The Hindu : No let-up in ordinance spree

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 23, 2002

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International

No let-up in ordinance spree

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Sept. 22. With general elections just three weeks away, there is no let-up in the ordinance spree by the Musharraf regime.

A Cabinet meeting chaired by the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, on Saturday approved four important ordinances, including one on `freedom of information' and a new labour policy.

A few weeks ago when the Musharraf Government approved a new ordinance on defamation, political parties and some of the bodies representing editors and publishers had questioned its wisdom. They had asked why the regime should be in such a hurry to approve new laws when the new Parliament was expected to take shape in the next few weeks.

The Cabinet meeting on Saturday also approved conversion of the official news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) into an autonomous corporation. The stated aim is to streamline, improve and enlarge APP as a public information medium. A Board of Directors will manage the affairs of the newly-established APP Corporation with five members each from the public and private sector.

The Cabinet also approved an ordinance for the constitution and restructuring of universities set up by the Federal Government. The ordinance is intended to provide autonomy to the State-owned universities and improve their governance and management to enhance the quality of higher education in the country.

The Cabinet also approved a new labour policy to meet the `challenges of globalisation and emerging technologies, giving new directions for improvement and guidance in the labour sector'. Approval was also accorded to an amendment in the Companies Profits (Workers Participation) Act to revise the category of workers, which was necessitated by the raising of the minimum wages by the Government last year.

The Federal Cabinet also approved the draft Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002 to replace IRO 1969 to promote `congenial industrial relations'. The Cabinet also approved an Ordinance to amend Article 4 of the President's Order No. 1 of 1977 to give legal effect to the change in the ratio of the distribution of the divisible taxes amongst the provinces as recommended by the fifth National Finance Commission.

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No let-up in ordinance spree