Daily Times

Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry Tuesday said the federal government was obliged to abide by the court’s directives about the sealing and demolition of the Naval Golf Course located in Margalla Hills National Park area unless the court suspended its orders.

The minister said this while addressing a press conference with Energy Minister Hammad Azhar after a federal cabinet meeting.

During the press briefing, the ministers also spoke about the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 – one of the two contentious legislations that are necessary to ensure that Pakistan’s sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility gets cleared by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board.

It was passed by the National Assembly during an hours-long session amid fierce objection from the opposition benches last week.

He said the opposition was only focused on hatching conspiracies against the government despite latter’s constant efforts to engage them on major system reforms. “We want to engage the opposition on electoral and judicial reforms, and the process for appointment of NAB chairman, but the reforms are not the priority of opposition leaders,” the minister said while talking to media persons after the Federal Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Fawad, who was flanked by Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar, said he, himself, the National Assembly speaker and the prime minister had invited the opposition on negotiating those three issues, but, unfortunately, their leaders only wanted to topple the government.

From the very first day, he said, they (opposition leaders) desired that they would succeed in removing the current government after six months, and they were still yearning for that. They had already passed four years with such illusions, and the next five to six years seemed to be not any different for them.

As regards the criticism of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on the government, Fawad said even the children did not take her remarks serious.

Responding to a query about the boom in media ad revenue, he said the journalists should rather ask from their elected representatives as to why they were still facing exploitation.

Speaking on the matter, Energy Minister Azhar said the opposition had made attempts to make the bill controversial. He said the legislation was aimed at granting autonomy to the SBP, as he drew parallels between Pakistan and developed countries.

The minister said developed nations had taken measures to ensure the autonomy of their central banks because data proved that this led to a consistent decline in inflation and persistent economic growth.

Discussing the clauses of the legislation, he assured that the federal government retained the authority to appoint the SBP’s governor, deputy governors and board of directors. And the bank’s board, he added, could remove the governor.

He said the government retaining the authority to appoint the board was a “concession” that was gained after “hard negotiations” with the IMF. Turning his attention to the opposition’s criticism over the bill, the minister alleged that opposition parties played politics on the matter.

He specifically spoke about the PML-N, recalling that when it was in the government in 2015, it too had passed a bill regarding the SBP. He then read out an excerpt from the bill passed by the PML-N.

“The role of the State Bank of Pakistan has been strengthened by substituting the federal government’s approval wherever required with the board’s approval,” the minister read, adding that the-then federal government had surrendered its powers in favour of the board.

“We, on the other hand, have said in the legislation that the board will be appointed by the federal government,” he said. “Now decide yourself which government tried to place curbs on the [SBP’s] independence and which government protected it.”

Azhar further said the legislation passed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government was in line with the demands of the country’s economists who had been calling for reforms to ensure the SBP’s autonomy, subject to checks and balances. He also assured that the SBP’s assets would remain the federal government’s property.