Federal cabinet approves formation of implementation committee for FATA reforms

• Approves amendment bringing blasphemy, pornography under ambit of cybercrime law

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the formation of an implementation committee for FATA reforms, according to a notification.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired the cabinet meeting, which approved the formation of the implementation committee.

Minister of Defence, commander of the Pakistan Army’s XI Corps, governor and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will also be part of the committee, according to the notification.

According to official sources, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony had also finalised preparations to announce new Hajj policy 2018 during the current week, subject to the approval of the federal cabinet.

While deciding not to increase Haj dues this year under the government Haj scheme, the cabinet approved the policy, with certain amendments.

The meeting ratified minutes of the meetings of the Economic Coordination Committee held on November 1, 13 and 28. Minutes of the meetings of Cabinet Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor held on November 9 and 17 were also ratified by the meeting.

Amendment in the ‘Guidelines of Prime Minister’s Global SDGs Achievement Programme’ was also approved.

The cabinet approved the appointment of Rear Admiral Zakaur Rehman as Director General Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA).

The federal cabinet also approved an amendment to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016, aimed at bringing blasphemy and pornography within the ambit of the cybercrime law.

The issue of offences relating to blasphemy was recently taken up by the Islamabad High Court during the hearing of a petition filed against alleged uploading of objectionable material on social media.

The cabinet accorded permission, in principle, to sign the revised memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Ministry of Employment and Labor of the Republic of Korea on sending and receiving of workers under the employment permit system.

The federal cabinet granted ex-post facto approval to the appointment of Muhammad Arshad Khan Jadoon as Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees (ITNE) Chairman and also approved granting of MP-1 scale for him. The appointment has been made for two years.

Lastly, while observing that the instructions issued to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to take off-air and later restore transmission of private TV channels on Nov 25 and 26, 2017, respectively, during the Faizabad sit-in were policy directives of the federal government, the meeting accorded ex-post facto approval to the two directives.