The federal cabinet has finally decided to go for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) reforms by getting approved the Constitution (Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2017 from the ongoing session of the Parliament prior to completion of the National Assembly's tenure on May 31, 2018.
A meeting of the federal cabinet met with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Thursday gave approval for tabling the FATA Reforms Bill in the National Assembly, a day after the Prime Minister took the party parliamentarians into confidence over exhaustive huddles with allied parties in an effort to convince them.
A source said that the Prime Minister who is all in from the meetings with coalition partners, JUI-F and PkAMP, has lost hope of getting them on board and eventually decided to table FATA reform bill in the Parliament.
The approval of the cabinet was required to be taken and now the bill will be tabled in the National Assembly for passage. The bill will then be sent to the Senate for approval before signature of the President for making it into a law.
The federal cabinet also approved agreement between the government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the government of the Russian Federation on Settlement of Mutual Financial Claims and the Obligations on Operations of the former USSR. The meeting also approved amendment in Policy of Commercial Import of Arms and Ammunitions and decided to place National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the Prime Minister Office.
The federal cabinet also decided to establish a medical city in Islamabad, approved amendment in master plan of CDA, in sub-zone C of Zone-IV of Islamabad.
The meeting also approved signing of agreement on technical cooperation between Pakistan and Brazil, memorandum of understanding (MoU) between National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) and Territory and Vocational Education Commission of Sri Lanka.
The meeting also gave approval of managing director, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) in MP-I Scale under Ministry of Information, Technology and Telecommunication.
The cabinet also approved amendment in section 5 and section 6 of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Ordinance, 2002 as amended vide PEMRA (Amendment) Act, 2007.
The cabinet also approved appointment of date of coming into force of the University of Baltistan Order, 2016 as well as ratification of notifications of tariff determinations/ decisions by NEPRA issued by Power Division on behalf of Cabinet and implementation of Peshawar High Court Judgment in writ petition No 4169 P/2015 on 31-01-2018.
Deletion of synthetic fiber development and application centre (SFDAC) and plastic technology centre (PTC) Karachi from the administrative control of Textile Division was also approved by the cabinet, besides granting approval to the signing of MOU on water resources management between the government of Pakistan and the government of Australia.
The meeting approved ratification of Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) decisions of May 9, 2018. The meeting granted approval for legislation for the establishment of Al-Karam International Institute, Bhera, placement of the Bill before Parliament as well as formation of a committee for implementation of the orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan, in Human Rights Case No. 623-P/2017 (in the matter of substandard cardiac stents.)