Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that the federal government is bound to comply with the court’s directions regarding the sealing and demolition of the huge naval golf course located in Islamabad’s Margalla Hills National Park area, until the court. did not suspend its orders.
The minister said this while addressing a press conference with Energy Minister Hammad Azhar after the federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad.
Chowdhury’s statement comes a week after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed civic agencies to seal the golf course. During January 11 hearing, it had also ordered its demolition within four weeks unless an eco-friendly use could be found for it.
The order was issued by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah based on a petition filed by environmentalist Professor Zahid Baig Mirza and the Monal Group against a civil court order relating to the lease of its restaurant in Pir Sohawa.
Referring to the Navy’s golf course, known as the Margalla Greens Golf Club, the court observed: “The Pakistan Navy has illegally established a golf course outside the allotted Sector E-8 in the notified area of the National Park.” Occupied the state land including.. Construction and establishment of golf course on the encroached land [there] Illegal without lawful authority and jurisdiction was and continues to be.”
In its order, the court said that the golf course would be “immediately sealed and the possession handed over to the CDA (Capital Development Authority) and the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB)”, adding that all construction on the encroached land would be stopped. will be demolished. Four weeks, unless it can be used for an environmentally friendly activity.
Earlier on 7 January, he Governance The sailing clubs and farm houses of the Pakistani Navy “trespassed on the land on the embankment of Lake Rawal” and ordered them to be destroyed as well.
In a recent development, IHC has refused To consider appeals filed by the Pakistan Navy challenging its recent decisions against naval farms, boating and golf clubs in the capital on 13 January, as it observed that a branch of the army was not a legal person and no legal It was demanded to start the action, approval would have to be taken from the central government.
SBP Bill
During today’s press briefing, the ministers also talked about the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 – one of the two controversial legislations that is required to ensure that Pakistan’s $6 billion Extended Fund Facility is facilitated. Let the sixth review be approved by the International Monetary Fund. (IMF) Executive Board.
this was it Passed by the National Assembly during an hour-long session last week amid sharp objections from opposition benches.
Speaking on the matter, Energy Minister Azhar said that the opposition had tried to make the bill controversial.
He said the purpose of the law was to provide autonomy to the SBP, as they drew parallels between Pakistan and developed countries.
The minister said that developed countries have taken steps to ensure the autonomy of their central banks as the data has proved that this has led to a steady decline in inflation and sustained economic growth.
In discussing the clauses of the law, he assured that the federal government retained the right to appoint the SBP’s governor, deputy governor and board of directors. And the bank’s board could, in turn, he said, remove the governor.
He said retaining the government’s right to appoint a board was a “concession” that was obtained after “difficult negotiations” with the IMF.
Drawing attention to the opposition’s criticism of the bill, the minister alleged that the opposition parties played politics on the matter.
Talking specifically about the PML-N, he said that when it was in government in 2015, it had also passed a bill regarding SBP.
He then read out an excerpt from the bill passed by the PML-N.
“The role of the State Bank of Pakistan has been strengthened by substituting the approval of the Federal Government, wherever necessary, with the approval of the Board,” the minister read, adding that the then federal government had diverted its powers in favor of the Board. had surrendered.
“On the other hand, we have stated in the law that the board will be appointed by the federal government,” he said. “Now you decide for yourself which government tried to curb them” [SBP’s] freedom and which government protected it.”
Azhar further said that the law passed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government was in line with the demands of the country’s economists, who were demanding reforms to ensure the autonomy of the SBP subject to checks and balances.
He also assured that the assets of the SBP would remain the property of the federal government.
covid status
After Azhar, Choudhary said that in today’s meeting the cabinet members were briefed about the pandemic situation in the country.
He said the daily cases have reached 5,000, leading to a 2.5-fold increase in infections.
In addition, he said, admissions to intensive care units have increased by 30 percent.
Given the situation, the government and the National Command and Control Center were emphasizing the importance of vaccination, saying that the effect of Omicron among vaccine groups was negligible.
He claimed that Sindh was lagging behind other regions of the country in terms of vaccination.
“And we see that most omicron cases are being detected in Karachi,” the minister said, adding that the prevalence of stress was particularly high among school-going children in the city.
“I would also like to mention here that the government has imported vaccines worth two billion dollars [so far, spending] A major part of our current account expenditure is spent on this,” Chowdhury said.
Sharing other details from the cabinet meeting, he said the Senate had been recommended not to include members who had conflict of interest in the standing committees.
“This means that a member belonging to a certain industry should not be included in the standing committee belonging to that particular industry,” he explained.
The minister said the cabinet was also informed about urea production, adding that the price of urea in the international market was six times higher than that of Pakistan.
When there was such a big difference, he said, there is always the potential for misuse of something.
“But now, urea is available in most parts of the country,” he said, adding that there will be a bumper wheat crop this year.
Chaudhary said that the cabinet has also discussed in detail the arrangement of electricity distribution and the Energy Minister has told the participants of the meeting that this year for the first time the circular debt of the country will start reducing to a great extent.
In addition, he said, the annual report of the National Electronic Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) was presented in the meeting.
“This is the first time in 24 years that the report has been submitted on time and as per it, our installed capacity is 39.774 MW and the current circular loan is 2,280 MW,” he said.
Near the end of the press conference, a journalist asked a question about the salaries of media persons and Choudhary’s tweet about media house owners that media revenue has increased 600 times.
Earlier in the day, the minister tweeted: “Media owners are saying that media revenue has not grown 600 times. They may be right and Arora’s figures may be wrong, but to prove these figures wrong, media It is essential for groups to share details so that media personnel can get information about the revenue and expenditure of their organisations.”
Responding to the question, Choudhary said, “I tried to bring a law in this regard but I faced opposition… it is difficult to fight mafia.”