PM seeks continuity of policies by caretakers

Shehbaz says peace to elude S Asia until Kashmir settlement

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday the government would ensure that the incoming caretaker set-up carried forward the same policies in the national interest to achieve consistent progress.

Chairing a meeting to review reforms in the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Shehbaz directed the authorities to introduce reforms in the loss-making units on a priority basis and ensuring transparency.

A caretaker government is expected to take over in the second week of August before the end of the government’s tenure. The caretaker government would run the country’s affairs till a new government is formed after the general elections.

The prime minister told the meeting that the government was taking all-out measures to bring the working of institutions at par with international standards and provide the best facilities to the masses.

He told the meeting participants that the government would ensure that the caretaker government carried forward the policies of the national interest to achieve consistent progress.

Earlier, Shehbaz was informed that the reforms process in the SOEs was going on swiftly. Officials said the inclusion of experts in the boards of the SOEs to establish modern systems was being ensured.

The prime minister was also briefed on the performance indicators of the institutions as well as the corporations and the ongoing reforms process in these institutions.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Asif, Naveed Qamar, Murtaza Mahmood, Khurram Dastgir, Saad Rafiq and Azam Nazeer Tarar and senior officers.

Separately, the prime minister said in tweet on the occasion of Kashmir’s Day of Accession to Pakistan that the people of Pakistan expressed their unflinching support and solidarity with the Kashmiri people.

The prime minister stressed that without the just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute, South Asia would never be able to attain durable peace and unlock its true development potential.

The Day of Accession to Pakistan marked the adoption of a resolution by the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference at a convention in Srinagar in 1947 that called for merging Kashmir with Pakistan.

“The government and the people of Pakistan express their unflinching support and solidarity with the Kashmiris living in Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere,” Shehbaz said.

“We strongly condemn the relentless Indian persecution of Kashmiris & grave violation of human rights, and call upon the UN and international community to ensure the implementation of the UN resolutions,” he added.

APP