Employees our priority: PM House has cut its budget: Shibli

By Our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said that the government was taking steps to control inflation and hopefully, commodity prices will come down soon.

He was talking to the protesting employees of the federal government in front of Pak Secretariat on Wednesday. The minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan monitoring the inflation on daily basis and he was committed to solve the problems of the government employees on priority basis. He said the government working to enhance the government employees’ salaries in upcoming budget. He said the Prime Minister House budget has already been curtailed and other departments are also told to follow the same, and the federal government employees were the priority. He assured the protesting employees about early redressal of their demands.

The minister also addressed the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected office-bearers of the Upper Dir Press Club at the National Press Club, whom he thanked for making their way to the federal capital.

Senator Shibli came hard on the opposition parties’ alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), and alleged that they had set another example of selfishness and opportunism by trying to take mileage from the protest of the secretariat employees.

He blamed both the regimes of PPP and PML-N for the problems, being faced by the government employees and charged both had ruthlessly looted and plundered the national resources while piling up their own assets.

The minister sounded optimistic about an early solution to the issue of the Secretariat employees. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had been mentioning government employees in most of the Cabinet meetings. He noted the prime minister directed the concerned authorities to resolve the issue of salaries of government employees immediately.

A high-level Cabinet committee has also been set up in this regard. It includes federal ministers Pervez Khattak, Sheikh Rashid, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. This committee is talking to the employees. The protesters will be satisfied.

He alleged that the root cause of today's problems was the incompetence and lack of planning of previous governments.

He pointed out that like other sectors, the media was trying to promote the narrative of the national interest. He said that journalists would continue to playing a key role in highlighting their local, regional issues as well as promoting the narrative of the national interest.

The minister said that despite all the challenges and notwithstanding the global outbreak of the coronavirus, the country's economy has been revived and every sector including construction and textiles has improved. “Pakistan's economic performance is much better than other countries in the region and in the coming days, inflation will come down and employment opportunities will be created. A proposal to provide health cards to journalists across the country, including Islamabad, will be made to the prime minister,” he maintained.

He said that the fruits of our efforts had started reaching the people and added that he would visit Upper Dir to get information about the journalists’ problems.