ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday formed a two-member ministerial committee to address reservations of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over the use of electronic voting machine (EVM) in next general elections to be held in 2023.

Ignoring public dismay over galloping price hike in the country, the cabinet expressed satisfaction over what it believed “the economy’s upward trend”.

The meeting was apprised that the government had repaid foreign debt of $12.27 billion this year and it had to pay $12.5bn next year.

The cabinet was also informed that the country had witnessed record yield of cotton, rice and other crops this year whereas record production was seen in auto industry.

“The cabinet has tasked Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz and Minister for Information Techno­logy Syed Aminul Haq to meet the chief election commissioner on Wednesday (today) to assure him of all-out assistance from the government in holding local government elections in Islamabad through EVM,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said in a post- cabinet meeting press conference.

Citing figures about growth in auto manufacturing sector, minister downplays price hike

He urged the ECP to issue tenders for purchase of EVMs so that next general elections could be conducted through the machines.

A cabinet member told Dawn that Aminul Haq, Shibli Faraz and Railway Minister Azam Swati met on Tuesday to evolve a strategy on how to facilitate the ECP for holding polls through EVMs. “However, it has been decided that the two ministers will meet Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Wednesday (today),” he added.

Economy & price hike

The information minister painted a rosy picture of the growing economy saying that auto industry and agriculture sector had witnessed record production in the current year. “There would not have been such progress if there was price hike in the country,” he said.

Mr Chaudhry said in five years, the incumbent government would have to repay the $55 billion loans taken by Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari governments.

Those who were talking about managing the economy had drowned the economy by taking loans during their tenures, he added.

Moreover, he said that the government had made payments of Rs134bn to independent power projects and these payments were made due to agreements signed during the tenure of Nawaz Sharif.

The minister said that textile sector had shown 30 per cent growth and information technology exports had risen by 47 per cent so far and hopefully they would be doubled by the end of the fiscal year.

He said that 31pc increase had been registered in income tax payment.

Similarly, he said that farmers earned Rs1,100 billion additional income due to bumper crops and increase in per acre yield.

During the past two years, the number of car manufacturers in Pakistan had increased from five to 15, Mr Chaudhry said, adding that currently 240,000 vehicles were being manufactured per year in Pakistan, and the goal was to achieve the target of manufacturing of 500,000 vehicles.

He said that investments were being made in the car manufacturing sector, and banks had increased their capital in the car financing sector from Rs240bn to Rs338bn by October 2021.

He said that 111,435 cars were produced in the first five months of this fiscal year which meant that car manufacturing had increased by 69 per cent.

Similarly, 85 per cent motorcycles being used in the country were being manufactured in Pakistan and their parts were also manufactured locally. “The sales of motorcycles, tractors, jeeps, cars have shown historic increase,” he added.

Electricity consumption, he said, had increased by 13pc and diesel consumption by 26pc. “If the economy has gone down, then how can the demand of vehicles increase,” he asked.

The sectors of construction, agriculture and textiles were experiencing historic improvement, he said, adding that foreign exchange reserves had increased from $20.3bn to $ 25.2bn while the export volume had increased by 29pc over last year.

He said that presently 200,000 companies were registered with the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), out of which 150,000 had been established during the last three years which meant that business was flourishing in Pakistan.

Senate traceable votes

The federal cabinet gave approval to amendments to Section 122 of the Election Act, 2017. The amendments have been proposed in the light of directives of the Supreme Court and the draft law will be presented to the federal cabinet committee on law.

The apex court, the minister said, had stated that the Senate vote should be traceable so the ECP might address the allegations of horse trading.

The amendments would be tabled in the parliament for final approval so that it can become the part of law.

Similarly, he said, on the directives of Islamabad High Court, a summary of Establishment Division on daily wage, ad hoc, temporary and contract employees was presented before the cabinet.

The cabinet, the minister said, gave approval to $3.98bn ex-post facto loans obtained from December 2020 to November 2021.

The government was borrowing loans on long-term basis to reduce the external debt burden which was taken during the previous governments on short-term basis at expensive interest rate, he said.

The cabinet appointed Jawadullah from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a member of National Commission on the Rights on Child. The cabinet gave approval for appointment of Dr Shamshad Akhtar as official member at Port Qasim Authority in place of Vice Admiral Zahid Ilyas.

The cabinet also notified members for National Food Security and Management Committee headed by the prime minister.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2021