ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that taxpayers’ money should be returned to Pakistan from those whose names were revealed by the Pandora papers.
The prime minister has chaired a meeting of the federal cabinet.
The cabinet was informed that initially, the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission will meticulously review the record of all those Pakistanis which are named in Pandora Revelations and decide about legal proceedings according to the outcome of such investigations. “The taxpayers’ money should return to Pakistan,” the Prime Minister remarked.
The meeting was briefed on the introduction of electronic voting machines and giving voting rights to Overseas Pakistanis.
In this lieu the process of taking opposition on board is underway. Emphasizing the importance of EVMs the Prime Minister said that for the country’s greater good, the government wants to bring transparency in election process.
Effective awareness campaign should be launched to highlight the usefulness of electronic voting machines, he added.
SAPM for National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan gave a detailed briefing to the Cabinet on admission test in medical colleges. The meeting was told that the admission test is conducted to produce professionally competent doctors and dentists. High standards of medical education are necessary as doctors have to save human lives.
In this regard, a uniform entrance test at par with prevalent international best practices is set up which is marked with the help of modern technology. The purpose of the entrance test is to test the actual intelligence and not to merely pass the exam on the basis of the rote learning. Each student’s exam is different from the other so that the chances of copying are eliminated.
About 200,000 students take the medical admission test every year for 20 thousand seats. Due to lack of resources, it is not possible to arrange computers or laptops for 200000 students at the same time during admission tests. The pool of questions for the exam is made in accordance with the syllabus in which different questions are included in the questionnaire.
The Supreme Court has directed that medical entrance tests be conducted uniformly across the country. The cabinet agreed that Effective and transparent admission test system is of great importance and is necessary as these individuals, later on, have to save human lives by becoming doctors.
The cabinet allowed the MetLife-Alico company to move abroad its capital (received in lieu of its sale proceeding) in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s regulations.
The Cabinet approved a reduction in the punishment of prisoners on the auspicious occasion of Eid Milad-ul-Nabi. The Cabinet directed that Eid Milad-ul-Nabi (PBUH) be celebrated on a grand scale. Moreover, it was decided that the ten days from 3rd Rabi ul Awwal to 13th Rabi ul Awwal will be dedicated to Rehmat al Alameen (PBUH).
The Cabinet approved the appointment of experts in committee on drug research under Drug (Research) Rules, 1978. These experts posted hail from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. These experts will help in research on medicines in Pakistan.
The Cabinet allowed the promotion of important and life saving drugs in light of the recommendations of the Drug Regulatory Authority.
In order to provide winter relief for domestic consumers and keeping in view the paucity of Natural gas, the Cabinet approved usage of electricity instead of gas on the recommendation of the Cabinet Committee on Energy. In addition to the above, the domestic electricity customers will also have the facility that if they use more units this winter than the previous year, they will be charged additional units at a lower price.
The decisions taken by the Economic Coordination Committee in the meeting held on 30 september 2021 were also ratified. The decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation in the Meeting of 30 September 2021 were also ratified.
The Cabinet directed all ministries to use E-Procurements System. All the tenders should be run in a completely transparent manner and the procurement process should eliminate corruption. The Cabinet directed to form a three members committee that will make a comprehensive assessment of electricity and construction contracts entered by the previous governments, especially road construction contracts and will present the report to the cabinet. The committee will comprise Federal Ministers Fawad Ahmed Chauhdary and Hammad Azhar.
The Cabinet approved submission of the recommended Code of Conduct by Census Advisory Committee to the Council of Common Interests for the Seventh Census.
The Census Rules contain the following recommendations:
-The census will be conducted in accordance with the Constitution and law.
-Adherence to the principles laid by United Nations for Census.
-Setting up of a census-specific unit and master plan.
-Updation of maps.
-Taking on board all Stake Holders.
-Questionnaire for census
– Conducting Pilot exercise for Census
– Census Awareness Campaign
-Training of Personnel
-Code for Data Collection
– Monitoring of Field Teams
-Security arrangements for field teams
– An after census Survey for verification
-Establishment of National Census Liaison Centre
Keeping in view the security reasons, the Cabinet approved the appointment of Security personnel for by-elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The Cabinet approved the allotment of land in Islamabad for the construction of purpose-built buildings for Panahgahs.
