Federal Cabinet okays easing of lockdown from May 9

ISLAMABAD, May 05 (APP):The Federal Cabinet on Tuesday approved easing of lockdown and restrictions imposed in the country to stem the spread of coronavirus from May 9.
The final decision in that regard would be taken in the meeting of National Command and Control Centre on May 6 (Wednesday), Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said while briefing the media about the decisions made in the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Shibli Faraz said Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar gave a comprehensive briefing to the cabinet over the coronavirus situation in the country. It was informed that Pakistan’s situation was far better than that of many developed countries.
He said the prime minister and all the cabinet members, including ministers, ministers of state, advisors and special assistants, decided to donate their one month salary to the Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Relief Fund 2020.
The gesture was made in view of the prevalent situation and difficulties faced by the people, he added.
The minister said the cabinet was informed that the Committee on Election Reforms had sent its report to the Ministry of Law and Justice. The prime minister desired that the election process should be transparent and unbiased, which should also enjoy the trust of the masses.
The PM said reforming the electoral system was part of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s agenda and it would remain the topmost priority of its government, he added.
The prime minister stressed the need to reform the criminal justice system as the cases lingered on for decades. He asked the minister for law and justice to finalize the reformation process in the criminal justice system within six months.
The PM advised that modern technology should be introduced in police stations to change the “Thana” culture. The meeting was updated on the conversion of police stations to model police stations with the introduction of modern technology.
Shibli Faraz said on the PM’s directives, the cabinet was informed that 76 illegal appointments were made on high posts in seven divisions during the previous government. The ministries concerned were directed to present reports on those appointments in the next cabinet meeting. Any decision regarding the illegal appointments would be made soon, he added.
It was informed that in total 81 cabinet meetings, total 1,630 decisions were made, out of which 1,376 ( 86%) had been implemented whereas on 114 decisions ( 7%) were at the stage of implementation.
The minister said the cabinet deliberated on the issue of ban on import of goods from India, except life-saving drugs. The prime minister directed to ensure that there is no violation of the ban.
He said the cabinet approved the appointment of Naveed Asghar Chaudhry, Grade 20 officer of the Audit and Accounts Service of Pakistan, as Member Finance WAPDA .
He said the cabinet also gave formal approval to the reconstitution of National Commission for Minorities.
Shibli Faraz said the cabinet also approved a memorandum of understanding signed between Akuwat Pakistan and Akuwat USA, which would help in the collection of donations for the PM’s Corona Relief Fund.
He said said the cabinet also gave approval for export of locally made hand surplus sanitizers to earn foreign exchange.
Noting that there was surplus quantity of rice available in the country, the cabinet accorded approval for its export. It also decided to include 61 food and non-food items in PSQCA’s quality control list, he added.
The cabinet also reviewed the process of implementation on its decisions for the facilitation of overseas Pakistanis.
The minister said that SAPM on Social Welfare Dr Sania Nishtar briefed the cabinet about the ongoing process of financial help of vulnerable segments of the society through the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme. It was informed that in addition to 400,000 families as per the data of previous governments, almost 810,000 new ones had been added.
The programme was being implemented in a most transparent manner and on merit, Dr Sania Nishtar said.
Shibli Faraz said the prime minister listened to the suggestions given by various cabinet members.
The minister informed the media that he himself had corona test yesterday and its result was negative.

Senator Shibli Faraz said the policies of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership had never been people friendly as they initiated mega projects during their regimes only to mint money. He quoted an International Monetary Fund team, which recently visited Pakistan, as saying that the projects carried out by the PML-N governments were 50 per cent costlier than those in other parts of the world.
He said at the difficult time, both the PML-N and the Pakistan peoples Party (PPP)had absolutely no care about the public as they were trying to hoodwink them with catchy slogans and statements.
The PTI government, however, firmly believed that it was time to serve the people without any political point scoring, but replying to the news conferences addressed by the PML-N and PPP leaders and ministers was its right, he added. If they would speak against the government instead of supporting it on the virus issue, they would definitely get a reaction, the minister said.
Shibli Faraz said it was upto the opposition that if they were not willing to support the government at the critical time. He, however, appealed to them not to impede the government’s endeavours to deal with the virus and provide relief to the vulnerable segments of the society.
He expressed the confidence that the cases against the Sharif family members would be decided on the basis of justice and the looted money would be recovered from them.
Referring to the media talk of PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb a day earlier, the minister said she gave an impression as if an honest, gentleman and pious man had been degraded by summoning him to the NAB office and that the questions put to him by the NAB team were so easy.
“If it were so, then why was she so angry. It means, when a law body summons you, you consider it a disrespect to appear before it, which means you don’t care for any such institution. The impression given to the people is that you are above the law. This is reflective of their mindset i.e. for the sake of the word, their rule was democratic but practically, it was monarchy with a typical mindset,” the minister asserted.
The Sharifs, he said, tended to challenge the law instead of submitting before it for looting the national wealth and stashing it abroad. They made the assets at the cost of national exchequer.
He said Nawaz Sharif had settled down in the London flats worth billions of rupees whereas Shehbaz Sharif, who returned to the country, was seen in front of a laptop instead of standing among public at the hard time.
“Actions speak louder than words,” he asserted.
About PPP’s Sindh minister Saeed Ghani’s news conference, he said the party, which used to rule the country, was now confined to just one province, because of the incompetence and anti-people policies of its leadership.
The PPP, he said, had given the slogan of “bread, clothes and shelter” and but its leaders started looting the people and one could imagine that it would now be reduced to Larkana only. The province of Sindh was much better 50 years ago as compared to its state of affairs today.
The PPP leadership’s conduct showed that they had little interest for poor segments of the society and they only wanted to gain political mileage vis-à-vis the
virus, which was a pandemic for all, he added.
The minister noted that instead of bringing the institutions under individuals, Prime Minister Imran Khan gave them independence by empowering them under the law.
He recalled that the incumbent NAB chairman was appointed after mutual consultation between the PML-N and the PPP as the government and opposition respectively.
He appealed to the media to not to give live coverage to the accused grilled by NAB as they made mockery of justice system by flashing victory signs and behaving like a “Tarzan” in front of the cameras.