Fawad says govt ‘bound to implement court orders’ on navy golf course

ISLAMABAD: Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry stated on Tuesday that the federal government is bound to follow the court’s directives regarding the sealing and demolition of the sprawling naval golf course located in Islamabad’s Margalla Hills National Park area unless the court suspended its orders.

It is pertinent to note that Chaudhry’s statement comes a day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the Additional Attorney General (AAG) to ensure that its directives for the demolition of the Navy Sailing Club and the initiation of criminal proceedings against former Naval Chief Admiral (retd) Zafar Mahmood Abbasi are placed before the prime minister and the federal cabinet.

A two-member division bench of the high court comprising Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb directed the former naval chief to appear before the cabinet secretary on January 19 if the cabinet does not take a decision until then.

The directives were issued during the hearing on an inter-court appeal filed by Advocate Ashtar Osaf, challenging the court’s order to demolish sailing club and the initiation of criminal proceedings against the ex-naval chief.

The appeal stated that the former naval chief had been an officer in Pakistan Navy for 45 years, commanding it from 2017 to 2020. It added that the appeal on which the decision was announced was not admissible.

It also noted that the original petition did not call for criminal proceedings, therefore the single-bench verdict of January 7 should be declared null and void.

The appellant said the court wrote in its verdict that the former naval chief violated his oath by inaugurating an illegal building, while the executive, in a notification issued on August 23, 1991, appointed naval chief as the patron-in-chief of water sports throughout Pakistan. He added that the Navy Sailing Club building was given to it in 1994 and the land for naval farms was also purchased.

During today’s press briefing, the ministers also spoke about the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 — one of the two contentious legislations that are necessary to ensure that Pakistan’s sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility gets cleared by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board.

It was passed by the National Assembly during an hours-long session amid fierce objection from the opposition benches last week.

Speaking on the matter, Energy Minister Azhar said the opposition had made attempts to make the bill controversial.

He said the legislation was aimed at granting autonomy to the SBP, as he drew parallels between Pakistan and developed countries.

The minister said developed nations had taken measures to ensure the autonomy of their central banks because data proved that this led to a consistent decline in inflation and persistent economic growth.

Discussing the clauses of the legislation, he assured that the federal government retained the authority to appoint the SBP’s governor, deputy governors and board of directors. And the bank’s board, he added, could remove the governor.

He said the government retaining the authority to appoint the board was a “concession” that was gained after “hard negotiations” with the IMF.

Turning his attention to the opposition’s criticism over the bill, the minister alleged that opposition parties played politics on the matter.

He specifically spoke about the PML-N, recalling that when it was in the government in 2015, it too had passed a bill regarding the SBP.

He then read out an excerpt from the bill passed by the PML-N.

“The role of of the State Bank of Pakistan has been strengthened by substituting the federal government’s approval wherever required with the board’s approval,” the minister read, adding that the-then federal government had surrendered its powers in favour of the board.

“We, on the other hand, have said in the legislation that the board will be appointed by the federal government,” he said. “Now decide yourself which government tried to place curbs on the [SBP’s] independence and which government protected it.”

Azhar further said the legislation passed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government was in line with the demands of the country’s economists who had been calling for reforms to ensure the SBP’s autonomy, subject to checks and balances.

He also assured that the SBP’s assets would remain the federal government’s property.

After Azhar, Chaudhry said cabinet members in today’s meeting were briefed on the pandemic situation in the country.

He said daily cases had reached 5,000, which translated to a 2.5-time increase in infections.

Moreover, he said, admissions to intensive care units had increased by 30 per cent.

Giving the situation, the government and the National Command and Control Centre had been stressing the importance of vaccination, he said, adding that the effect of Omicron among inoculated groups was negligible.

He claimed that Sindh was lagging behind other regions in the country in terms of vaccination.

“And we see that most Omicron cases are being detected in Karachi,” the minister said, adding that the strain’s prevalence was particularly high among school going children in the city.

“I will also like to mention here that the government has imported vaccines worth two billion dollars [so far, spending] a major chunk of our current account expenditure on it,” Chaudhry said.

Sharing other details from the cabinet meeting, he said it had been recommended to the Senate to not include those members in standing committees who had a “conflict of interest”.

“This means that a member associated with a certain industry should not be included in standing committee pertaining to that particular industry,” he explained.

The minister said the cabinet was also briefed on urea production, adding that the price of urea in the international market was six times higher than the price in Pakistan.

When there was such a big gap in prices, he said, there was always a possibility of the misuse of a commodity.

“But now, urea is available in most parts of the country,” he said, expressing the hope that wheat would be a bumper crop this year.

Chaudhry said the cabinet had also discussed in detail the system for the distribution on electricity and the energy minister had told the meetings’ participants that this year, for the first time, the country’s circular debt would begin to reduce substantially.

Moreover, he said, the National Electronic Power Regulatory Authority’s (Nepra) annual report was presented in the meeting.

“It is for the first time in 24 years that the report has been presented on time and according to it, our installed capacity is 39.774 megawatts and the circular debt currently stands at 2,280 megawatts,” he added.

Near the press conference’s end, a reporter asked a question regarding media workers’ salaries and Chaudhry’s tweet about media house owners denying that media revenue had increased 600 times.

The minister had tweeted: “Media owners are saying that media revenue has not increased 600 times. They may be right and Aurora’s figures may be wrong but to prove these figure wrong, it is necessary for media groups to share details of their accounts so that media workers get information about the revenue and expenditure of their organisations.”

 

Replying to the question, Chaudhry said, “I tried to bring a law in this regard (workers’ salaries) but I faced protest … It is difficult to fight mafias.”

He added that he had asked media owners in his tweet to share the details of their accounts so that their employees had knowledge of their organisations’ incomes expenditures.

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