ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday said that the prime minister spoke on the rights of Pakistanis living abroad, especially the labour class, adding that the overseas Pakistanis had shown great trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He cited the fact that remittances from Pakistanis abroad had touched record high and they were playing an important role in building the national economy.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Chaudhry asked why action should not be taken against those in the foreign services.
It is pertinent here to mention that Prime Minister Imran, while speaking to envoys posted in 19 countries through video conferencing, said that he had noticed “shocking callousness” of Pakistani diplomats posted overseas after a few recent incidents involving expatriates.
During the presser, the information minister said: “There are incidents where embassy officials placed rocks and blocked routes to (Pakistani) embassies so labour could not enter. Should proceedings not be initiated against them?”
He said that the details of events which had caused Prime Minister Imran Khan to address the country’s ambassadors and point out their mistakes should be examined.
He added that in one instance, an embassy which is currently under investigation, had mishandled the case of a woman being continuously raped while working at someone’s home.
The minister said that the victim had approached the embassy to seek help.
“However, the officer present had told her off by saying: ‘You’ve already had three divorces before. Why don’t I hand you over to the police?’ This response led her to go back to the house,” he said.
“If Pakistan’s prime minister doesn’t talk about this behaviour, then who will? If the government and the prime minister can’t stand with the working class and the poor then what right do we have to remain in government?”
The information minister further added that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government stood by the weaker sections of the society against the powerful people.
“If our prime minister cannot stand by weaker Pakistanis then we have no right to remain in power,” he said.
The minister said that the powerful section of the society had to realize that the weaker section was their responsibility. He said that he was surprised at the reaction of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership over the prime minister’s remarks.
He also said that the government was ready to talk to the opposition so it (the opposition) should adopt a serious approach for electoral reforms.
He maintained that he had already said that reelection should be done in NA-249 and the other day’s events proved that it was a case of re-polling not recounting as seals of the ballot bags were broken and form 46 were missing.
He further stated that all this controversy was due to opposition parties’ refusal to adopt a serious approach for the reformation of the electoral process. He added that opposition leaders should realize the court cases against them were a separate issue.
On the occasion, the minister gave some good news to the media, and said that the cabinet had given approval to the Journalist Protection Act which would prove to be a landmark legislation for the welfare and better working environment for working journalists.
He added that a new institution would be set up for redressal of journalists complaints.
He said that the government had released Rs400 million to media houses and the purpose of providing funds to media houses was to pay salaries to media workers on Eid.
He stressed that a programme for support of media houses was being launched and a Media Development Authority would be constituted.
Replying to questions from journalists, Fawad said that the prime minister’s inspection was tasked to investigate the Saudi Arabia-based Pakistani embassy and its chairman Ahmad Yar Hiraj would submit the initial report within 15 days to the prime minister and then the next phase would be initiated on that matter.
Regarding Prime Minister Imran’s promise of provision of 10 million jobs and five million houses, Fawad made it clear that these two major promises were not election promises but the PTI and its government meant it.
He said that he was compiling the data on job provision, but over one million Pakistanis had got employment abroad during the last two and a half years, whereas thousands were employed in government and private departments.
The minister said that the Prime Minister Housing Scheme initiative had received applications for the provision of Rs52 billion loans and so far, Rs12 billion had already been released under this programme.
Fawad said that this year, a large number of houses would be constructed while the construction sector had already been showing promising turnaround and rising continuously.
He added that the production of cement had been doubled and the related sectors had also
shown promising growth.
During the press conference, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production Dawood said that the arrival of Amazon to the country was a big development.
Dawood said that it was on the demand of all the stakeholders that the platform of Amazon was introduced in the country.
“And now with Amazon’s entry, the logistic companies would have to strengthen their capabilities,” he asserted and added that now the exporters, as well as personnel of the logistic companies, would be imparted training.
The adviser to the prime minister said that goods manufactured in Pakistan were still on sale on Amazon. He informed that trade worth $4 trillion was being done through e-commerce in the world these days.
He said that the world market would be open for Pakistani manufacturers to export their goods and it would bring a major impact on Pakistan economy and will also open new job opportunities in the e-commerce and IT sector in Pakistan.
Dawood said that they were in talks with Amazon for sometimes and now they have allowed the government to make a preliminary announcement in this regard before the formal announcement of the company.
He underscored that Pakistani manufacturers were already doing business on Amazon but they could not create a seller ID from Pakistan and would have to depend on a third party for selling their products on Amazon.
He added that now the onus will be on the manufacturers to keep the standard of their products high. He said that they have also worked with the State Bank of Pakistan for making the payment structure for Amazon sales a smooth one.
To a question, Dawood said that he would soon hold a meeting with Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen to discuss the e-commerce related issues and the role of the Federal Board of Revenue.
