I’ll quit if any attempt made to extend caretaker setup: Sethi
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Najam Sethi said that this is for the 1st time in the history of Pakistan that independent‚ constitutional and non-political caretaker governments have been established at the center and the provinces. Addressing a news conference here on Friday ‚ Sethi said that he will be the 1st to quit if any attempt was made or any conspiracy was hatched to extend the tenure of the caretaker setup. He assured complete implementation on the directions of the Election Commission of Pakistan. Najam Sethi said that he is not going to make any policy decisions as the task of the caretaker government is to extend cooperation to the Election Commission in ensuring free‚ fair and transparent elections. He said that intelligence reports have indicated terrorist elements are bent upon sabotaging elections in Pakistan. Caretaker CM Najam Sethi told he has complete backing of Election Commission as far as the reshuffle of bureaucracy is concerned in the province. He said to ensure the prime objective of holding free and fair elections‚ he will change the whole bureaucracy and administrative setup. To a question, he ruled out the impression of lobbying for the slot of caretaker CM. Sethi said he will be the first to quit if any attempt was made or any conspiracy was hatched to extend the tenure of the caretaker setup. He said that he was neither interested nor canvassed for the office of the caretaker Chief Minister. He said that 5 to 6 impartial people would be part of the Punjab caretaker setup.
The Prime Minister was informed that 1210 billion rupees have so far been collected and efforts are being made to ensure that the target set out is achieved.
The Prime Minister observed that the revenue collected by FBR so far warrants immediate attention and necessary measure needs to be taken to meet the targets. He sought proposals and recommendations to augment revenue collection for the approval of the government within the next 3 to 4 days.