Cabinet approves 15% increase in salaries of civil armed forces: Fawad Chaudhry

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday announced that in line with the announcement by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the federal cabinet has approved a 15% increase in the salaries of the civil armed forces and 15% disparity allowance for federal employees from grade one to 19.

Addressing a press conference after the cabinet meeting in Islamabad, the minister said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) could not recover Rs3,000 billion due to ongoing cases in courts.

“FBR is unable to recover money due to stay orders,” Fawad said, clarifying that the PTI-led government respects all institutions and works together with them.

The federal minister reiterated "there is no doubt that the price of petroleum products will increase further."

However, he added that the decision regarding the price of petrol does not depend on the cabinet as it is dependent on other factors.

Speaking about the provincial vaccine dilemma, Fawad said that the Sindh chief minister had asked the federal government to import vaccines for them.

“Sindh government has not even spent a single dollar on vaccines and all vaccines were provided by the federal government,” he said, adding that despite that, the number of people vaccinated in Karachi is comparatively very less.

He further added that $725 million have been received from international institutions for the purchase of vaccines, stating that vaccines worth $2.5 billion have already been administered to people.

Fawad said that the administrative issues of courts should be dealt with in line with the view of the government.

Recalling the incident when Prime Minister Imran Khan was summoned to the Supreme Court in Army Public School (APS), he said that the premier arrived in the court within half an hour.

“Pakistan is facing an administrative crisis due to stay orders given by the courts,” the minister said, adding that lawsuits are “cheaper in Pakistan than in the world.”

He suggested that the judiciary should be set up in a manner through which these issues can be resolved.

Fawad also shared that the cabinet has approved the formulation of a separate judicial system for overseas Pakistanis for summary trial.

These laws will be enacted in view of PM Imran Khan's vision to facilitate overseas Pakistanis, who are a precious asset of the country, Fawad said, adding that similar judicial system will also be established in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, where PTI is in power.

Fawad said the cabinet called for enacting stringent laws against filthy language and hate speech on social media.

He said that the cabinet meeting gave its nod to the country's first-ever digital cloud policy.