PM to visit Karachi on Friday to announce projects: Shibli Faraz

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Tuesday said Prime Minister Imran Khan would visit Karachi on Friday and would announce new projects for the city.

Addressing a press conference here to inform about the decisions of the federal cabinet, he said the prime minister was very clear that contribution of the federal government for Karachi should be through a coordinated and specific programme.

He said people of Karachi were passing through a difficult time and all our sympathies were with them, adding Karachi was a unique city and an economic hub of the country.

The minister said the federal government was doing all, it could for the people of Karachi.

There was a time when Karachi was filled with garbage but the PTI representatives got the city cleared, he recalled.

He said shortage of water supply, tanker mafia and sewerage and solid waste management were serious issues in the provincial capital.

The federal government accepted mandate of the Sindh government and would work in coordination with it and National Disaster Management Authority to resolve problems of the city, he assured.

The minister told that during the cabinet meeting the prime minister issued instructions to the Adviser on Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and PM’s Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Sania Nishtar to begin second phase of Ehsaas Programme to help the poor.

He said Ehsaas programme generated economic activity and supported poor people, adding after the coronavirus, the economy was getting revived and all economic indicators were getting better at a time when economies of the European countries and India were contracting.

To a question about recent statement of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, he said Pakistan Muslim League (N) during its years in power mistreated the female leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf (PTI) and other parties and its leaders should know about their party's history.

The minister said during the cabinet meeting, the impact of disaster caused by heavy rains in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces also came under discussion.

He said the federal government in coordination with the provincial governments was helping the people affected by rains.

To another question, Shibli said India was our enemy and never missed an opportunity to harm Pakistan but it would not succeed in its nefarious designs.

Opposition would have to decide whether it supported the narrative of Pakistan or India on legislation related to Financial Action Task Force (FATF), he added.

The minister said various names were under consideration for appointing an administrator for Karachi.

To a query, he said Chairman China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Asim Saleem Bajwa attended the cabinet meeting and would explain his position on the news about him in the next few days.

Shibli said CPEC was an important project for people of Pakistan and it was not the personal project of PML-N, adding on the project, China worked with Pakistan and not with a political party.

The minister said there were conspiracies against the CPEC project by the enemies of Pakistan.

To a question, he said the court had asked the three time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to appear before it and then it would consider his bail application. PML-N should tell whether it was with its leader or with the law of the land, he asked.

The minister said media persons were facing difficult times after losing jobs and assured that the government was working for their welfare and job protection.

The government paid to news organizations more than Rs. 1 billion so that they could pay salaries to their employees, he added.

The minister said the government bore a burden of Rs. 17 billion by not passing the impact of petroleum products' prices to the people.