ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will head the Cabinet Committee on Exit Control List following its re-constitution on Thursday.

The committee, comprising four members, will have secretarial support from the interior ministry. However, the interior minister will not be the part of the committee. Other three members will be the federal ministers for law, industries and production and human resources.

In its meeting on Thursday, the body approved the inclusion of 24 new names on the no-fly list, while removing the name of PTI leader and senior lawyer Babar Awan.

In another development, PM Shehbaz postponed an emergen­­cy meeting of the federal capital, scheduled to be held today (Friday), for a day.

Says strong economy holds key to meeting all challenges; cabinet meeting rescheduled for tomorrow

The meeting will now take place on Saturday.

A senior cabinet member told Dawn that the meeting was resch­eduled for “no specific reason”.

The huddle was supposed to take up a letter written to the Supreme Judicial Council by six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), alleging “interference” of intelligence agencies in their work.

Power theft

Separately, chairing a meeting on prevention of electricity theft, PM Shehbaz directed the authorities concerned to take immediate disciplinary action against officers and award exemplary punishment to those abetting the crime that is causing the country billions in losses.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the PM sought a strategy for decreasing line losses and for upgradation of transmission lines.

Terming generation companies “a burden on the national exchequer”, he ordered that work should be started on their privatisation at the earliest. A complete plan for the solarisation of tube wells in Balochistan should be presented, he added.

During the meeting, it was decided to install smart meters on transformers under the public sector development programme. Feeder monitors would be deployed at the feeders that were seeing huge losses.

Visit to Naval HQ

PM Shehbaz also visited the Naval Headquarters, where he la­­uded the robust response of the Pakistan Navy that foiled a rece­­nt terror attack on a naval airbase in Turbat.

Speaking on the occasion, he said, “A strong economy holds the key to meeting all the challenges faced by the country”.

The prime minister also laid a wreath at the martyrs’ monument and was introduced to the principal staff officers of Naval Headquarters.

APNS delegation

Separately, in a meeting with a delegation of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), PM Shehbaz assured that all issues faced by the journalist community would be resolved and the government would fully support mediapersons in the fulfillment of their responsibilities.

APNS President Nazafreen Sa­­i­gol Lakhani, Secretary Gen­e­ral Sarmad Ali, Finance Secre­tary Shahab Zuberi, Mujeebur Reh­man Shami, Muhammad Athar Qazi, Syed Munir Jilani, Mohsin Bilal, Mehtab Khan and Faisal Zahid Malik were part of the delegation.

Federal Minister for Informa­tion and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar and other officers also attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2024