Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday assured the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmakers that the sealed unit and sector offices of the party will be re-opened in the coming days, a private TV channel reported.

In a meeting held at the PM Office, the prime minister assured the MQM leaders that the offices mentioned in the official property documents will be given back to the party soon.

Federal Minister for Information Technology Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Federal Law Minister Barrister Farogh Naseem and MNA Ameenul Haq represented the MQM-P. The meeting was also attended by Minister for Finance Asad Umar, Special Assistant to PM Naeem-ul-Haq and MNA Malik Amir Dogar.

The prime minister also decided to set up a working committee for the MQM-P and PTI members led by Sindh Governor Imran Ismail to ensure better co-operation between both the parties over the coming developmental projects. The prime minister said he is well aware of the civic issues of the urban Sindh and that the federal government will play its role in addressing those. He said the issues related to the Karachi Circular Railway will be addressed on a priority basis.

The prime minister would perform the ground-breaking of Hyderabad University next month, it was decided during the meeting.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail also called on the prime minister here in the PM Office. The governor took the prime minister into confidence over the political situation in the province and briefed him about the situation arising out of the JIT report. They also discussed issues faced by the people in the province.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said they were fully cognizant of the issues faced by the people of Sindh and assured that the federal government would play its role for the resolution of their problems.

At a meeting of the National Oversight Committee over adaptive reuse of public buildings having heritage value, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed early completion of the mapping of buildings which carried historical and heritage value and religious tourism.

The prime minister reviewed progress on the optimum use of various buildings including PM House, Governor Houses in all the provinces, state guest houses of Karachi and Lahore, Qasr-e-Naz and other buildings located in various parts of the country. He emphasized upon change in the mindset that ensured preservation along with optimum utilization of the public buildings.

Highlighting the two-fold objectives, he said the first objective was to open up these public buildings with historical value for the public, who were the real owners of these buildings. The second purpose was to preserve these historical buildings by putting in place a mechanism so that revenue generated from them could be used for their upkeep and maintenance and taxpayers’ money was not used for the maintenance purposes, he added.

Buildings with historical value, religious places, and other tourism sites, are spread across the country which carry a huge tourism potential that needed to be introduced to the world, he stressed.

Published in Daily Times, January 17^th 2019.