Apna Tv

Addressing a press conference after the Federal Cabinet meeting here, she said the three provinces - Punjab, NWFP and Sindh—have rejected the politics of dictatorship and hoped that Balochistan Assembly would also show similar results.

The Minister said the Sindh Assembly passed the resolution with an absolute majority of 93-0 votes and added that the members of PML (Q) and MQM, who had been supporting the President, have now started distancing themselves and abstained from voting on the resolution.

Sherry Rehman said the impeachment is a constitutional process and after passage of resolutions by all four federating units, a joint session of the parliament would be summoned to move the impeachment resolution.

Sherry Rehman said Co-Chairman PPP Asif Ali Zardari is a person who remained in jail for more than eleven years and he rejected a number of relief offers. Therefore, he (Zardari) does not need any National Reconstruction Ordinance (NRO), she added.

She said Ministers of Pakistan Muslim league-N are effectively working with the government and “we are unite” on the issues.

Answering a question, the Minister said the government would send the draft charge sheet to all of its coalition partners, adding that the Cabinet is on board and no democratic forces want to vote against the democracy.

“Peoples’ court has given its verdict in favour of impeachment and all have also given their voice to support it,” she remarked.

The Minister said negotiations were underway with MQM as already indica ted by Co-Chairman PPP Asif Ali Zardari. She pointed out that the MQM added had abstained from voting on the resolution in the Sindh Assembly.

Answering another question, she said the government was taking along all its coalition partners on the issue of impeachment which she described as “indigenous and sovereign move.” She said credit for this constitutional step goes to all democratic forces.

She said if the President tried to apply the black law of 58-2B, the nation would not accept this.

Replying to another question whether President Musharraf would be given a safe passage, she said this decision would be taken by the coalition partners. However, she said article 44 of the constitution allows the president to opt for resignation.

About the decisions of the Cabinet, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said the Prime Minister has lifted a ban on issuance of new licenses for CNG stations in Balochistan as a special case.

As a policy matter, the government was not issuing new CNG licenses except to those who have already imported CNG machines.

She said the Cabinet was informed about Prime Minister’s recent visit to the United States and the most significant development during the visit was the approval of US $ 15 billion Biden-Lugar Bill by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

This legislation authorizes US $ 15 billion over ten years for development purposes, such as building schools, roads and clinics.

The Minister said this aid is more than triple the current level of non-military assistance extended to Pakistan and added the Biden Lugar Bill is a success for the people of Pakistan which indicates that the U.S. government wants to work directly with our people and respects their February 18 mandate for a democratic order.

Sherry Rehman said the US will also provide a major food security assistance package of over US $ 115 million responding to our short and long-term needs.

The short-term assistance commits US $ 42.5 million over the next 6-9 months while long-term assistance covers an additional US $ 73 million over the next two years, she added.

The Minister said the follow-up of the PM’s successful visit to the US has already started as US Assistant Secretary of State for Statistic Energy and Business Affairs, Daniel S Sullivan visited Pakistan this week and held meaningful discussions with Finance Minister.

She said Pakistan and the US have agreed to conclude the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) as early as possible. The BIT could be a major step towards promoting a more open, transparent, and predictable business climate and it could be a tool to bring the two sides closer to signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Sherry Rehman said the US Secretary for Health Leavitt will be visiting Pakistan next week to explore areas of further cooperation in the health sector.

He has expressed an interest in expanding the scope of US assistance in Pakistan’s health sector.

The Minister said to push the agenda of economic cooperation, the two countries will reconvene the Joint Council under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement in September 2008 and added the next round of Strategic Dialogue will be held in September 2008.

The two countries will hold the next Regional Economic Cooperation conference in Islamabad. The next round of the US Pakistan energy dialogue would take place to help Pakistan meet its vast and growing energy needs.

She said it is heartening to note that the government has moved a Bill to revoke amendments in the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies, and Books Registration Ordinance, (PNNABRO) in the National Assembly.

