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Tuesday, 27 September, 2022 I 30 Safar, 1444 I Rs 12.00 I Vol XIII No 89 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Dar returns home, vows to take Pakistan ‘out of economic vortex’ ISLAMABAD
P
staff report
RIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday returned to the country after concluding his visit to New York and London in a special plane. Ishaq Dar, the nominee for the slot of finance minister, accompanied the premier. With his return, the five-year self-exile of Mr Dar comes to an end. The senator-elect is expected to take oath of the Upper House of the Parliament today (Tuesday). Outgoing finance minister Miftah Ismail and Information
Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, who were part of the PM’s delegation, have also returned home. Talking to the media after landing at Nur Khan Airbase, Dar said he has reached Pakistan on the instructions of the party leader, Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. “We will take this country out of the economic vortex… we will take Pakistan out of the economic vortex like in 1999 and 2013-14, there is a lot of hope that we will go in a positive economic direction,” he added. Earlier while talking to the media in London, Dar had said that “with the grace of Allah the Almighty is calling me back to the
same office from which I came here for medical treatment”. PM Shehbaz, who had gone to the UK to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, had met his elder brother in London to discuss key political issues before departing to the US to attend the UN General Assembly session. After the UNGA session, PM Shehbaz returned to London again and had a long meeting with his brother and Dar, who had left for the UK in October 2017 while he was standing trial in a corruption reference. A day earlier, Finance Minister Miftah announced stepping down from his post following an important PML-N meeting which
PMO AUDIO LEAKS
Govt decides to procure safer tablets for cabinet meetings ISLAMABAD shahzad paracha
Following the emergence of audio leaks of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the government has decided to procure better and safer tablets for cabinet meetings. Sources have informed Pakistan Today that the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom has floated a summary to the federal cabinet for procurement of new better and safer tablets for cabinet meetings. “The ministry of IT has proposed to replace NRTC tablets with Samsung or any other company tablets as they are considered more secure and have updated features,” the sources said. Pakistan Today on September 14, 2022 reported that the sensitive data of the country’s highest decision-making forum, Federal Cabinet, was at risk due to usage of India’s Chennai-based company Zoho’ MDM software to run the portal of the E-Cabinet. It may be mentioned here that the National Information Technology Board (NITB) had procured tablets with Chennai-based company Zoho’ MDM software and provided them to federal cabinet members in May 2021 after getting from NRTC. Presently, the Cabinet Division is managing all the matters such regarding tablets as submission of summaries to the Cabinet Members. Sources said that the high-ups of the Ministry of IT&T and cabinet division, after the PM’s notice, conducted an inquiry into the possible data leak-
age. The team in its initial findings found the platform credentials satisfactory after the re-validation of the e-cabinet system. Sources said that hackers also hacked the server of the Prime Minister secretariat a few months back. An inquiry had been conducted on this matter also but reportedly no initiatives have been taken to curtail the data leakage or improve the system. Sources said that over 150,000 foreign hacking attempts are made on govt websites daily and recently, they not only hacked the Ministry of commerce’s Export Development Fund (EDF) website but FBR and National Bank of Pakistan websites also. The international hackers have also made public confidential details of companies’ CEO and directors details available with SECP and departments are also probing this matter also. It is pertinent to note that the Government of Pakistan in every IT related tendering makes sure that no Indian software be purchased. However, despite its precautions, the NITB had purchased MDM solutions from the Indian firm. As per the information publicly available that National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval in last year appointed Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu as member of National Security Advisory Board (NSAB). Former ED NITB Shabahat Ali Shah also tweeted that Cabinet Tablets are the most secure devices one can have as part of Fed Govt paperless environment. “Cabinet system has never been on the Internet and accessible only on local Intranet and no one could access tablets through the Internet,” he asserted.
PM Shehbaz convenes NSC meeting to take up audio leaks fiasco
ISLAMABAD staff report
In wake of the audio leaks scandal, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has summoned the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting on Wednesday to discuss matters related to national security. The leaks which emerged on the internet late Saturday night featured conversations of PM Shehbaz with his key cabinet members and family triggered a new debate. Though the NSC meeting is yet to be notified, reports suggested that the notification is likely to be issued today. Soon after the audios surfaced, there was a storm on social media, many bashing the government and expressing shock at the way sensitive audios had purportedly leaked from the PMO. Also
several TV channels also flashed the leaks news. The audios drew sharp criticism from the opposition, which expressed concerns over the security breach of the Prime Minister Office (PMO). However, several government ministers tried to defend their conduct in the conversations, insisting that the audios pointed to no wrongdoing. According to an official privy to the development, the NSC meeting will take place at the PM House on Wednesday and would be attended by top military and civilian leadership with Prime Minister in the chair. Besides the military leadership, the meeting would be attended by defence minister, interior minister, information minister, finance minister and other important cabinet members. The huddle will discuss flood situation, national security and other matters. According to the sources, the NSC meeting is expected to make important decisions in view of the audio leaks. The participants will also be briefed on the law and order situation of the country in the meeting. By Sunday night, the government didn’t order any inquiry into the leaks, however, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb told media that Prime Minister Shehbaz would look into it and might order an inquiry on his return from London.
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was held under the chairmanship of party supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in London. Miftah submitted his resignation to the PML-N supreme leader, saying the ministry was entrusted to him by the party. “I worked to the best of my ability for four months, and remained loyal to the party and the country,” a PML-N statement quoted Miftah as saying during the meeting. During the huddle, PM Shehbaz and party supremo Nawaz nominated Dar as the new finance minister of the country. The two main targets given to Dar by PML-N supremo Nawaz
are to bring down inflation and decrease the dollar-rupee parity, a source close to the Sharif family told media on the condition of anonymity. The source said Dar would draw on his vast experience from his previous stints and try to bring market forces under control. He added that the party needed a
finance minister of Dar’s credentials, but some legal barriers had to be overcome first. The source said Miftah too had made tall claims before the leadership of being capable of driving the country out of the seemingly inextricable maze the party had found the country’s economy in.