Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has constituted a special five-member cabinet committee to monitor arrangements regarding ceremonies proposed to celebrate the Independence Day throughout the month of August.
According to a press release issued on Saturday, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique will head the committee, which comprises Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jaam Kamal Khan and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Irfan Siddiqui.
The cabinet committee will not only finalise programmes regarding the Independence Day but it will also work for coordination among federal ministries and provincial governments.
In a bid to counter the ongoing campaign of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regarding the electoral reforms, Prime Minister Sharif has also sought to constitute a special parliamentary committee with members of both houses of parliament to deliberate on the issue.
The PTI chief has called for a million-man march on Islamabad next month to press its demands around electoral reforms.
The party has also decided to seek the support of other parties in the opposition for its proposed Aug 14 march.
Majority of the PTI leaders believe that moral support of other parties, particularly the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), would strengthen the party’s hand in its demand for electoral reforms and for investigation into its claims of fraud in the May 2013 general elections.
The party leadership also welcomed former president Asif Ali Zardari’s statement in which he supported PTI’s demand for recount of votes and held up its right to hold demonstrations for electoral reforms.