ISLAMABAD, Jul 30 (APP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Sunday said National Assembly will be dissolved before August 12 with consultation of the allied parties.
In an interview with a private news channel, he said the tenure of the National Assembly will end on August 12 and before that the assembly will be dissolved, while the Election Commission will announce a date for the next elections.
He said the decision about the caretaker prime minister will be taken in consultation with the leader of the opposition In the National Assembly and before that he would consult all the allied parties and Pakistan Muslim League(N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif.
Talking about performance of his government, he said in the last 15 months, Pakistan was saved from default with the prayers of the people and the status and dignity of the country was restored among friendly and brotherly countries.
He further said cheap oil was bought from Russia while the government signed an agreement with Azerbaijan under which the government of Azerbaijan will offer one cargo every month at a price suitable to Pakistan. Cheap gas would also be bought from Qatar.
After COVID-19 the gas prices came down to three dollars, but Imran Niazi was focused on targetting the opposition and imposing dictatorship in the country and showed negligence and did not buy cheap gas, he reminded.
He stressed that no case of corruption surfaced during his tenure, adding this year there was a bumper wheat crop while the production of cotton would also be better than in many past years.
Shehbaz said Special Investment Facilitation Council was formed to undertake comprehensive economic recovery, attract foreign investment, bring about agricultural revolution, equip youth with tools of information technology and exploit mineral resources, adding all the federal and provincial governments would strive to achieve goals set by the council.
Talking about measures to provide relief to the people, he said the federal government increased the salaries of government employees of grade 18 and below by 35 percent and of above grade 18 by 30 percent besides increasing pensions by 17.5 percent. Similarly the government of Punjab also raised the salaries of its employees by the same percentage.
Super tax was imposed on the income of rich people and on big business houses related to sugar, cement and other sectors, he added. He told that taxes were also levied on tobacco sector after holding numerous meetings and scanners were imported for right valuation of the tax on the tobacco industry.
The prime minister said the May 9 incident was a conspiracy against Pakistan, Pakistan army and chief of army staff as Imran Niazi, his associates, some persons from army and their family members wanted to overthrow the leadership of Pakistan army, create chaos and cause civil war in Pakistan.
He clarified that the cases of those who attacked civilian installations, would be tried in anti-terrorism courts and of those who attacked military installations, would face cases in military courts.
Imran Niazi was the mastermind of the mayhem that led to incident of May 9 and thugs associated to him burnt military installations and desecrated monuments of the martyrs, he continued.
He said the hostility of Imran Niazi towards Pakistan was exposed, adding a conspiracy was hatched and Nawaz Sharif was sentenced in false cases to oust him from politics.
Now all that conspiracy was unearthed and the mastermind of the conspiracy was former judge Saqib Nisar, he said while reiterating that name of Nawaz Sharif was not among the 400 persons mentioned in the Panama Papers but he was falsely convicted.
He said judges did not take suo moto notice to determine the role of Sadiq Nisar in the conspiracy against Nawaz Sharif and his party leaders who were put behind bars and were denied bails for years in fabricated cases.
He demanded that through a transparent and all encompassing process of accountability, all those who waged vendetta against Nawaz Sharif and his party and their families should be held accountable.
He said the decision to send Nawaz Sharif abroad was taken by a medical board formed by Imran Niazi. He informed that in the coming weeks, Nawaz Sharif will come back to Pakistan and face the cases against him.
He said Imran Niazi was not willing to face court in corruption cases including scams of wheat, sugar, Malam Jabba, billion tree tsunami, hydel power projects and bus project in Peshawar in which there was irrefutable evidence against him.
He Imran Niazi responsible for damaging Pakistan’s economy and its relations with friendly and brotherly countries.
He lamented that the courts delayed project of Orange Line Train for years while refusing to investigate and hold hearings in cases of Peshawar Bus Transit project.
He said there was NAB-Niazi nexus and the nexus destroyed the economy of Pakistan.
The prime minister said recent amendments to the accountability law were introduced to protect politicians, bureaucrats and officials from the misguided accountability in the future and to give them an opportunity to serve the country. He said the officers were not ready to work due to fear of NAB and the businessmen and investors had stopped making investments so the amendments in the law were necessary.
He said he and Nawaz Sharif did not resort to victimization of political opponents and they and their families also did not take advantage of the amendment in the accountability law while appearing in court cases.
To a question, he said in the past politicians and technocrats became caretakers, adding the caretaker prime minister should be impartial so that nobody could raise objection on the result of next elections.
He said according to constitution and law, it was responsibility of the Election Commission to announce date for elections. Pakistan needed national integrity and a charter of economy so it could focus its resources on economic revival and progress, he added.
Shehbaz said the Council of Common Interests would give approval to the population census. Population was a big challenge for Pakistan as huge resources were needed to give employment to millions of people and usher in economic revolution, he opined.
The previous hybrid system of governance was devastating for the country, he said adding all the institutions should work within the ambit of the constitution.
He said seat adjustment was possible in the elections with the allied parties and PML(N) had formed a committee comprising Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Ahsan Iqbal, Ayaz Sadiq and others to take decisions related to elections. He said Nawaz Sharif would be the candidate of PML(N) for the post of prime minister.
