PM Shehbaz reaffirms commitment to democracy

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday held a flurry of meetings with his coalition partners to reaffirm their resolve for the measures to consolidate democracy in the country and make all-out efforts to ease people's life with mutual consultations.

Hours after Bilawal Bhutto took the oath as foreign minister, joining the prime minister’s multi-party cabinet, former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, along with Bilawal, called on PM Shehbaz to discuss the overall political situation in the country.

Federal ministers Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Khawaja Saad Rafiq were also in attendance.

During the meeting, the prime minister said that the country’s development was linked with the supremacy of the Constitution and the democratic process.

They agreed to work in unison with all political parties for democratic stability as well as public welfare.

The prime minister congratulated Bilawal on taking oath as a federal minister and reiterated his resolve to overcome the prevailing challenges through mutual cooperation.

Earlier in the day, President Dr Arif Alvi administered the oath of Bilawal as the federal minister for foreign affairs. The PPP chief took oath following the approval of the party’s top decision-making body a day earlier.

Read more: Bilawal takes oath as foreign minister

PM Shehbaz witnessed the oath-taking ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr which was attended by former president Asif Ali Zardari, ex-prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and a large number of parliamentarians, party workers, and government officials.

Meanwhile, the prime minister also met a delegation of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) in Islamabad.
The delegation, besides others, included Federal Minister for Communications Maulana Asad Mahmood and Minister for Religious Affairs Maulana Abdul Shakoor.

The current political situation in the country was extensively discussed during the meeting. The leaders agreed to work with all political parties to ensure the stability of democracy and public welfare in the country.

PM directs to reinstate struck out BISP beneficiaries

The premier also held a meeting with Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation Shazia Atta Marri. PM Shehbaz directed her to reinstate eligible persons into the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), who were struck out of the beneficiary list by the previous government without any reason.

The prime minister welcomed devising a procedure for making an appeal for re-inclusion of the persons expelled from BISP.

PM Shehbaz was briefed on the proposed procedure of the appeal for such 820,000 people who were evicted from the BISP by the previous government without any investigation.

Marri also updated the prime minister regarding the working of her ministry. She paid tribute to PM Shehbaz for announcing assistance for the deserving people of Balochistan under BISP and offering scholarships to students besides extending financial support to the parents of female students.