The federal cabinet Tuesday was briefed on the situation in Afghanistan, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair was over, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said: “In all, of 10,302 transit passengers belonging to NATO and other forces, who had entered Pakistan following the Taliban takeover, 9,032 had left for their countries while 1, 229 were still left in the country.”

He said the meeting was told that so far 2,421 people had entered Pakistan through the Torkham border crossing, and all Pakistanis living in Kabul and its suburbs, who wanted to leave Afghanistan were brought back home.

“Those who were issued visas for their entry into the country through Chaman border crossing, 10 were foreign nationals while the remaining were Afghans,” Fawad informed.

He disclosed that the government was trying to bring 16,272 Pakistanis, who were serving prison terms in other countries for petty crimes, back to the country.

The minister said that Pak-Russia pipeline, which was worth $3 billion project, was likely to open up new areas of cooperation between the two countries. “The prime minister has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Pakistan,” he informed.

Similarly, he disclosed that PM Imran had a discussion with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson on keeping the name of Pakistan on UK’s Red List. “Furthermore, Dr Faisal and Chief Medical Scientist of UK will have a detailed discussion on the subject this week,” he told media.

He went on to add that yesterday (Monday, August 30), 1.4 million people were administered the coronavirus vaccine.

The federal minister said the prime minister and members of his cabinet paid tributes to Dr. Ishrat Hussain who had refused to continue as Advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity.

He told the media that the prime minister had directed the ministers for finance and energy to take steps to bring down the price of LPG cylinder.

“Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government is the first government in the country’s history which is talking about electoral reforms,” he said, adding there could be no democracy in the country sans free and fair elections. “We have invited the opposition parties to come forward and play their role in the introduction of electoral reforms. But Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and others have not even bothered to read draft of the proposed electoral reforms. Despite all that, the government is determined to work on the reforms,” Fawad added.

He said that the federal cabinet was told that compared with the first two months of the last year, this year 50 per cent more revenue was generated. “The cabinet has approved the import of wheat and sugar in order to augment their reserves.”

He further said that the government was going to start work on Sialkot-Kharian motorway, which would then be connected to Islamabad. “An ad has been placed in newspapers for the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills,” the minister informed.

He claimed that Karachi port had earned the country Rs43 billion in the last three years of the PTI government.

Reporter: Awais Kiani