Official Blog Of Press Information Department

Courtesy:-    Malik Muhammad Ashraf   The much awaited and badly needed LNG deal with Qatar has finally been clinched and an agreement to this effect was signed between the two countries during the visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Qatar. The significance of the deal for an energy deficient country like Pakistan can hardly be over-emphasized. Energy is regarded as the life-line of a nation and an engine of development besides ensuring the enjoyment of comforts of the modern life to the masses, made possible by the emergence of new technologies. Sustained economic development of an energy starved country is inconceivable. Attaining energy security, therefore, is vital for propelling development and change in any country.

Courtesy:- S Rahman  PML-N government has passed through the mill and met challenges coming its way one after the other with unprecedented perseverance, sagacity, political will and determination with the result that the country has made strides on all the important fronts including counter-terrorism, economic revival, inflow of substantial foreign investment, energy sufficiency etc. 

Courtesy:-    Malik Muhammad Ashraf Corruption is generally defined as misuse of entrusted power or authority by the elected politicians or appointed civil servants for private gains. It usually entails embezzlement of funds, nepotism, kickbacks, bribery as well as deliberate attempts to perpetuate a system with inbuilt avenues of corruption, graft and entitlement. Corruption has many forms but the major cause of concerns are the systemic corruption and political corruption which germinate other forms of corruption that eat into the social and economic fiber of a country besides generating social tensions and hampering its economic progress.

Courtesy:-  Malik Muhammad Ashraf Whenever terrorists carry out acts of ultimate bestiality like the attacks on APS Peshawar and the Bacha Khan University, they invariably cause a deep sense of grief. The natural reaction, rightly so, to such incidents is outright condemnation coupled with the resolve both at the government and public levels not to succumb to the machinations of the terrorists – and take the fight against them to its logical end. That kind of determination is a vital ingredient in ensuring success against those who are bereft of all humane faculties and are ideological weapons of mass destruction.

Courtesy:-  MALIK MUHAMMAD ASHRAF On the revival Managing an economy like Pakistan’s is probably the most excruciating and convoluted responsibility. When the PML-N government was installed in May 2013, the economy of the country was on the verge of collapse. The country faced a severe energy crisis. Economic growth was below 3%, inflation was at double digits, interest rates were high, budget deficit was at 8.8% of GDP, investments were abysmally low, foreign currency reserves stood at the lowest ever level and the country faced the prospect of an ignominious default on IMF loans. Now after two and half years the government can rightly boast of putting the economy back on track.

Courtesy:-   Malik M Ashraf Tuesday, January 12, 2016  - Du ring the visit to Sri Lanka by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif an agreement for the sale of eight combat JF-17 Thunder aircraft to Sri Lanka was signed between the two countries, with a delivery time line of 2017. With the conclusion of this agreement, Pakistan has joined the prestigious club of the countries who produce and  export   combat aircraft , with Sri Lanka being the first buyer of this modern fighting machine; which reflects the strength of defence ties between the two countries. Pakistan along with China helped Sri Lanka in fighting and putting down the Tamil insurgency. 

Courtesy:-   Malik Muhammad Ashraf There is an ongoing stalemate between the federal and Sindh government on the extension in the mandate of the Rangers in Karachi. The latter has claimed that the two-month extension given by the federal government to the Rangers while rejecting the summary sent by the Sindh government was tantamount to the encroachment on its provincial autonomy and a breach of the constitution. The stance of the Sindh government is premised on Article 147 of the constitution which says “Notwithstanding anything contained in the constitution, the government of a province may with the consent of the federal government, entrust, either conditionally or unconditionally, to the federal government , or to its officers, functions in relation to any matter to which the executive authority of the province extends, provided that the provincial government shall get the functions so entrusted ratified by the provincial assembly within sixty days.”