Stay orders create crisis: cabinet

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Tuesday said the federal cabinet expressed concerns over the number of stay orders given by the courts, which had created a major administrative crisis.

Briefing the media about the cabinet meeting, he said policy issues were discussed at length by the cabinet members, along with other issues. He added that at present, there are about 950 stay orders concerning Rs3 trillion of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Rs250 billion of various regulatory authorities; and the FBR is unable to collect billions due to high court or other court decisions and stay orders.

Fawad pointed out that that was such a huge amount that it had created an administrative crisis. He said the cabinet believed that courts alone were not responsible for the situation. The prime minister had already showed his concerns over the stay orders, and in Tuesday’s meeting, the cabinet also expressed its concerns over the matter. He told the media that the law minister and the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP) had been asked to take up the matter with the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) and the chief justices of the high courts.

He said that at present about 150 stay orders are given every month. It is believed that the stay was not being given only because of judges. It would also be a fault of lawyers, government lawyers and institutions. However, he added, it was a crisis which the government was trying to resolve.

The minister continued that the cabinet suggested to the law minister to take up the matter with the judiciary and there should be a new forum in which the judiciary, government and other institutions could work together to coordinate the policy issues. He said that at present the judiciary was not in touch with the administration, as a result of which the country was facing a major crisis.

He remarked, “We hope that the chief justice will come up with a serious point of view on the matter. We want such a seat to be created in which the major decisions are taken, along with the government, and there is complete uniformity in all other institutions.” He said that the biggest advantage of Imran Khan's government was that it takes along the institutions. “We respect the institutions. When the Supreme Court summoned the prime minister, he arrived there in half an hour”.

The minister said “our attitude is not that we fight with the institutions, but we think that this will not be a political decision, but a very important administrative need of the country. There should be a setup in which there are various issues and their background should be kept in mind”.

He said that the courts should know the point of view of the government in such important administrative matters; the judicial system in Pakistan is cheaper than in the world and litigation is very high, it needs to be implemented.

“We have seen the cases of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other cases, the length of which is a problem for the people of Pakistan. We think the judiciary should have a setup on these issues where we sit together and can find a solution to these issues,” he suggested.

Fawad said that $4 billion has been rescheduled for 2027, including both Paris Club and Non-Paris Club.

He said the cabinet also expressed grave concern over allegations against important personalities, particularly females, and emphasised the need for legislation to curb foul language on the social media and channels.

“There is an issue going on at the moment, which we have tolerated and shown restraint, but the kind of vulgar language being used on the social media and now on a few channels, it has lessened now. At least the serious class in Pakistan thinks that things are out of hand. On this issue, it is important that legislation that we have not done before should be enacted and strict measures should be taken in this regard, as there is a lack of legislation and watching the social media and a few channels, it appears there is no such thing as law,” he noted.

He said that those who can afford it are going to London instead of Pakistan to register cases. He added that gentle people in Pakistan were helpless at their hands; this is not just a matter of individual but also of institutions, and the security of Pakistan.

Fawad said that a hate speech campaign was going on, but no action was being taken against it; allegations were being levelled and no action could be taken over it as all are bailable offenses. There is no punishment for the offenders; two days of arrest and, after being released, the offender goes home.

He said the cabinet urged the Ministry of Law to improve these laws and bring in new laws under which such elements should be dealt with severely. “We will not allow this to happen easily,” he warned.

He said that so far in Pakistan vaccination worth $2.5 billion had been administered and it was absolutely free. The Sindh government has not ordered a single dollar of vaccine and all the vaccine has gone to Sindh from the federal government.

The minister noted, “Despite this, the vaccination rate in Karachi is not impressive as compared to other cities. That is why cases are more prevalent in Karachi. Vaccines are available for purchase, the rest are obtained from various sources. We have invested more than $2.5 billion in vaccines, which is why our deficit has gone up so much”.

Fawad said that the cabinet congratulated the prime minister on the results of re-polling in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the manner in which Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the re-poll, is welcome.

