(Karachi) Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has said that the government is making efforts to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in the next general election to ensure fair and transparent voting.

Addressing a press briefing after the cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday, Fawad said that it is the government's top priority to make use of the EVM in the next general poll to curb corrupt practices. "The government is also working on a system to introduce e-voting for overseas Pakistanis," he said.

He stated that the Election Commission officials briefed the cabinet over the EVM and its usage.

The minister criticised the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), saying the party is a modern form of East India Company. "Nawaz looted country's wealth in the same manner as the East India Company did," he remarked.

He maintained that Nawaz Sharif deceived the people of Pakistan and fled citing medical reasons. Fawad pointed out that the government is committed to recovering the looted wealth from the corrupt mafia.

He said that hearings of major corruption cases, including those of Shehbaz Sharif, should be held daily.

Regarding easing of Covid restrictions, he said that the cabinet has proposed the opening of cinemas from June 30. "However, the final decision in this regard will be taken by the National Command and Operation Centre," he said.

He stated that the Covid infection rate is declining in the country due to the effective policies of the government.

The federal minister highlighted that a third-party evaluation of the development projects will be carried out to ensure transparency. "The annual PSDP for the next fiscal year is Rs900 billion and most of the mega projects for Sindh will be financed from it."

He said the cabinet approved the implementation of stormwater drains projects under the Karachi transformation programme. The cabinet also approved National Digital Cable Policy, he said.

Fawad said the digitalization of cable will improve the quality and ensure the people have access to more television channels. He said the government will also give rights to the cable operators to purchase content.

Referring to the problems of overseas Pakistanis, Fawad said that there have been complaints from embassies in the past that cooperation is not being extended to Pakistanis residing abroad. "All embassies will be bound to cooperate with the Pakistani community."

He said that the cabinet approved the appointment of community welfare attaches in seven countries.

He said that there has been discussion among the cabinet members on the budget session of the parliament. "We are in favour that the budget should be debated, but it will not be tolerated if criticism is used as an excuse to humiliate the government," he stated.