PM forms 11-member panel to monitor K-P

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday constituted an 11-member monitoring committee for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) to oversee governance, law and order, and day-to-day affairs in the province, according to sources.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has been appointed convener of the committee, which includes Rana Sanaullah, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Ahsan Iqbal, Amir Muqam, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, the sources said.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP – the allied parties of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at the Centre – will each have one representative on the committee, they added.

On Sunday, the federal government took control of the K-P affairs after imposing an emergency and governor's rule in the province, deploying the army to assist the civil administration, forming an 11-member advisory council and establishing a special administrative structure for 12 districts.

The emergency followed an increasingly strained relationship between the federal government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial administration, particularly over counterterrorism policy and engagement with the Afghan Taliban.

The prime minister has summoned a meeting of the parliamentary parties of the PML-N and its coalition partners for Tuesday (today) to take them into confidence over the imposition of governor's rule and emergency in K-P.

According to Express News, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi will brief the participants on the security situation, while Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar will explain the legal aspects of the decisions. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry will brief them on the agenda for the parliamentary session.

The premier directed the authorities concerned to develop the Daanish IT Park Islamabad into a world-class hub of technology and transform it into a centre of a modern IT ecosystem through effective collaboration between academia and industry.

Chairing a meeting to discuss matters related to the Daanish IT Park Islamabad, he said that the government would continue its efforts to equip Pakistani youth with modern skills in IT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and FinTech, besides creating new opportunities for IT entrepreneurs.

He instructed the Ministry of Information Technology to conduct a comprehensive case study of the project.

The prime minister directed to operationalise Daanish IT Park in partnership with global technology companies, and carry out a third-party audit of the project.

During the meeting, a briefing was given on the creation of a comprehensive ecosystem aimed at boosting IT exports and promoting investment in the sector.

The prime minister called for increasing the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Rs1.1 trillion to Rs2.2 trillion by 2028, underscoring their potential to drive economic growth and create business opportunities across the country.