He said that under the World Food Programme, 34,500 tonnes of peanuts would be allowed to be exported to Afghanistan. He said that the Ministry of Interior had submitted a report on the agreement between Pakistan and the United Kingdom regarding repatriation of citizens and the recommendations of the committee had been formulated and now it was being sent to the United Kingdom.

The minister said the overseas Pakistanis were the main support base of the PTI government, and it had always thought of doing maximum for their benefit. He said that maintaining the tradition, “we have created a separate judicial system for overseas Pakistanis. Under this system, the cases of overseas Pakistanis would be heard as summary trial and the Islamabad Act had been sent by the cabinet to the Council of Common Interests (CCI): Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will also enact such laws, after which Punjab, KP, Islamabad and wherever there is a PTI government, we will do the same in Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, there will be separate courts for overseas Pakistanis.

He said that in principle every citizen has the right to have their cases decided quickly, but overseas Pakistanis come from abroad. If they cannot stay here for long, they should be facilitated by the government, and that was why separate-court decision was taken.

Asked about increase in prices of petroleum products, Fawad said that in the current situation, it is obvious that there is no other option but to increase the price of petrol. He remarked, “Obviously, we do not produce oil, it is being produced in the world and at the moment the situation is going on in Ukraine, how the world affects each other's situation”.

He explained there is tension between Ukraine, Europe and the United States because of which the price of oil in the world market has gone up: How long can we stop this (oil pricing)? Fawad said that obviously prices will go up and there is no doubt about it.

Replying to questions from journalists, the minister made it clear that the opposition was not in a position to bring the government down. He pointed out that the opposition has tried 13 times to remove the government but failed.

He asserted Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Bilawal Bhutto, Maryam Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif are dark symbols of Pakistan, they have no future, they are people of the past.

The minister suggested that Bilawal and Maryam Nawaz should start politics by contesting for mayor of Karachi and Lahore. He said JUIF contests elections for 60 to 70 seats. PMLN and PPP are also parties of divisions: These parties have no status before of Imran Khan.

“At the moment I don't see the no-confidence motion, I can see them in jails,” he claimed. “We want Shehbaz Sharif's cases to be shown directly to the people. Let people know how billions of rupees were transferred from the accounts of Maqsood peon, Masroor Ahsan and Manzoor vendor to the accounts of Shehbaz Sharif and company,” he added.

Minister of State Farrukh Habib, he noted, will present a resolution in the National Assembly regarding these cases. Regarding the mud-slinging campaigns, the minister said PPP has never talked about ridicule of women, this problem is with PMLN; they spread such filth while PMLN had earlier launched a campaign against Nusrat Bhutto and Bibi (Benazir Bhutto).

“Maryam Nawaz tweeted in favour of the person who was leading the entire campaign, whereas Maryam Nawaz herself is a woman, she should not support such campaigns, she will suffer the most,” he cautioned.

The minister said “we must put the values of our society first and act accordingly: we will take full action against those who started such campaigns”.

The cabinet approved the reorganisation of the Board of Directors of the State Life Insurance Corporation on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce. Leading economists will be Humayun Bashir, Ms Puro Sadwa, Moin Foda and Anwar Mansoor Khan as independent directors.

The cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce, allowed the international company Peugeot to import its vehicles for testing in order to start a car business in Pakistan. The forum on the recommendation of Ministry of Commerce M/s Tricom Wind Power (Pvt) Ltd, approved a one-time exemption in customs duty on import of 2 large cranes for setting up a 50-MW wind turbine project in Jampur, Thatta district.

The cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce, allowed the export of 34,500 metric tonnes of pulses to Afghanistan under the World Food Program on humanitarian grounds. The cabinet approved 82 821.80 million debt repayment agreement with Saudi Arabia. The cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Finance, approved the extension of the period of international bonds issued for the economic stabilisation of the country.

