Adviser to the Prime Minister on Establishment Mohammad Shehzad Arbab, on Thursday, said that the federal and provincial governments were working seven days a week to achieve the targets set under the Prime Minister’s 100 Days Agenda and they had already achieved 35 out of 100 milestones.
“We are on track to deliver 100 milestones in 100 days by engaging with the stakeholders within and outside the government. So far, we have completed 35 milestones and the rest will be accomplished during the remaining 56 days,” he told while holding a press briefing with the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain.
The briefing was specifically focused on the first 100 days plan of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government. Arbab explained the broad contours of the reform agenda through a presentation and later answered various questions of senior journalists and anchorpersons.
The 100 days agenda of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said, was based on six themes: transform governance, strengthen federation, inclusive economic growth, revolutionise social services, and ensure Pakistan’s national security.
The themes, he said, had been further broken down into 35 initiatives and both the federal and provincial governments got the expert advice where necessary. He said that a website “pm100days.pmo.gov.pk” had been created so that the media and the public could track the progress of the 100 days reform agenda of the prime minister.
“We want to be transparent. We are accountable to the public, so we have launched a website to help people keep track of our performance,” Arbab said.
“After 100 days you can hold us accountable and we will tell where we stand. We are working round the clock to achieve the targets,” he said.
“The Prime Minister recognizes that we have got an historic opportunity after 22 years of struggle and he expects each one of us to make the most of every single minute at our disposal,” said Arbab.
On the new system of the local governments, the advisor said that the requisite laws in that regard would be framed by the Punjab and KP governments, and wherever needed, the approval of respective provincial assemblies would be sought. Arbab said the concept of the village councils, as was in practice in KP, would be adopted in Punjab and more powers would be delegated to them.
Answering a question on the local government, the Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said that under the new system, the mayors in big cities and chairmen at the district and tehsil levels would be directly elected and the powers would be devolved from the provincial to local level to make the people, at the grass-roots level, masters of their destiny.
Responding to a question on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Fawad categorically stated that there was no contradiction in what he had said earlier and what was stated on Wednesday. Questioned on Civil Service reforms, Arbab said that Dr Ishrat Hussain would come up with his proposals and the reforms would be introduced definitely as the prime minister was committed.
Answering a question regarding the Karachi Master Plan, Arbab said that a task force comprising multi-party representatives was working on it, which would help transform the port city.
On the South Punjab province, Arbab said that a task force, consisting of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Minister for Planning and Development Khusro Bakhtiar, had been set up which would submit its proposal soon.
Arbab, while answering a question about accountability, said that there would be no “witch-hunt.”
Published in Daily Times, October 4th 2018.
