ISLAMABAD, June 25 (NNI): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday ruling out any large-scale military operation said that Azm-e-Istehkam was a multi-domain, multi-agency and whole-of-system national vision aimed at decisively rooting out the nebulous and shadowy presence of remnants of terrorists, and violent extremism.
The prime minister, chairing a meeting of the federal cabinet, took the members into confidence about the prevailing misunderstanding and speculations about the Azm-e-Istehkam, saying that instead of any large-scale operation, the already ongoing intelligence based kinetic operations would be energized.
“The Operation Azm-e-Istehkam is different from the big operations launched in the past. The operation will neither be launched in specific areas nor people will be displaced. We will have to support this operation instead of personal rifts. Action will be taken against terrorists on the basis of intelligence,” he added.
The PM said that the Operation Azm-e-Istehkam is a national vision comprising of all aspects. “It will include political and diplomatic aspects,” he added.
He said the government was planning to put the national economy on a positive trajectory and expressed satisfaction over the country heading towards economic stability.
Discussing the annual budget 2024-25, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed the members to ensure their presence in the ongoing budget debate in the parliament.
During the briefing, the cabinet members were informed that the privatisation of the PIA was moving ahead swiftly as companies showing interest in the pre-bidding process were visiting different PIA sites. The bidding of the PIA will be held in the first week of August, it was told.
The prime minister instructed to accelerate the PIA privatisation while ensuring transparency in the process. On the commerce ministry’s recommendation and request from the World Food Programme of Afghanistan, the federal cabinet approved transit of a truck from Karachi to Kabul carrying the spare parts of the trucks, just for once on humanitarian grounds.
The body gave the go-ahead to signing of an MoU between the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Pakistan and that of Saudi Arabia. It also extended till March 2025 the timeframe of an implementation committee on the immovable property of late Ameer of Bahawalpur, light of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s ruling and recommendation of the States and Frontier Regions Division.
The federal cabinet also approved the appointment of the Executive Director of the Frequency Allocation Board.
The prime minister said the government would not tolerate any increase in the sugar price and instructed the formation of a committee to monitor the sugar price and stop its export in case of any possibility of a price hike.
The meeting approved the annual report of the National Economic Council for fiscal year 2022-23 prepared by the planning ministry for tabling before the parliament. The federal cabinet endorsed the Economic Coordination Committee’s decisions of June 13, 2024; Cabinet Committee on Legislative Cases of June 11, 2024 and Cabinet Committee on State Owned Enterprises’s decision of June 20, 2024. NNI
