Govt hails SC’s judgment on former NA Deputy Speaker’s ruling

Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar says the Supreme Court has once again played its role in strengthening democracy and rule of law in the country through its latest judgment in the suo motu case of former National Assembly Deputy Speaker’s ruling on no-confidence motion.

He was addressing a news conference along with Prime Minister’s Advisor on Kashmir Affairs Qamar Zaman Kaira in Islamabad on Thursday.

Law Minister said apex court in its detailed judgment has declared the ruling of Deputy Speaker National Assembly as unconstitutional and malafide.

Speaking on the occasion, Qamar Zaman Kaira said PTI’s theory of foreign conspiracy is in fact conspiracy against democracy and democratic institutions of the country.

Meanwhile, Talking to newsmen in Islamabad, Interior Minister Rana Sanauallh says Supreme Court, in its historic verdict in suo-moto notice against former Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri’s ruling, has upheld the supremacy of the Constitution and people’s right to rule.

The Minister said former Prime Minister Imran Khan has committed a fraud on the Constitution and undermined national interest to safeguard his vested political interests.

Quoting apex court’s verdict, he said exercise of authority is a sacred trust and can only be exercised through chosen representatives of the people.

However, this sacred trust was violated by the President, the then Prime Minister, the then Speaker, the then Deputy Speaker and the then Law Minister.

Rana Sanauallh also demanded of President to step down for violating the Constitution.

He said Federal Government can file a reference under Article 6 of Constitution to place a full stop to the practice of undermining the Constitution in Pakistan. He, however, said that the work has begun to file a reference.

The Interior Minister also urged Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to send a reference to Election Commission of Pakistan for disqualification of PTI lawmakers in Lower House.

Source: Radio Pakistan

Pakistan to receive $1.17b under agreement with IMF

Pakistan and International Monetary Fund have reached an agreement under which Pakistan will soon receive one point one seven billion dollars.

In a tweet on Thursday, Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail said the agreement has been inked to complete the 7th and 8th reviews of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility.

According to a detailed statement issued by the IMF in this regard, the IMF Board will consider an extension of the Facility by end of June next year to support program implementation and meet the higher financing needs in Fiscal year 2023.

The IMF also issued policy priorities including steadfast implementation of the budget 2022-23, catch-up in power sector reforms, proactive monetary policy to guide inflation to more moderate levels, reducing poverty, strengthening social safety and governance.

The IMF team led by Nathan Porter, in its concluding remarks, said Pakistan is at a challenging economic juncture where high international prices and a delayed policy action resulted in large fiscal deficits that contributed to rising inflation and eroded reserve buffers.

Source: Radio Pakistan