The federal cabinet on Tuesday made a landmark decision to introduce comprehensive reforms in the obsolete and outdated criminal justice system in the country in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision for provision of timely and inexpensive justice.
Briefing the media about decisions of the federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said Minister for Law and Justice Farough Naseem gave the cabinet a detailed briefing on the proposed law, adding, these reforms would entirely change the criminal justice system.
Fawad said the reforms would fulfil Prime Minister Imran Khan’s agenda of improvement in the criminal justice system to ensure timely justice. He said the focus of reforms would be inexpensive and timely provision of justice besides ending delay in trial and hurdles in registration of First Information Report (FIR).
He said now the matter would be discussed in the Cabinet Committee on Law and Justice and after that it would be implemented. He said the cabinet rejected the proposal of giving 10 percent adhoc relief to Chairman and Deputy chairman Senate, Speaker and Deputy speaker National Assembly and members of Senate and National Assembly in their salaries.
He said the cabinet had also rejected an allowance traditionally given to members of the federal cabinet. The minister said the decision was part of the austerity measures taken by the incumbent government from day one to reduce burden on the national exchequer. He said the decision was meant to show the nation that people in corridors of power were setting an example for other people to save national kitty.
He said the Prime Minister House has made big saving in its expenditure as part of the PM’s authority drive and the National Assembly secretariat has returned Rs 1.54 billion to the government. The cabinet, he said, was informed that the cabinet allowed the Federal Board of Revenue to hire services for making its data more secure following a cyberattack on August 14 this year.
Fawad said hackers attacked the website of Federal Board of Revenue, however most of its data remained safe and an operational emergency was declared to secure its data. He said the cabinet was informed that this year about a million cyber-attacks were made on Pakistani websites which were thwarted by National Telecom Company. It was informed that a comprehensive framework of cyber security was in place which was being further strengthened.
He said The Guardian newspaper had also reported that India, along with an Israeli company, had tried to hack the data of Pakistan’s important mobile phones, including that of the Prime Minister.
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the Ministry of Science and Technology briefed the cabinet on process of electronic voting machines and overseas Pakistanis voting right. The minister said the Ministry of Information Technology would launch 5G technology in the country from next year in which multiple companies had already shown interest.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the Pakistan Telecom Authority to ensure good telecommunication services in all parts of the country so that everyone could benefit from revolution in the sector. The minister said the cabinet gave approval for the establishment of Quaid-e-Azam Foundation. He said the Prime Minister expressed disappointment over delay in procurement of wheat despite his clear instructions for early procurement. He said Punjab province was issued directives for immediate release of wheat which, he said, would help in gradual reduction of wheat and flour price in the market.
On the proposal of the tariff policy board, the cabinet approved reduction in additional customs duty on auto parts from seven to two percent to promote indigenous production of vehicles. He said additional customs duty on heavy commercial vehicles had also been reduced from seven to two percent. Moreover, he said that prices of 1000 cc and below cars would fall after abolishment of additional duty on their equipment. In addition, he said, appointment and transfer of the Bureau of Immigration and Overseas Employment Protector of Immigrants was approved.
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the cabinet, keeping in view the situation due to coronavirus restrictions, decided to wave off the one per cent penalty imposed on the importers on imported goods which were present in the warehouse and were not cleared in time. He said the surcharge would be waved off, provided that it would be cleared by September 30. He further said the cabinet approved the
reorganization of the Board of Directors of Diamer Bhasha Development Company (Pvt) Limited.
A representative of the Ministry of Planning has been added to the Board of Directors instead of the representative of the Prime Minister’s Office. He said in the meeting of the cabinet committee on privatization held on August 10, the decision taken regarding Pakistan Steel Mills was allowed to be amended. The decisions taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms on August 12 and September 2 were ratified.
Similarly, Chaudhry Fawad said that the decisions taken at the meeting of the Economic Co-ordination Committee on September 9, were also ratified. These decisions included tariffs on the White Oil Pipeline Multigrade Movement Project, transactions of various companies of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, import of auto-disabled syringes and their raw materials, track and trace formulated by Inland Revenue Enforcement Network, decisions on the monitoring of the system, the supply of goods from the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas, the point of sale integration and the third international tender for wheat imports.
The Federal Minister for Information said that the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Legislation regarding automation of the power of attorney system for overseas Pakistanis was ratified. The cabinet approved flights between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan to PIA and Kyrgyz Airlines Avia. The Cabinet also approved the proposal of PSO and Pak LNG to reduce the timelines on procurement of LNG as per the rules of PPRA rules.
