Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Thursday said leadership of the present government had desired to transfer provincial resources at tehsil level to bring improvement in the lives of the people. The provision of basic necessities of life including education and health was the responsibility of the provincial governments after the 18th constitutional amendment, he said while talking to a private news channel.
The devolution of power plan introduced by General Pervaiz Musharraf during his tenure, he said, it was a remarkable piece of project for the people of less privileged parts of the country. The said under the devolution of power plan, announced in August 2000 by Pervaiz Musharraf’s ruling cabinet, the basic theme of the plan was to “empower the impoverished”. He further said the current cabinet members working under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, were also contemplating a plan to review the rules of 18th amendment, so that improvement could be made in education and health sectors.
Despite huge funds being transferred through National Finance Commission (NFC) award to provincial governments, he said the health and education sectors had not been producing better results. For reviewing the rules of 18th amendment, he said, we needed to have consultation with all political parties including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Commenting on slow process of accountability, the minister said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers and voters had given a heavy mandate to the government to hold accountable the corrupt elements who had looted the national wealth mercilessly. He said if the PTI government failed to nab the corrupts, it would cause disappointment among its workers. He said Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif should return the looted money or they should face the NAB cases registered against them by the last governments.
To a question, he said the PTI leadership was committed and determined to continue the process of accountability without discrimination. Chaudhry Fawad said the democratic system could be strengthened if equal justice was ensured for the poor and rich in the country. He said there was a vacuum in the political parties’ leaderships particularly the members sitting in the opposition benches, adding they should focus on finding think tanks withing their parties for the discussion on important political matters.
About the rule of law and flaws in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), he said Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz had been declared ‘convict’ but unfortunately, they were enjoying life outside of the prison. He said a script was being prepared for amending NAB laws. To a query, he said Pakistan could achieve progress if political parties with their think tanks, started focusing on political maturity.
