Posts tagged 18th Amendment

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira stressed the need for making collective efforts for an effective implementation of the 18th amendment, resolution of all national issues and facing national challenges.

The minister was making a speech in the national assembly here today while winding up the debate on the 5th April, 2010 presidential address to the joint sitting of parliament.

Referring the independence of media, Kaira said, “Our government has abolished the draconian PEMRA laws framed during Musharraf”s era because we believe in freedom of information.” He urged the media-houses to resolve problems of their employees and pay taxes.

He pointed out that Pakistani media was following a certain agenda and targeting President Asif Ali Zardari. Kaira hailed the President for accepting harsh criticism by some media outlets.

“We will have to continue working, as challenges are not yet over and we want your input in implementation of 18th amendment so as to help the government in achieving national progress and harmony”, said the minister. He said the presidential address gives guideline and sets priorities to be followed by the government.

Terming the criticism by Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as baseless, information minister said that he should have gone through the two years performance report of the government by which the government presented itself for accountability.

Giving details of the implementation of the CoD, Kaira said that 17th Amendment and PEMRA ordinances have been abolished in light of the Charter of Democracy (CoD). “Under the CoD, out of eight constitutional amendments six have been carried out so far; out of eleven, seven legislation have already been made,” he said.

The minister maintained that it does not mean that everything has become perfect. There is no doubt that when the present government came into power inflation in the country was 25 per cent while today it has come down to ten or eleven percent, he added.

The minister said, “We do not self-aggrandize ourselves but we have accepted the gaps in our performance and we are open towards positive and constructive criticism that might even be against the government.”

“There are around 212 foot-notes in the book, not made by the government but by neutral analysts who gave suggestions for the improvement in good governance,” he added and asked the house to analyze the two years report.

Shifting the focus towards the agriculture situation in the country, the minister stated that due to effective and practical measures, three million tons of wheat procured last year is still available in storage, which enabled the government to inject huge amounts into the rural economy by strategic procurement.

The minister was of the view that criticism on BISP is also baseless as this scheme was targeting poor people of all parts of the country and hence all members of the parliament treasury or opposition were equally able to benefit the poor of their areas through this scheme without any discrimination and hence the scheme covers the whole country.

Regarding power shortage Kaira said that government is well aware of the sensitive nature of the issue and thus it organized a three-day Energy Conference, which discussed the issue in detail and gave its recommendations. He said the steps taken by the government in the light of these recommendations are bearing results.