ISLAMABAD, Feb 26: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has directed the ministry of interior to improve the law and order situation by coordinating with the provinces.

Official sources told Dawn that the prime minister, presiding over a cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, said that without improved law and order, there could not be any meaningful business activity in the country.

He said local and foreign investors would establish new industries only when security was ensured.

The sources said Mr Jamali asked Interior Minister Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat to visit all the four provinces to evolve an effective strategy to improve law and order and associate legislators with the task.

Sources said that the prime minister also said that every minister would be responsible for his ministry to effectively implement the decisions of the cabinet. “I would not put the blame on the bureaucracy and I would ask you (ministers) whether you have implemented various decisions and directives of the cabinet,” the prime minister was quoted as having said.

Mr Jamali told his cabinet colleagues that people needed certain relief and respite which could not be given to them unless all the ministers worked hard and adopted a coordinated approach.

Good governance, he said, was very important to ensure that there was no corruption and financial irregularities either at the centre or in the provinces.

The sources said the prime minister rejected a summary presented by the ministry of law that sought amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code for awarding a five-year rigorous imprisonment to political leaders who were found to be instigating people to shut down their businesses. “This is political victimization of opponents and I cannot be a party to this,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.

The prime minister, the sources said, also directed the federal ministers to declare their assets within this week. He was told that some of them had already declared their assets and the remaining would be doing so shortly.