ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday congratulated Sadiq Sanjrani on emerging successful in the no-trust vote in the Senate and said the outcome of the exercise showed that members felt he had the ability required to run the house efficiently.

The prime minister met Mr Sanj­rani in the PM Office when the Senate chairman called on him. Leader of the House in the Senate Shibli Faraz, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and Senator Mohammad Ali Saif were present on the occasion.

The prime minister expressed the hope that Mr Sanjrani would run the upper house of parliament even more efficiently after having defeated the opposition’s move to unseat him.

Weighing in on the issue of the no-trust motion against the Senate chairman, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the outcome of the vote had served to “bury the politics of those who wanted to run democracy as if it was a robot”.

In a tweet, she said the opposition parties should first promote democracy within their ranks. Threats hurled at respectable senators were highly condemnable.

She was of the opinion that casting vote “on the voice of one’s conscience” was real democracy.

In Naya Pakistan, she said, the people had rejected hereditary politics. By moving a no-confidence motion against Mr Sanjrani, the opposition had tried to harm the symbol of the federation for its political gains.

Meanwhile, the defence minister deplored a statement made by the joint opposition’s candidate for the office of Senate chairman, Mir Hasil Bizenjo, that a premier intelligence agency was involved in efforts to defeat the resolution against Mr Sanjrani.

Mr Khattak said that Mr Bizenjo’s statement was baseless and that instead of levelling unfounded allegations he should accept his defeat with grace.

Mr Bizenjo’s statement did not ref­lect “his political wisdom and maturity”, added the defence minister.

Meeting on tourism

Prime Minister Khan has directed the authorities concerned to ensure the preservation of flora and fauna of tourist spots while establishing tourism zones in the country.

Chairing a meeting of the Task Force on Tourism, the prime minister said that additional legislation to protect the natural beauty and environment of tourist spots should be formulated as soon as possible.

The meeting was also attended by special assistants to the PM Zulfiqar Abbas Bokhari, Dr Awan and Yousuf Baig Mirza, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Minister Atif Khan, Cabinet Division Secretary Maroof Afzal, Managing Director of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Intikhab Alam and others.

The prime minister underscored the need for promoting the country’s tourist spots internationally, besides extending facilities of international standards to the tourists.

Mr Khan was apprised about the performance of the National Tourism Coordination Board and various working groups functioning under the board.

The prime minister was also briefed on the restructuring of the PTDC and was told that a national tourism strategy had been finalised.

The meeting also discussed the arrangements to be made for the facilitation of Sikh pilgrims, particularly the schedule for their arrival for celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail also called on Mr Khan and apprised him of the situation in his province, especially Karachi. He told the prime minister that efforts were being made to ease the problems being faced by the people due to improper drainage of rainwater.—APP/PPI

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019