ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri briefed the federal cabinet on Tuesday on apprehensions expressed by the West and some other countries over the proclamation of emergency.

He said there was tremendous pressure from friendly countries for holding general elections on time and for restoration of democracy.

Journalists boycotted the information minister’s news briefing on the cabinet meeting in protest against curbs on the electronic and print media. The official media attended the briefing and the government issued a handout on deliberations of the cabinet.

Mr Kasuri said that some countries had threatened to stop aid till the restoration of democracy. However, he said, the stance taken by Australia and some Middle Eastern countries was encouraging.

There was a feeling, sources said, that the state of emergency could not be prolonged beyond a certain period and that there was no alternative to restoration of the democratic process.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao informed the cabinet about the security situation.

The cabinet also discussed the standoff between the media and the information ministry over restrictions on the transmission of private television channels since Nov 3 when the emergency was proclaimed.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who presided over the meeting justified the imposition of emergency and said no country could be governed effectively if there was no harmony among the three pillars of the state and if they did not function within their constitutional mandate. He said the constitutional writ of the government had been undermined through various actions which had made governance difficult. It was also affecting the economy, he added.

The cabinet was told that the imposition of emergency was not intended to delay the elections or to slow down the democratic process.

The cabinet endorsed the Nov 3 actions of the president and said that it would put the “democratic process on track and facilitate the holding of the general elections and early transition to democracy”.

The cabinet exempted houses of up to five marlas and apartments of up to 720 square feet in cantonment areas from property tax.

It approved amendments to the Northern Areas’ Legal Framework Order, 1994, and the Northern Areas Rules of Business, 1994, as announced by the president.

The cabinet approved the Pakistan-Malaysia comprehensive free trade agreement for closer economic partnership and ratified of the Pakistan-Mauritius preferential trade agreement.

The cabinet authorised the Ministry of Interior to hold negotiations on the draft memorandum of understanding with the International Committee of Red Cross for a review of training curricula and enhancement of professionalism of the police force.

The cabinet approved the signing of an Inter-governmental Agreement on Trans-Asian Railway Network, revision of the convention between Pakistan and Japan for avoidance of double taxation and negotiating a draft memorandum of understanding with Indonesia and Portugal on defence cooperation.

Establishment of a national language authority was also approved.

The cabinet decided that promotion cases of government servants in BS-1 to 15 would be approved by the secretary of the department concerned, of employees in BS 16 to 18 by the minister concerned and of those in BS-19 and above by the prime minister.