ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said on Friday that the government was considering revival of the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) in a manner that it may not be used again for massive smuggling.
Talking to this correspondent on Friday, Mr Khan said: “We will concentrate our energies on growth-oriented policy instead of following the so-called macro-economic growth and will not bother about the impediments in the way”.
In reply to a question about the chances of the Jamali government’s success in providing relief to the common man in presence of the IMF conditionalities, the minister assured that the government had the capability to deliver and there was no hurdle in its way to provide the people with a better living.
The minister said the government would ensure that the confidence of the business community, which was at the lowest ebb, was restored to pave the way for the private sector activism. He said there was a peculiar industrial decline as no new project was in hand and stressed the need for immediate measures to improve the situation.
Referring to the crisis in the PML-Q, Mr Khan, who is also vice-president of the party, said Mian Azhar could have adopted a honourable way of voluntary exit after general elections. Mian Azhar, he said, had missed that opportunity, forcing the party to take action against him.
Elaborating, he said Mian Azhar had not only failed to make dent in the Sharifs’ stronghold in Lahore but had also created hurdles in the progress of the party with the result that the party failed to put up an impressive performance in the elections.
