Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Saturday met Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz and discussed matters related to performance of the provincial government of Punjab.
Member National Assembly Usman Ibrahim and provincial ministers Malik Ahmad Khan and Attaullah Tarar attended the meeting. During the meeting, they also discussed public-welfare projects.
The meeting came ahead of by-polls on 20 vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly on July 17 and a day after the Supreme Court announced that the re-election for the Punjab chief minister’s slot would be held on July 22 – after the provincial government, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) reached a consensus.
The PTI had filed a plea in the top court seeking the annulment of the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision that had ordered the governor to hold a re-count for the Punjab CM’s slot on Friday.
Separately, the prime minister on Saturday inquired after the health of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at the Ittefaq Hospital and presented a bouquet to him. The prime minister directed the hospital administration to provide the best medical treatment to Fazlur Rehman.
Meanwhile, the prime minister on Saturday took strict notice of collection of Rs 50,000 federal excise duty from passengers at airports. The premier said that the illegal order to collect the federal excise duty at airports should be immediately revoked. He also ordered a probe into the collection of the federal excise duty without approval of the federal cabinet.
He instructed the finance minister to take strict action against those responsible for the illegal act. He called for immediate implementation of his orders and sought a report after taking action against those responsible.
