The PML-N government on Tuesday hinted at delaying the proposed All-Parties Conference (APC) on terrorism convened by the prime minister on July 12.
Information Minister Pervez Rashid told reporters that the moot convened on July 12 may be rescheduled due to the absence of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, adding that the government would consult the political leadership over delaying the moot.
“A final decision in this regard will be taken within 24 hours,” he said, adding that Khan had assured his eagerness to attend the conference upon his return from the UK.
The minister said the government would conduct a through inquiry into the leaking of investigation report by the Abbottabad Inquiry Commission.
The statement by the government’s chief spokesman may attract media criticism, as the PML-N had been championing making the commission’s report public and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had twice called for publicising the findings.
Rashid said no discussion had taken place regarding the investigation by British authorities against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain during the recent visit of United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron.
To a query whether the PML-N leadership was victimising former dictator Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, the minister said he was not being victimised, rather he was facing charges of treason for subverting the constitution and the government was following Supreme Court’s orders in this regard.
The minister said the people of Pakistan were very mature and the claims of the dictators that the people could not decide because they were uneducated were totally incorrect.
“It is a fact that the hand-picked governments of the dictators failed to deliver, while the democratic governments did far better. The people this time voted for the PML-N due to its performance in the Punjab.”
The minister said the priority of the government was to have a small but capable cabinet, control the expenditure through austerity measures and come up to the expectations of the masses.
“The PML-N is committed to promote true democratic culture in the country; therefore, it allowed the PTI to form government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and also installed a Baloch nationalist as chief minister in Balochistan despite having majority.”
“Parties having government at the Centre in the past used to indulge in horse trading to form governments in provinces, but the PML-N leadership avoided such practices,” he added.
About the energy crisis, Rashid said the government had planned several steps to overcome the problem and for this purpose coal-based energy would be produced to provide relief to the masses and cut the generation cost.
“The government has to pay Rs 6 to Rs 7 as subsidy on every electricity unit, which makes up to Rs 30 billion every month. It is a big burden on the national exchequer, which is hampering development projects,” he added.
“In the long term, we will have to shift power generation ratio from the present 65 percent thermal and 35 percent hydro to 70 percent hydel and 30 percent thermal power for reducing the power generation cost and ending subsidy on electricity,” he added.
As a short-term measure, he said the decision had been made to utilise coal for power generation to bring generation cost to a single digit, as it was far cheaper than furnace oil.