Govt to not tolerate smuggling, corruption: PM Kakar

PESHAWAR: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Friday reiterated that the government would in no way tolerate smuggling and corruption in the country and its ongoing efforts against the menaces were coming to the fruition.

The prime minister, chairing a meeting to discuss the matters pertaining to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), said the dollar’s value had depreciated in the market consequent to the timely action by the government.

The prime minister, who also interacted with the media during the visit, told that the dollar depreciation had led to reduction of country’s loans by Rs4,000 billion besides impacting the prices of petroleum products and eatables.

Addressing the participants of the meeting, the prime minister said that support extended by the Pakistan Army in the efforts to curb smuggling and hoarding was laudable.

The prime minister who was on his first visit to Peshawar after assuming the office, was briefed on the law and order situation as well as the financial issues confronting the province.

He said only the illegal foreign nationals were being expelled from the country and directed the authorities to ensure that the registered foreign nationals faced no difficulties during the process.

He instructed the relevant authorities to utilise all-out resources to improve the security and law and order situation and also emphasised the strengthening of KP Police and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).

Appreciating the KP Police and administration’s efforts against incidents of terrorism, PM Kakar said no outfit or group would be allowed to pick up weapons and challenge the state’s writ.

He instructed to equip the KP Police with modern equipment to build its capacity against the challenge of terrorism, and assured the federal government’s maximum support to the provincial government.

He said the armed forces and the police had rendered immense sacrifices against terrorism and the whole nation stood by them.

Moreover, he said the federal and provincial governments were striving for the true implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP).

Besides assuring to resolve KP’s financial issues, he told the meeting that a strategy would be formulated for the resolution of the problems faced by the province and merged districts.

KP Governor Haji Ghulam Ali, Caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan, caretaker provincial ministers Syed Masood Shah, Barrister Feroz Jamal, Justice (Retd) Irshad Qaiser, Ahmed Rasool Bangash, Asif Rafiq, Dr Najibullah, Dr Muhammad Qasim Jan, Justice (Retd) Arshad Hussain Shah, Syed Amir Abdullah, Engineer Amir Nadeem Durrani and Engineer Ahmed Jan, CM’s advisors Dr Riaz Anwar and Dr Sarfaraz Ali Shah, Special Assistant to CM Zafarullah Khan, KP Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry and relevant senior officers attended the meeting.