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ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said the government identified the officials and political personalities at the federal and provincial levels, involved in smuggling and illegal trade activities.
The relevant authorities were also securing evidence against them which would be produced before the courts of law, leading to their conviction, he said, assuring that stern action would be taken against all those involved in such activities.
Expressing his views during an interview with a private TV channel, the prime minister said that in the Iranian oil smuggling issue, a number of bureaucrats and political figures were involved.
The political figures in the past had raised the issue of granting permission for trade in the border areas, he added. The deputy commissioners in those areas used to issue tokens worth Rs 200,000 to Rs 250,000 for the movement of each vehicle carrying oil. More than 20,000 such vehicles were involved in the illicit trade, giving rise to illicit revenue generation, he added.
About a question regarding the illegal dollars trade, he said that through stringent measures, they stopped the trade physically and through enforcement of contemporary laws.
“We have changed the nomenclature for such illegal activity by terming it ‘illicit trade’. At least, we have achieved a milestone in this regard,” he added.
PM Kakar further elaborated that the US dollars were converted into different currencies and parked across the region, leading to a vicious cycle that was functioning for the last one and a half years, which was now quashed through physical crackdown and border management laws.
About holding elections in the country, he opined that the polls could be held in mid-January or by the end of January, however, it was up to the Election Commission to take a decision in that regard. He said the president had also advised the ECP and the commission would hold deliberations.
The prime minister maintained that artificial inflation was created through hoarding and smuggling, and ongoing operations were yielding tangible results such as the reduction in the price of sugar.
To another question regarding economic revival, he lauded the incumbent Chief of Army Staff for contributing towards the national economy.
He said that economic stability was linked with political stability and all the political parties had the inherent rights to acquire political power through legal course and without disfiguring the constitutional and legal provisions.
About the May 9 incidents, he expressed how could anyone set his own house on fire after getting angered. There was no logic in such acts and approach, which neither would succeed nor would be accepted.
“If I have been a part of the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf), I will have genuinely condemned such acts and taken the party away from the vandalism,” he asserted.
PM Kakar, responding to a question about the trial of PTI chief, said that such matters should be left to the courts to decide. About Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s arrest, he observed that it was up to the law enforcement agencies to decide whether the law permitted someone to be handcuffed.
About a related query regarding the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan, he said the law enforcement agencies would decide whether he could be arrested or otherwise in accordance with the laws.
Welcoming the incoming Chief Justice of Pakistan, the prime minister said he considered him a modern and enlightened personality of his native province Balochistan, and hoped he would initiate judicial reforms.
The prime minister said that the US forces trained the Afghan national army and spent trillions of dollars in Afghanistan, but after their withdrawal, the Afghan national force and weapons disappeared.
He said the weapons were on sale in the black markets across the globe and terrorist outfits like TTP, Daesh and BLA have used such weapons in terrorist acts inside Pakistan.
The prime minister also agreed that there should be transparent accountability of all, but using it as a tool for political victimization should end.
