ISLAMABAD: It was a busy day for freshly-minted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who assumed charge of his office on Tuesday with a whirlwind schedule; beginning consultations with the leaders of various political parties for the formation of the federal cabinet, abolishing the two-day weekend and revising the country’s official work timings for Ramazan.

After receiving the customary guard of honour early in the morning, Shehbaz Sharif arrived at the PM Office and assumed charge around 8am — much earlier than Ramazan working hours, which start at 10am — saying that he did not want to waste any time in serving the masses.

During an early morning interaction where he was introduced to the officials and staff of PM House, the new premier directed them to get ready to deliver robust performance.

He also ordered that all public offices, from Wednesday onwards, would open at 8am and abolished the official holiday on Saturday.

Shehbaz meets coalition leaders amid hectic cabinet-formation efforts

“The prime minister [has] ordered a single weekly off for public departments instead of the earlier two days,” the PM Office said in a statement.

Speaking at an iftar dinner at the PM House on Tuesday evening, he explained his rationale, saying he had taken the decision based on the economic situation of the country.

“Even developed countries cannot afford two weekly holidays [Saturday and Sunday], so how can we, with our economy in crisis, avail two holidays in a week,” he asked, adding that the economic situation his government had inherited from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) led regime required everyone to work, hard even on Sundays.

Law will take its course

PM Sharif told reporters on Tuesday evening that his government did not believe in the ‘politics of victimization’, but the law would come into action on its own.

“We don’t believe in victimising any and I will never ask any institution to take actions against anyone, but the law will take its course against wrongdoers. Institutions are there to take cognisance of any wrongdoing,” he said.

To a question, he said the evil nexus between ex-prime minister Imran Khan and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had been exposed as it appeared to be n nothing more than political victimisation.

The prime minister said the main focus of the coalition government was to introduce electoral reforms, adding that though they only had a year-and-a-half, the coalition parties would decide when to go for elections.

The 2,300-point surge in the KSE-100 and the appreciation of the rupee by Rs10 against the dollar were, in his view, feel-good factors. The stock exchange was a barometer to gauge the sentiments of the business community in the country, he said.

The prime minister said by deploying the officials from all federating units, PM House would be made into Pakistan House. However, he claimed that merit would be the order of the day and no one would be allowed to go against the merit.

Meetings with coalition leaders

Earlier in the day, the prime minister visited the leaders of allied parties at Parliament Lodges, Zardari House as well as the JUI-F office in Islamabad, where he consulted with them over the formation of the federal cabinet.

At these meetings, he assured coalition partners the government would make collective efforts to rescue the country from the prevailing economic crisis and that all important decisions would be taken after consulting all partners.

According to the PM Office, on Tuesday PM Sharif met with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardrai, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Khalid Magsi, Balochistan National Party (BNP) Akhtar Mengal, Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) President Shahzain Bugti and Aslam Bhootani.

He is also due in Karachi today (Wednesday) to meet leaders of other parties in the ruling coalition and is also expected to visit the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2022