The federal cabinet has decided to send medical aid to Palestine on humanitarian grounds in view of the medical emergency faced by the Palestinians as a result of Israeli aggression.
Briefing the media persons about the decisions taken in the cabinet meeting in the chair of Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhary said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has provided leadership to the Muslim Ummah from day one on the Palestine issue. This is also recognised by the Muslim Ummah.
He said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah laid the foundation of Pakistan's policy on Palestine and Imran Khan is now trustee of it. The information minister further said the Palestinian leadership also acknowledges Pakistan's firm stance on the matter.
Fawad said the nation will observe solidarity day with the Palestinians on Friday. He said that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is in Turkey and he along with some other foreign ministers of the Muslim countries will go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly session.
He said the cabinet felicitated Prime Minister Imran Khan on his successful visit to Saudi Arabia, adding the prime minister has instructed officials of relevant ministries to stay in close contact with their Saudi counterparts to ensure tangible progress in all areas where the two countries had agreed to work together during a recent visit by the PM to the kingdom.
The minister said the cabinet was also briefed about the investigation into the Rawalpindi Ring Road project. He said the preliminary investigation revealed that the alignment of the project was changed to benefit some housing societies.
However, he said, the investigation carried out so far shows that no minister or advisor is involved in it. He said Zulfi Bukhari resigned as Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis on high moral ground and he has no link with the issue. He said Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan also does not own any land in the area.
Referring to electoral reforms, the information minister said the government is committed to introducing electronic voting machines (EVMs) to ensure transparency in elections and give right of vote to overseas Pakistanis. He regretted that the opposition is not serious in electoral reforms and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have not made their position clear on the right to franchise to overseas Pakistanis.
The minister said the PTI government aims to revitalise the agriculture sector through provision of Rs110 billion in the next three years. He said in this regard, the Ministry of National Food Security & Research has provided various recommendations for the development of the livestock sector.
While sharing some good news about the country's economy, the minister said mobile phone users have increased to 180 million while users of cellular network have risen to 100 million.