The federal cabinet on Monday decided to defer the approval of Internal Security Policy draft until its next meeting to enable the incorporation of suggestions and proposals given by members of the cabinet. "The draft policy will be brought before the cabinet for further deliberations in its next meeting," reads the official statement.

A senior official of Ministry of Interior, however, told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity that the cabinet approved the security policy draft but would meet again to deliberate on the draft to fine tune it.

"The cabinet gave approval to the National Security Policy in principle but would meet again for a longer session a few days later to discuss it in detail," he said.

The press release issued by the Press Information Department noted that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his opening remarks said that Pakistan is facing a serious security situation and to address the extraordinary situation, "we need to take extraordinary measures."

The Prime Minister referred to an All-Party Conference and said that its decisions were endorsed by all the political parties, adding the APC also endorsed the stance that economy and security of Pakistan would not be used for political millage.

Most of the political parties have shown maturity in this regard, the Prime Minister said, adding that a number of developments have taken place thereafter and the government is closely following them. "We will keep political parties informed of these developments and take them into confidence," he said.

Talking about law and order, the Prime Minister said that cross border illegal movement on the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan needs to be curbed. He directed the Interior Ministry to take up this matter with their Afghan counterparts and evolve a joint strategy to deal with the issue.

The Prime Minister said the government would do whatever possible to restore peace, alleviate poverty and put the country on the road to progress. He said the government remains committed to establishing rule of law and creating a society based on equality, justice and mutual respect.

"We are not going to compromise on this at all," the Prime Minister said while lauding the role played by the media and law enforcement agencies in the war against terror.

The press release says that the Cabinet also noted that the Karachi Stock Exchange has crossed the record level of 27,000 points which is an evidence of business community's confidence in the economic policies of the government.

The Prime Minister said the country has great potential and if peace is restored, "we could achieve significant economic progress and development in a short time."

The cabinet also gave its consent to the signing of a number of MoUs including ex-post facto approval for MoU with M/S Norinco International (People's Republic of China) on energy and mass transit projects and approval of an MoU with India for Trade in Electricity.

The MoU between the government of Pakistan and M/S Norinco International (People's Republic of China), notes the agreement that both sides shall pursue co-operation in the fields of mass transit, energy particularly solar energy projects in different provinces of Pakistan, setting up of industrial cities along the Motorways, solar irrigation projects and road sector projects. The MoU contains provision allowing Government of Pakistan to identify any other sector in which it requires technical, financial, and managerial assistance, knowledge or expertise of M/s Norinco.

The cabinet gave its approval to the signing of an MoU between Pakistan and India for trade in electricity. The Ministry of Water and Power had initiated negotiations with India in this regard. The World Bank has undertaken to finance feasibility study of the project.

The federal cabinet accorded approval to the signing of an MoU with the EXIM Bank of Turkey for a Credit Line of US $300 Million for Pakistan. The credit line will be utilised for promotion of trade between the two countries.

A formal approval of the agreement on economic and technical co-operation between China and Pakistan was accorded by the Cabinet for an Interest-Free Loan of RMB 100 million for a period of twenty years including a ten-year grace period. The loan will predominantly be used for education purposes.

The cabinet considered and accorded approval to the Negotiated / Signed Agreement on Waiver of Visa Requirements for Holders of Diplomatic, Special and Official Passport between Pakistan and Kuwait and also gave approval to Ratification of the Agreement.

The cabinet gave its approval to signing agreement on Re-admission of Persons Residing without authorisation between Pakistan and Turkey and also accorded approval to ratification of the agreement. The agreement will strengthen co-operation between the two countries to combat illegal immigration effectively and establish procedures for identification, safe and orderly return of persons who do not otherwise fulfil the conditions for entry to, or reside in the territories of Pakistan or Turkey.

An approval to signing the Negotiated Extradition Treaty between Pakistan and Kuwait and Approval to Ratification of the Extradition Treaty were also accorded by the cabinet. The treaty provides for extradition of any person who is accused or convicted of an offence which falls under the jurisdiction of the requesting party.

The cabinet also considered and accorded approval to Negotiations/Signing of Bilateral Implementing Protocol on Readmission of Persons Residing without Authorisation between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and United Kingdom. All re-admission cases of illegal immigrants with the European Union member states are dealt with under the said agreement.

An approval for Ratification of an agreement on transfer of offenders between Pakistan and Turkey was also accorded. Under the agreement, a person sentenced in the territory of one contracting party may be transferred to the territory of the other contracting party in accordance with the provisions of this agreement in order to serve the sentence imposed on him.

An approval in principle to enter into negotiations on an "Agreement on Transfer of Offenders" between Pakistan and Nigeria was also granted by the cabinet.

