ISLAMABAD: A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan reposed his confidence in Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, the two leaders met at PM House on Wednesday.

According to the PMO, Mr Buzdar called on the prime minister and discussed with him matters relating to development projects and politics in his province. The one-to-one meeting lasted over half an hour.

The two met soon after Prime Minister Khan presided over a separate meeting on tourism which was also attended by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.

In an interview with a private TV channel on Tuesday, the prime minister revealed that there were many contenders for the slot of Punjab chief minister, hinting that there was some opposition against the chief minister within the ruling party.

About NAB cases against Mr Buzdar, the prime minister expressed his support for the chief minister, and said cases against him were unjustified.

PM orders setting up of NCC on tourism

“I have checked cases related to award of liquor licence and Lahore Ring Road project through the Intelligence Bureau and found them baseless with no element of corruption,” Mr Khan had said.

He said the main problem with Chief Minister Buzdar was that he was not media savvy, and did not appear before journalists to defend himself; as a result, people level all kinds of allegations against him.

“But I know that due to the sagacious policies of Buzdar, Punjab is excelling among all the provinces. He (Buzdar) became the chief minister for the first time and therefore was learning just as I am,” he added.

Read: The problem with Buzdar

Prime Minister Khan directed setting up of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Tourism and removal of encroachments from tourist sites.

The NCC will be headed by Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bukhari for promoting tourism in the country.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the committee will meet every week and apprise the prime minister on the progress made on tourism.

The meeting, which was presided over by the prime minister, also decided to remove encroachments from tourist sites and asked the provinces to take necessary steps in this regard.

The prime minister said the government had to improve the situation at tourist spots so that these places could reflect the true culture and traditions of the country.

He also vowed to provide better facilities to tourists, and said tourism would improve economic activity and generate employment opportunities.

He ordered effective utilisation of government infrastructure for promoting tourism.

“Utilise historical places, governor houses and guest houses for tourism,” he said.

Police performance

On the directives of Prime Minister Khan, performance evaluation of the police department had been initiated with show-cause notices and warnings issued to irresponsible officials, the PM Office said on Wednesday.

It said evaluation reports had been received from inspectors general (IGs) of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the performance of officers dealing with complaints submitted on the PM’s Citizen Portal.

Three divisional police officers (DPOs) from Punjab stationed in Rahimyar Khan, Nankana Sahib and Bhakkar have been served notices and replies sought from them within a week. In case of no reply, strict action would be taken against them.

The IG Punjab appreciated the police officials whose performance was good, including DPO Mandi Bahauddin, Superintendent of Police of Gulgasht, Multan, and Additional IG Special Branch.

Some 31 police officers of Punjab have been placed in red category of delivery unit.

The IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also issued notices to six officials of the provincial police department for their poor performance, the PM Office said.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2020