Daily Times

LAHORE: Caretaker Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Barrister Syed Ali Zafar has said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a golden opportunity for the upcoming government to tackle the future challenges of economy.

Speaking at a discussion on ‘Opportunities and Challenges after Elections’ organised by the Human Rights Society of Pakistan on Sunday, he suggested that the upcoming government should evolve a policy while keeping in view the economy at macro level, instead of micro level.

“No doubt population, exports and minimization of import will also be a challenge for the next government,” he added.

He said a major challenge was terrorism and the war against terrorism was still going on in the country. He said that the interim government was working as per its constitutional mandate and making decisions of urgent nature only for the sake of the country.

Replying to a question, the minister said there were some lacunas in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws, which should be rectified. However, it should not be abolished as there was no other law in the country to curb corruption. “Some recommendations have been given for its improvement,” he added.

To another question, he said the Election Commission of Pakistan had the authority to restrain banned organisations from participating in the election and it had exercised its powers in that regard as well. However, he added, no party could be banned without solid proofs.

Shedding light on the caretaker government’s mandate, he said that it was not going to make any long-term policy or sign any agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), binding the upcoming elected government to adhere to it. Any talks with the IMF would be non-binding as the caretaker government did not have the mandate to make long-term agreements with the international donors, he added.

The interim government, however, had the mandate under the law to take urgent decisions, which were indispensable to protect the country from any sort of crisis, he said.

The minister said the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had included Pakistan in the gray list in February 2018, with a warning to blacklist it if FATF’s objections were not removed till June. Pakistan had removed most of the objections till June and the caretaker government took an urgent decision to give only a political commitment to the FATF regarding removal of the remaining ones, including legislation to curb terror financing, check money-laundering and corruption, which were also in favour of the country. Separately, the minister strongly condemned the terror attack in Dera Ismail Khan, martyring PTI candidate Ikramullah Gandapur.

“Terrorists wanted to create instability by targeting peace in the country. We will foil their nefarious designs,” he added.

Published in Daily Times, July 23^rd 2018.