ISLAMABAD, Jun 9 (APP):Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Sunday said uplift of downtrodden segments of the society was top priority of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government in its first federal budget 2019-20 to be presented on June 11.
Addressing a news conference along with SAPM on Accountability Shehzad Akbar here, she said the budget would be austerity-oriented and public-friendly in which efforts would be made to put minimum burden on the common man.
She said it would be incumbent government’s first budget that had been prepared by engaging an economic team and keeping in view national requirements, adding the country needed a sustainable economy that would take care of everybody.
Dr Firdous rejected media reports about the upcoming budget, terming them misleading and contrary to facts.
The Prime Minister, Dr Firdous, said time and again assessed and evaluated the budget documents and gave top most priority to ensuring well being of weaker sections of society.
In this regard, she said, the PM was likely to share the government priorities with nation and media soon.
The SAPM said this budget would be PTI government’s long-term roadmap and way forward to achieve next five-year targets, which would also be reflective of its manifesto.
Dr Firdous said the country was passing through difficult economic situation and facing a number of challenges on the financial front, adding all government departments, ministries and divisions should curtail their unnecessary expenditures.
Accordingly, she said, the country’s Armed Forces had set a trend by deciding that its officers would not get annual increase in salaries and other perks rather the amount would be spent for development of recently merged tribal areas and backward areas of Balochistan.
However, Dr Firdous said, the budgetary benefits would be transferred to upto 16-grade staff and personnel.
She said the government and Prime Minister were not oblivious of defence needs of the Armed Forces.
The SAPM said the Prime Minister had recently passed necessary directives to the Governor and Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that amount saved from the Armed Forces’ ‘voluntary budget freeze’ should be spent on uplift of the merged tribal areas.
She said the amount would also be spent to provide quality education, better health facilities, improved infrastructure and overall capacity building of institutions in backward areas of Balochistan.
Dr Firdous said the Prime Minister also directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to make the peace-loving and patriotic tribesmen part of national development as they rendered sacrifices for restoration of peace and stood with the armed forces in troubled areas.
She warned that those who were hatching conspiracies and disrupting peace would not be spared and brought to book.
She paid tribute to the Armed Forces for defending every inch of the motherland and sacrificing their lives while purging the country of terrorists, calling them ‘national heroes’. Unmatched sacrifices rendered by the security forces would not go waste, she added.
The SAPM strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a military vehicle in North Waziristan in which three army officers and a soldier embraced martyrdom.
VNS Islamabad
