By Shakeel Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Thursday said the present government had overcome various challenges during the last two years and put the country on the path of development with the revival of economy despite the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.
He was addressing a press conference flanked by Advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain, Adviser to the PM on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood, Adviser to the PM on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Shehryar Afridi and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan.
Shbili Faraz said Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted to inform the nation what his government had done during the past two years. The government was still facing various challenges, including price-hike, hoarding and smuggling, which would be addressed as the prime minister’s topmost priority was to reduce prices of the essential commodities.
The minister assured that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would implement its complete manifesto by the end of its five-year term.
Giving relief to the people was the government’s top priority and the concrete steps taken by it had started yielding positive results. Imran Khan was the guarantor of new generation’s future, he remarked. He said now was the time to pursue the politics of serving the masses as there was no more room for that of self-interests, corruption, loot and plunder. After the 2018 general election, a new era of politics started as Imran Khan’s 22-year struggle was for a specific purpose, he added. Replying to media persons’ questions, Shibli Faraz said the government had paid about 80 percent of outstanding dues of media houses and the remaining 20 percent would be paid within a couple of weeks.
The government believed in freedom of expression and any impression of restrictions on the media was incorrect, he remarked. About change of the portfolios of ministers, he said it was the prerogative of the country’s chief executive to adjust his team as per requirement of the situation.
The government’s responsibility was to create an enabling environment for economic development and spur in economic activities create jobs. The focus of all the policies of Imran Khan’s government were the poor and vulnerable segments of society, and the incentive package for the housing sector meant to create jobs for them, he added. The minister said the institutions run the country and that was why the government was reforming and restructuring them so that they could meet the modern day demands. The past regimes had ruined the national institutions by inducting untrained people on political grounds, he added. Shibli Faraz said with the revival of economic activity, the media houses would get advertisements which would be helpful in paying outstanding salaries of their employees.
