The federal cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Thursday approved a special allocation of Rs. 20 billion for Vision Azm-e-Istehkam, a “whole-of-the-nation” initiative aimed at countering terrorism and extremism.
Chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the ECC also sanctioned supplementary grants of Rs. 2.23 billion for security forces. Of this, read a statement, Rs. 1.95 billion has been allocated for the Frontier Corps Balochistan (South) for security expenses of the Reko Diq project, and Rs. 276.25 million to the Frontier Corps Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (North) for project implementation letters.
Vision Azm-e-Istehkam, announced in June, proved controversial, with opposition parties rejecting any kinetic military operation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. As the outrage mounted, the government issued a clarification stressing the initiative would involve targeted intelligence-based operations and awareness campaigns to counter terrorism.
Sugar export
The ECC also approved a summary of the Industries and Production Ministry regarding the export of 100,000 tons of sugar—with caveats. The cabinet body said export proceeds for any sugar intended for Afghanistan would require advance payments through banking channels, while allowing the use of letters of credit for other destinations so long as the LC was opened within 60 days of the export.
The ECC also extended from 45 to 60 days the time period allowed for export of sugar from the date of allocation of quota by cane commissioners and delinked the benchmark for retail price of sugar from the permission to export sugar, accepting a plea of sugar millers that retail price was not directly under their control. Additionally, the ECC decided that the condition of revoking of export quota in case of non-payment of dues of the growers from proceeds of export of sugar would be applicable only on non-compliant mills rather than the entire industry.
The ECC said it would monitor the market situation on a monthly basis and review its decision as per emerging needs, and instructed the Sugar Advisory Board to develop a comprehensive sugar policy within two months to address the sector’s challenges and ensure sustainable growth.
Apart from the finance minister, Industries Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain; Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan; Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan; Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Ahsan Iqbal Chauhdry; Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema; Petroleum Minister Mussadiq Malik; Power Minister Sardar Awais Khan Leghari; the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission; federal secretaries, and other senior officials of relevant ministries attended the meeting.