In a fool-proof “democratic” manner, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani turned to his cabinet on Wednesday to get his son exonerated of charges of exercising influence for granting illegal quotas to pharmaceutical companies, just as the Supreme Court is warming up to delve into yet another scandal surfacing under the incumbent regime, ordering both the PM’s son and his principal secretary to become part of the probe into the allegations.
Gilani took the federal cabinet into “confidence” about the ongoing “malicious” campaign against his son, MNA Syed Ali Musa Gilani, saying his son was being falsely accused of influencing the allocation of drug quota issued by the DG of the Ministry of Health. The prime minister said various enquiries conducted by departments, including one by the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, made no mention of influence exercised by Ali in their findings. An enquiry committee was set up under the directions of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, which included the federal inspector drug, deputy director of FIA and the chairman of Quality Control Islamabad. The findings of the committee did not find a clue of Ali’s involvement in the scam.
The chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior also constituted another committee consisting of joint team of experts, FIA, chairman of Quality Control and federal inspector drugs to ascertain the substance used by pharmaceutical companies in the country. The report of this committee also reached the same conclusions, with no mention of Ali. A Joint Investigation Committee constituted by then minister of health consisting of joint secretary Planning & Development, Ministry of Health, deputy secretary of Narcotics Control Division and director (Enforcement) Anti-Narcotics Force with terms of reference to establish the violation of the procedure in granting quota to the recipients. The findings of the Joint Investigation team found no evidence of Ali’s involvement in the case. The prime minister said earlier his elder son Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani was implicated in the Haj scam.
“In that case, the chief justice of Pakistan directed the authorities to register a case against the MNA who leveled allegations merely on the basis of hearsay,” Gilani said. Briefing reporters later, Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the cabinet expressed its grave concern over the character assassination of the family members of the prime minister and resolved to defend the case of such victimization by presenting correct facts and figures at all forums. The minister said the cabinet expressed solidarity with the prime minister over the media trial of his family. Responding to the PML-N chief’s demand for early polls, the minister said the entire nation knew of the charge sheet presented by General Musharraf after toppling the PML-N government in 1999.
“If corruption charges against Nawaz were wrong, he should have faced them in the courts and got his name cleared the way PPP leadership faced corruption cases for 11 years,” she viewed. To a question on President Asif Ali Zardari’s Indian visit, the minister said the PPP government had always strived for improving its relations with the regional countries including China, India, Russia, Iran and Afghanistan.
She said the trip was private but all issues related to national interests, including Kashmir, were discussed. She said improvement of relations with India were in national interest. To a question, the minister said parliament was formulating the foreign policy for the first time and it was the responsibility of all political parties to give their opinion in parliament, not on television. Responding to a question about Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, she said if a person did not have regard for a constitutional head of the state, then he had no regard for the constitution. About the energy conference, she said the conference brought forward real facts about load shedding and claims of targeting one province proved wrong. The minister said the prime minister had directed the ministries of finance, water and power and petroleum to submit a joint strategy to end load shedding. Firdous said the cabinet prayed for an early recovery of army officers, jawans and civilians trapped in an avalanche in Siachen. She said the cabinet also discussed at length the budget strategy paper for the period 2012-13 and projections up to 2014-15.
“The strategy paper aims at accelerating growth while ensuring macro-economic stability and articulates guiding principles for annual budget in order to achieve targets over the medium term,” she said. “The cabinet reviewed the implementation status of cabinet decisions pertaining to religious affairs, revenue and science & technology research divisions. The cabinet was informed that 87%, 79% and 78% decisions pertaining to religious affairs, revenue and science and technology research divisions, respectively, have been implemented. The remaining cabinet decisions pertaining to these divisions are in the process of implementation,” she said.
“The cabinet considered and gave its approval for confirmation of the decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) in its meeting held on March 2, 2012. The cabinet secretary briefed the cabinet about the Citizens Damage Compensation Programme (CDCP) going on in the flood (2010) affected areas. The secretary informed that, so far, 1,700,000 families have already been paid through Watan Cards,” the minister said.
“The prime minister directed NADRA and all concerned departments to expedite the process of distributing Watan Cards to the flood affected people of Balochistan and Sindh. In this regard, he directed all the stakeholders and provincial authorities to sort out the matter at the earliest”.
The cabinet considered and accorded its ex-post facto approval for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding Offer of Credit Line of $200 million to Sri Lanka.
The cabinet considered and gave its approval for permission, in principle, to start negotiations with the government of South Africa to have an agreement with a view to match the demands and offers of jobs in various economic sectors of South Africa.
The cabinet also considered and gave its approval for initiating negotiations on the draft agreement between China and Pakistan on cooperation in combating illicit Traffic of Narcotics Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and their precursors.
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