Will welcome Asad Umar back into cabinet if he returns: PM Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan says he will welcome Asad Umar, who stepped down as finance minister on April 18, back into the cabinet if he intends to come back.

Holding a key meeting with party ministers including the newly-inducted cabinet members in Islamabad on Saturday, Imran Khan heaped praise on Asad Umar and expressed his wish to have him back into the federal cabinet. ‘We will invite him to our cabinet again,’ sources quoted PM Khan as saying during the meeting.

The prime minister said it will be beneficial for the cabinet if Asad Umar returns to the key body of ministers. He stated that no one in the government was in power on permanent-basis. ‘Those serving the masses will stay, while others will be sent packing’, he clarified.

Read: Asad Umar thanks people for showing support

The premier went on to say the government was also keeping an eye on performance of provincial governments along with ministers working in the federal government.

He called upon his party leaders and ministers to be compassionate towards masses, and underlined the core purpose of forming a government was implementation of party manifesto to serve people of the country.

PM Khan said the government was leaving no stone unturned in stabilizing the national economy. “We will be in a position for a smooth take-off once the economy is overhauled,” Khan told the meeting participants.

He also asked his party members to go ‘fully prepared’ in TV talk shows [to present the government version and party policies coherently]. He directed them to keep the public aware of facts irrespective of propaganda being hatched by the opposition.

‘We are framing positive policies and the country will soon be out of crisis,” he expressed.

Khan also praised newly-appointed Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Hafeez Shaikh , and said he was an able man and a noted economist.

During the meeting, the premier also directed his adviser on health to take immediate measures  to reduce prices of medicines.

PM Imran Khan also appreciated Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Federal Minister for Railways, during his address to the meeting participants.