Govt starts consultation on caretaker setup: Kaira

Islamabad: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Thursday said the government had started consultation with political parties for formation of the caretaker government.

Talking to media after attending Seerat-un- Nabi Conference at Allama Iqbal Open University, he said, “The committee constituted by the President had suggested the Prime Minister to start consultation on caretaker government that has been started.”

Regarding agreement signed between the government and Dr. Tahir ul Qadri, he said the government would abide by and implement it.
Kaira said the agreement was a matter related to the government and Qadri and the opposition had nothing to do with that. However, he said “we would try to convince the opposition to support them in this regard.”He said meeting between the government and Qadri was scheduled on Jan. 27 and formalities would be finalized in it.

To a question, he said assemblies can work till the end of their tenure. The government can do development work, recruit people, transfer and post govt. employees till the last date of its tenure.
He either their should have been prior agreement to stop the government from development works four to six months before completion of its term or it should be allowed to do so.Kaira said the government should avoid such works after the issuance of election schedule.

To a question, he hoped that all the assemblies would be dissolved simultaneously, though admitting that the matter fell under purview of provincial governments.To another question, he said a headway could be made on the new provinces after the commission came up with its recommendations.The minister said speculations on the case of NAB investigator Kamran Faisal should be avoided as it was creating confusion. He said that government has formed a commission under the
supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate his deat
and if any one has any evidence that should be shared with it.
“The issue relates to interrogation and investigation and confusion should not be created on it” he said.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Qamar Zaman Kaira said the people had been facing several issues for not applying Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s teachings in their practical lives. Moreover,the contradictions between our word and action also add to our worries.
He said Holy Prophet’s(PBUH) major miracle was establishment of a state in the Bedouin community but unfortunately, the Islamic history had been manipulated. He called for ending discrimination between the contemporary and Islamic knowledge as integration of both would lead the society to progress and prosperity. Kaira said some elements had been shedding bloodshed, blowing up girls’ schools in name of Islam in sheer violation of Islamic teachings.He said Muslims need to learn lessons from their past but not give up endeavour to brighten their present as well as the future.

The minister said the Muslims were faced with the ideological confusions after they had abandoned debate on Islam and relevant issues.To a suggestion by Professor Sajidur Rehman, Kaira suggested the management of AIOU and IIU to apply for a non-commercial television channel to promote Islamic teachings, assuring his support to get it approved.The minister said he would try to accomplish the task within the remaining tenure of the incumbent government. Radio Pakistan and PTV would be asked to train the manpower of the proposed channel, he added.Regarding another proposal of a Media Centre by AIOU VC Nazir Ahmed Sangi directed his ministry to extend all out cooperation in this regard.

Vice Chancellor Rifah University Dr Anis Ahmed said one should not discriminate between the religious and contemporary knowledge. He said getting knowledge would bring no fruit till it is practised and added that Quranic verses provide wisdom to resolve all issues.
Vice President International Islamic University Professor Sajidur Rehman said Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was sent as teacher and a model of high morality.He said Holy Prophet was not a prophet of theory rather Allah produced him as practical example.The society can be turned ideal if all politicians, scholars and reformers adopt good morals.He suggested the Information Minister to set up an exclusive unit at radio and TV channels to air research-oriented programmes to acquaint the community of basic Islamic moralities and guidelines.
Vice Chancellor AIOU Dr Nazir Sangi said the university was striving to design its syllabus with an objective of increasing the knowledge and bring a positive change in one’s behaviour.
He said the university has launched a project to teach drop-out students and in the first phase around 10,500 students had been enrolled setting a target to teach another 15,000 in Chitral next year.He said besides teaching morality through radio and television channels, the university would print moral lessons on the captions of the 2.5 million books printed every semester.Moreover, he said refresher courses would also be arranged for ‘moazzins'(prayer caller) and ‘khateebs’ of mosques to train them according to modern trends so that they may spread the message of Islam to masses through their sermons.