Daily Times

Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir called upon newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday – marking their first meeting since Shehbaz assumed office.

Important matters including national security were discussed in the meeting, said a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Issues concerning the operational affairs of the Pakistan Army and the defence situation were also discussed.

The army chief also congratulated the premier on his newly assumed position and expressed good wishes, added the PMO statement.

On Tuesday, the PM met a Zardari-led delegation of the PPP with party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in attendance. The PMO said the former president assured PM Shehbaz on the PPP’s support for the new government and its efforts towards economic stability, development, and prosperity of the country. On Sunday, PM Shehbaz won the prime minister’s election after clinching 201 votes against his PTI-backed opponent, Omar Ayub Khan.

Shahbaz took the oath of office on Monday at a simple but impressive ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, attended by the services chiefs, government functionaries and senior politicians from the ruling coalition parties and other dignities.

Separately, Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday sought a final implementation schedule for the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

He was chairing a high level meeting on the PIA’s privatization and restructuring of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The prime minister directed the Ministry of Privatization to present the schedule about the PIA’s privatization in the next two days after taking necessary steps.

He warned that no laxity and irresponsibility would be tolerated and said that complete transparency should be ensured in all phases of privatization.

During the meeting, the participants reviewed the progress on the privatization of PIA and considered the next phases of the process.

The proposed roadmap for the system of automation of Federal Board of Revenue was also approved in principle.

The participants considered in detail the proposals for transparency in the system of FBR, infrastructure reforms according to international standards, increase in taxes through incentives, eradication of corruption and smuggling, separation of inland revenue and customs departments, and decrease in tax rates.