Revoking the amendments in PNNABRO is a part of the pledge made by the Prime Minister in his first speech to undo all curbs placed on the media by the decade long dictatorial rule, Sherry Rehman added.

She said the government is also removing the broad censorship measures that sought to curb freedom of expression on the excuse of protecting national interest. These restrictions imposed by the last regime gave the authorities free hand to harass the print media every time the regime got negative coverage.

The Minister said the new bill seeks to repeal the restrictions imposed on the print media such as suspending the declarations of newspapers for violating clauses aimed at censoring their content.

“The government considers a free media as the most important pillar of democracy. We believe in facilitating the media in their endeavour to provide objective and quality information products. At the same time, we expect the media to demonstrate an element of responsibility in their coverage of all issues and provide an impartial and fair analysis of the developments in the country,” she added.

She said the Prime Minister will launch the Benazir Bhutto Income Support Programme on Thursday (August 14). The Rs. 34 billion cash transfer would be distributed through banks and post offices. This amount would be raised to Rs. 50 billion in the coming days.

The Minister further informed that the government is making efforts to discourage the import of non-essential goods to prevent the waste of foreign exchange reserves.

“We have appointed a high-level committee to examine and identify various imported items to be taxed. While luxury goods would be taxed, the import of essential items like palm oil, wheat, pluses etc. would continue under normal taxation currently being followed by the FBR,” she said.

Sherry Rehman said the government is also taking various measures to reduce budget deficit to the targeted 4.7 percent level this year and added the budget deficit had reached up to 9.5 percent during last year.

Due to the measures taken by the present government, it has stopped at 7 percent level, she said and added the government is making efforts to bring it down to 4.7 percent.

The government is moving towards achieving the tax collection target set at Rs 1.25 trillion for Fiscal Year 2008-09. Tax collection for the month of July has already exceeded the target (by Rs 2 billion), which is an encouraging sign.

The government is also looking into ways to increase the existing number of about 2.2 million tax-payers through expansion of income tax and sales tax regime.

A programme of Rs 20 billion - Equity Market Opportunity Fund - (EMOF) is being launched to support the stock market. The EMOF would be channelled through National Investment Trust (NIT), she said and added the government was committed to supporting stock market and has already extended capital gain tax exemption for further two years.

She said the Cabinet also approved amendment in Anti-Dumping Duties Ordinance, 2001, envisaging setting up of appellate tribunal, headed by Retired Judge of the Supreme Court for hearing the appeals against the decision of National Tariff Commission.

In pursuance of the PPP manifesto and the commitment of the government, the Cabinet approved, in principle, the restoration of Student Unions. The Cabinet further decided that consultation process should be initiated with all the stakeholders including the provincial governments to evolve a strategy to implement the policy in a uniform manner.

The Cabinet observed that there should be no restrictions on student unions but their activities should be properly regulated keeping in view the democratic dynamics.

She said to submit their recommendations to the Cabinet on the above subject, a Cabinet Committee was set up consisting Ministers for Law, Labour and Manpower, Advisors on Interior and Religious Affairs, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Sector and Secretary Education.

The Cabinet also discussed the status of implementation of the recommendations of Round Table on Gender Mainstreaming organized by Planning and Development Division. The Cabinet decided that all the relevant Ministries and Organizations should deliberate upon the recommendations and present their reports and suggestions to the Cabinet within a month.

The Cabinet approved the federalization of provincial roads from Larkana to Lakhi, from Gharo to Keti Bundar and from Hyderabad to Khokharapar.

The Cabinet directed the Ministry of Communications to ensure quality maintenance of roads, aimed at providing efficient means of transportation which is critically needed for generating economic activities in the regions.

The Cabinet ratified the agreement signed between governments of Pakistan and Yemen on cooperation in the field of fisheries - the cooperation is expected to boost fisheries exports from $ 200 million to a substantial scale.

The Cabinet ratified the statute of the Secretariat of the Conference on Interactions and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) which will be a catalyst to regional cooperation among the member countries.