was informed that a unanimous curriculum has been formulated for the first to fifth classes, which will be implemented in April 2021. In addition, relevant stakeholders are being consulted to formulate a syllabus for grades six to eight. Briefing the prime minister on various initiatives such as tele-schooling to continue the education system despite the closure of educational institutions due to corona, the prime minister was informed that an estimated seven to eight million students are benefiting from this facility.

An e-learning portal is also being launched. State-run radio will be hired to educate students in remote areas of the country. The prime minister directed that distant education and especially in the present situation, easy access to the teaching process from various sources should be ensured and all available means and resources should be utilised in this regard.

Briefing was given on various initiatives to improve the education system in the country with the support of international organizations. Talking about the issue of sub-campuses of federal universities in different provinces, the prime minister directed that a detailed strategy be formulated to ensure that the quality of education is maintained and that there should be no hindrance in the education of the students studying in the sub-campuses.

The prime minister said that equipping the youth with modern knowledge and preparing them to face the present and future challenges is the need of the hour and our first priority. He said that due to the situation in corona, the education sector is facing extraordinary challenges, however, every effort should be made to ensure that the teaching process is not affected in any way.