Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday said the federal cabinet had approved the appointment of Tariq Malik as National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) chairman, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Briefing newsmen in Islamabad about the decisions taken at the federal cabinet meeting, Fawad said that Tariq Malik had served as NADRA chairman under the last PPP government as well.

He informed that of 109 IT experts, who had applied for the position from across the world, Malik stood first.

Malik, who was also honoured with Sitara-e-Imtiaz, is currently serving as a chief technical adviser at the United Nations.

European and the US think tanks had once listed him among 100 most influential IT experts in the world.

He is giving tips to more than 130 governments around the world to improve their performances through digital technology.

Fawad further said that the cabinet rejected Pakistan Television’s (PTV) request to enter into an agreement with an Indian broadcast company to show the upcoming Pak-England cricket series live in Pakistan. 

He said now the cricket series could not be shown in Pakistan.

He ruled out the possibility of giving air bases to the USA.

The information minister told the media that the government was going to place the order for 500 electronic voting machines. “The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officials would see the EVM’s demonstration this week,” he informed.

Reiterating the government’s stance that overseas Pakistanis should get the right to vote, he said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) did not want to give this right to them, while the government was waiting for the PPP’s response.

He lashed out at the last PML-N government for not repairing the broken rail tracks and borrowing billions of rupees for Lahore’s Orange Train.

Fawad made it clear that Pakistan Railways (PR) could not be resurrected in few months.

He accused both PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) governments of destroying the country’s institutions.

Expressing deep sorrow and anguish over the killings of four Pakistanis in Canada, he said it was unfortunate that Islamophobia had penetrated into western countries. “There should be an end to Islamophobia,” he asserted.

“Those labelling Muslim countries as extremists should do some introspection,” he advised.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had repeatedly drawn the world countries’ attention towards Islamophobia.

Responding to a query, he said there were cracks in the ranks of both PPP and PML-N.

The minister regretted that PPP, which was once more popular in Punjab than in Sindh, now had shrunk to a regional party. “PPP has never been the party of a single province,” he recalled.

Responding to another question, he said the government was ready to work with the opposition, but there was no question of leniency in accountability.