SAPM vows zero tolerance for wheat smugglers

Firdous Awan claims new strategy in place to prevent commodity’s smuggling, hoarding

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) for information and broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that Imran Khan is the country’s prime minister based on a mandate given by the people. On the country’s wheat crisis, she said the inquiry report on it would be revealed to the public and that there would be zero tolerance on the smuggling of the commodity. On politics, she said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Rana Sanaullah was talking about a campaign to save himself but that those he was looking to for help were leading luxurious, carefree lives in London. If they intended to return to the country, she said, they would not have called their elderly mother there.

Speaking at a news conference along with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gen (retd) Nadeem Ahmed in Islamabad, SAPM Awan declared smuggling and hoarding the greatest evils for the prevention of which the prime minister had formulated a comprehensive strategy whereby law enforcement would monitor traffic at all check posts with the help of the armed forces. She also said electricity and gas bills directly impacted the level of inflation and that the cabinet was reviewing several recommendations in that regard. She also claimed the government was trying to ensure relief to the public at every level.

Awan further said that the PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah was only making statements to divert attention from questions posed to him and that his excuses would no longer be entertained.

For the first time in history, she said, the government was preparing a proactive strategy to tackle natural calamities, adding that the government had activated a national disaster risk management fund after which projects under disaster management will not be financially dependent on the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The risk management fund, she said, was a unique project alongside which the government was also formulating an eco-tourism fund. It was for this reason, she said, that the United Nations (UN) secretary-general had attested that our nation had diverted from terrorism to tourism.

She also said the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were ready to lend us billions of dollars and that the restoration of the IMF’s trust in Pakistan reflected a real change, adding that the government would use its funds to develop impoverished areas and for eliminating terrorism. The ‘Ehsaas’ programme is the flagship program of this government, she said, which was close to the prime minister’s heart. She said the PM would inaugurate the ‘Ehsaas Amdan’ program in Layyah on Friday and that the programme would only expand and not shrink.

Speaking at the conference, CEO of National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) Lieutenant Gen. Nadeem Ahmed said that NDRMF approved projects worth $10 billion within a span of a year. It is for the first time that we are inaugurating a risk management finance program, he said, adding that NDRMF will try to persuade the authorities for funding in calls for emergency. We are also developing a eco-restoration fund as per the directions of the prime minister, he said.