Normalisation Of Trade Relations With India Not Possible Unless It Revisits August 5 Actions; Ch Fawad

Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Thursday said the government of Pakistan had not granted approval of any trade activity with India

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Apr, 2021 ) :Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Thursday said the government of Pakistan had not granted approval of any trade activity with India.

Speaking during a press conference after a cabinet meeting here, Chaudhry Fawad said that the federal cabinet had not approved the recommendation of ECC regarding import of sugar and cotton from India.

He pointed out that projecting ECC recommendation as the decision of the government by some sections of media was not the right thing.

The government of Pakistan has a very clear position that normalisation of trade relations with India was not possible unless India revisits its August 5, 2019 actions in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and withdraw illegal occupation.

He said that even though Pakistan-India relations could be a game-changer for the region and bring economic prosperity but "this progress cannot be achieved on the cost of IIOJK".

Speaking on the COVID-19 vaccination front, the minister said that 98% of the population would be inoculated for free, however, the two percent who do not wish to stand in queues could pay and get themselves vaccinated from private hospitals.

Lauding the PTI-led government's efforts, Chaudhry Fawad said that Pakistan was "one of the few countries that received praises from the world for tackling the coronavirus situation in an effective manner." "The government is determined to battle coronavirus as it did during the previous two waves," he said.

The minister said the Prime Minister in his reply to the letter of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi stressed the need to come forward and resolve Kashmir issue.

The government as well as the Prime Minister had always reiterated their stance that peace in Kashmir is a key to durable peace in South Asia, he added.

"If India withdraw its August 5 move, new avenues of cooperation can be opened between the two countries. Improved relations between Pakistan and India can prove as game changer for the whole region ", he said.

The minister mentioned that the decision had been taken to ensure provision of facility of Health Cards to the citizens of Gilgit Baltistan and Islamabad after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The new prices of 43 medicines had been identified during the meeting with no increase, he added.

About improving the performance of bureaucracy and making delivery mechanism more effective, Prime Minister, Imran Khan has directed the cabinet to look into their respective ministries and departments and expel those officers who are not delivering their jobs efficiently.

The rules for execution of this task has been prepared already.

Chaudhry Fawad informed that the cabinet had decided to take criminal action against five persons including Ahmar Bilal Sufi , Hassan Saqib Sheikh (FBR), Ghulam Rasool (Former Joint Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice), Abdul Basit (Former Deputy High Commissioner in UK), Shahid Ali Baig (Director Audit and Account, High Commission in London) and Tariq Fawad Malik.

He said Broadsheet Commission had declared these five persons as main accused in its report and raised the point that accountability process of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) during 2011-2017 as the darkest periods.

The records of Swiss accounts were lost due to the criminal negligence of the then Chairman NAB and other officials.The commission has recommended to fix the criminal liabilities on the then NAB officials in this regard.

He said the Broadsheet Commission had recovered the original record of Swiss accounts and the case of Swiss accounts against Asif Ali Zardari might be opened soon.

The minister informed that the cabinet had also directed to take action against Sugar mafia.

The cabinet has also reviewed petroleum crisis and decided to take actions against those companies who failed to keep the stock of 20 days.

The cabinet has approved changes in Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) law to keep the balance between OGRA and Petroleum Ministry.

Removal of Director General Oil and officials of Port Qasim, appointment of professional officers at technical positions, creation of monitoring cell in Petroleum division to ensure reliability of data were the other important decisions, he said.

The prime minister had appreciated the locally manufactured Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) of Ministry of Science and Technology and asked the cabinet to ensure participating of overseas Pakistanis in the election process and expediting the efforts to shift election process on EVM, he added.

"We invite opposition parties to develop consensus on using EVM in election to bring transparency and end disputes", he said.

During the briefing regarding appointments of heads of different government departments, it was informed that 94 vacant posts existed till March 29,2021.

The prime minister expressed his concern over delay in appointments and asked the ministers and secretaries to explain the reasons of the vacant posts, he added.

The other decisions included approval of creating subsidiary company of Pakistan Steel Mills, direction to appoint new chairman of EOBI, appointment of Mrs Ishwar Ahsan Member Production Coordination in Pakistan Ordinance Factory, promotion of former officer of National Institute of Health and provision of direct funds to Police Stations in Islamabad, denotification of Walton Airport Lahore.