An approval in principle to enter into negotiations on an Agreement on Re-Admission between Pakistan and Norway was accorded by the cabinet. The proposed agreement will strengthen co-operation between the two countries to combat illegal immigration effectively and establish procedures for identification, safe and orderly return of persons who do not otherwise fulfil the conditions for entry to, or residence on the territories of Pakistan or Norway.

An approval in principle to enter in negotiations on an Agreement on Re-Admission of Persons Residing without Authorisation between Pakistan and Ukraine was also given by the cabinet.

The cabinet gave its consent to the signing of Friendship and Co-operation Protocol between the Greater Ankara Municipality and the Capital Development Authority of Islamabad.

An approval, in principle was accorded by the cabinet for Negotiating the Draft Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Exchanges between the government of Japan and the government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The cabinet during its meeting also gave approval to initiation of negotiations between State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Central Bank of the UAE on Banking Supervision and Exchange of Information for the banks operation in both the countries.

The cabinet accorded approval to Initiation of Negotiations between SBP and Polish Financial Supervision Authority (PFSA) on Signing of an MoU on Banking Supervision.

An approval in principle was also accorded to start negotiations on MoU between Supreme Audit Institutions of Pakistan and Supreme Audit Court of Iran on Co-operation on Auditing in Public Sector.

The Cabinet gave approval to initiation of negotiations between State Bank of Pakistan and Nepal Rastra Bank on the Signing of an MoU on Co-operation in the Field of Supervision and Exchange of Information for banks' operation in both the countries.

An approval was also given by the cabinet towards the initiation of Negotiations between State Bank of Pakistan and Central Bank of Tunisia (CBT) on the Signing of an MoU on Banking Supervision and Exchange of Information for smooth functioning of cross-border branches and facilitation of financial activities.

An approval in principle to initiation of Negotiations for Signing of an MoU with the Republic of Maldives was given for Co-operation in the Field of Sports. An approval of the cabinet was accorded to Ratification of Agreement between government of Pakistan and government of the Republic of Cuba on Bilateral Collaboration in Sports and Physical Culture.

An approval of the cabinet was also given for the signing of an MoU on co-operation in the field of sports between Ministry of Sports and Youth of Islamic Republic of Iran and Ministry of Inter Provincial Co-ordination of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The cabinet gave permission in principle to start negotiations with the government of the Republic of Iraq for entering into an Agreement concerning the Organisation of Pakistani Manpower Employment in Republic of Iraq.

An approval in principle was accorded by the cabinet to start negotiations and the Signing of an MoU on Recognition of Certificates Pursuant to Regulation I/10 of the International Convention on Standards of Training Certification and Watch-Keeping for Seafarers betweenPakistan and Jordan.

The cabinet granted approval for the Signing of an MoU on co-operation in the field of Merchant Shipping between Pakistan and Egypt under which both countries will collaborate in the field of merchant shipping in accordance with their objectives and requirements for economic development.

The cabinet also approved the Signing of an MoU between the Union of Chamber of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges Turkey (TOBB) and Ministry of Railways Pakistan. The MoU provides for undertaking a feasibility study to suggest ways and means to attract commercial traffic in order to run international container train service between Islamabad and Istanbul on the regular basis.

The cabinet accorded approval to Ratification of the Agreement on Mutual Administrative Assistance for the Proper Application of Customs Law and Repression, Investigation and Enforcement of Customs Offences between the Government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Government of the State of Qatar.

The cabinet consented to Pakistan's signing the Multilateral Convention on Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention aims to facilitate international co-operation for better enforcement of national tax laws while respecting fundamental rights of taxpayers.

The cabinet gave approval regarding Amendment in the Convention between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of Austria for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income.

The cabinet accorded approval to the signing of Protocol on Co-operation in Science and Technology between Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF).

An approval of the cabinet in principle was accorded for Initiation of Negotiations on the Draft Memorandum of Co-operation between Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), and National Science Foundation (NSF) Sri Lanka.

An approval in principle of the cabinet was also given for Initiation of Negotiations on the Draft (MoU) Between PSQCA, Ministry of Science & Technology, government of Pakistan and DGSM, government of Sultanate of Oman in the Fields of Standardisation and Quality Assurance.

The cabinet gave its approval to initiation of negotiations on the Draft Agreement on Science & Technological Co-operation between Pakistan and Ethiopia. An approval of the cabinet was also granted on initiation of Negotiations on the Draft MoU in the Field of Science & Technology between National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) of Chile and Ministry of Science and Technology, Pakistan.

Earlier, the federal cabinet offered fateha for the persons martyred in Bannu and R.A Bazaar Rawalpindi bomb blasts and media persons who lost their lives in terror attacks. Fateha was also offered for the father of Anusha Rehman, Minister of State for IT who died recently.

Auth: Aamir Saeed

Source: Business Recorder