The cabinet directed the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Law to consult on the provision of administrative and institutional protection to these bonds. The cabinet approved the appointment of Dr. Naveed Hamid as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee for another 3 years.

The cabinet approved appointment of Syed Javed Hassan as chairman Board of Management (NAVTTC) for another three years on the basis of good performance. The cabinet approved Pakistan's first digital cloud policy: The policy is designed to provide a one-stop shop for digital data in government agencies in line with international standards will be used efficiently and will help increase investment opportunities in the digital sector.

The cabinet approved in-principle draft of Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 on recommendation of Ministry of Information Technology. This law will protect citizens from accessing, using, correcting and preventing misuse of personal information. International rules and principles of data protection will be part of this bill: The draft will be sent to the law committee.

The cabinet approved appointments to Law and Justice Commission on recommendation of the law ministry. Approval was given to appoint Justice (retd) Mian Muhammad Ajmal, Justice (retd) Faisal Arab, Justice (retd) Muhammad Sir Ali and Senior Advocate Syed Ayaz Zahoor in the commission.

The cabinet approved allotment of land in Pakistan Secretariat Artillery Ground, Karachi Saddar for construction of new building of Federal Services Tribunal Camp Office Karachi. The forum approved reduction of Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of Remdesivir 100 mg from Rs. 3967.34 to Rs. 2308.63 on recommendation of Ministry of Health.

The cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry of National Health, approved taking necessary steps for development and promotion of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) industry in Pakistan.

These initiatives will help make the pharmaceutical sector compliant with international standards, research, price reduction and availability.

The cabinet approved in principle the establishment of special courts for the convenience of overseas Pakistanis and directed the enactment of laws. The establishment of these laws and courts will help in speedy disposal of property cases of overseas Pakistanis.

The cabinet approved transfer of 33.5pc of China Zenhua Oil's Working Interest & Operatorship in Baska Block to Pakistan Petroleum Ltd and also approved appointment of Brigadier (retd) Tawfiq Ahmed as Director General National Institute of Electronics (NIE) in MP-1 scale.

The National Economic Council (NEC) Annual Report for the Fiscal Year 2020-21 was presented to the Cabinet, which ratified the decisions taken at the meeting of the Committee on Transport and Logistics (CCoTL) held on January 27, 2022 and these decisions include:

- Karachi Port Trust Pipri dedicated Freight Corridor, Ministry of Railways.

- New Rail Link from PIBT Terminal to Pakistan Railways Network, Ministry of Railways.

The cabinet ratified the decisions taken at the meetings of the Institutional Reforms Committee (CCIR) held on 5 and 12 January 2022.

These decisions include: Merger of Industry Facilitation Centre (IFC) with Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) in Ministry of Industries and Production.

The cabinet ratified the decisions taken at the meeting of the Institutional Reforms Committee (CCIR) held on 26 January 2022.

These decisions include:

Dissolution of National Health Information Resource Centre (NHIRC), Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination.

The cabinet ratified the decisions taken at the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) held on Feb 9, 2022.

Release of funds amounting to Rs555 million for E-Procurement Project (PforR) in favour of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

Approval of Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) against funds of Rs8.190 billion during CFY 2021-22 under the Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Program (SAP).

Supplementary Grant to Pak Army to meet Covid-19 related requirements during FY 2021-22

Implementation Report for ECC of the Cabinet regarding Textiles and Apparel Policy, 2020-25

Issuance of Sovereign Guarantee or SBLC amounting to PKR 6,944.00 million for construction of Sialkot (Sambrial) - Kharian Motorway Project on BOT basis

Extension of Lease Contract between Saindak Metals Limited and MCC China for Saindak Copper-Gold Project.

Determination of RLNG Sale Price for PLL's Supply to K-Electric (KE)

Revision of Gas Price of Mazarani Gas Field held by M/s PPL and GHPL. The cabinet approved 15% Disparity Reduction Allowance 2022 for Federal Government Grade 1 to 19 employees and FC Rangers.