LAHORE: The Punjab government is holding the 47th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Cabinet on Law and Order today (Monday) to take up a wide-ranging and sensitive agenda, including arrangements for Basant Festival 2026, security planning for the visit of Australian cricket team to Lahore and multiple internal security, policing and funding matters.
According to an official of the Services and General Administration Department (Cabinet Wing), the meeting is taking place at 11:30am in the Khalid Sherdil Conference Room of the Home Department at the Punjab Civil Secretariat, Lahore. The session is being chaired by Khawaja Salman Rafiq, Minister for Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education.
Ministers attending the meeting include Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Minister for Finance and Parliamentary Affairs; Shafay Hussain, Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment and Auqaf and Religious Affairs; Bilal Akbar Khan, Minister for Transport and Mass Transit; Syed Muhammad Ashiq Hussain Shah, Minister for Agriculture; and Sohaib Ahmed Malik, Minister for Communications and Works.
Senior civil, police and intelligence officials are also participating, including the Chief Secretary Punjab, the Secretary Home Department, the Provincial Police Officer/Inspector General of Police Punjab, Additional Inspector General of Police Counter Terrorism Department, Additional Inspector General of Police Special Branch, Joint Director General Intelligence Bureau Punjab, along with representatives of Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence.
The committee is first taking up the issue of administrative and security arrangements for Basant Festival 2026. Briefings are being given by the Deputy Commissioner Lahore, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations) Lahore and Chief Traffic Officer Lahore.
Security and coordination for the visit of Australian cricket team to Lahore is another major agenda item. The committee is receiving briefings from the Chief Coordination Officer of Pakistan Cricket Board, Deputy Commissioner Lahore, Capital City Police Officer Lahore and Commissioner Lahore.
The meeting is also reviewing the allocation of funds to Deputy Commissioner Mianwali for by-elections, and the provision of funds to various deputy commissioners for the repatriation of illegal foreigners, with a briefing by Additional Secretary (Finance and
Services).
Funding matters linked to major cricket events in Rawalpindi are also under discussion, including allocations to the Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi for the Pakistan versus Sri Lanka cricket series 2025 and separately for the T20 tri-nation series. The allocation of funds to the Deputy Commissioner Rajanpur for arrangements during Muharram-ul-Haram 2025 is also on the agenda.
The committee is further considering the allocation of funds to the police for by-elections 2025, to be briefed by the Provincial Police Officer. A request for funds for the replacement of batteries of mobile phone jamming stations is being presented by the Additional Secretary Prisons and the Inspector General of Prisons.
Internal security duty claims of the Pakistan Army and Rangers are also being reviewed on the briefing of the Additional Secretary (Internal Security).
The constitution of new Joint Investigation Teams is another key item, to be briefed by the Additional Secretary (Judicial).
A province-wide progress review regarding the distribution of Izaziya to Imam Sahiban is also part of today’s meeting, with all deputy
commissioners across
Punjab participating through a video link.
The meeting is also taking up the matter of conditional release of good-conduct prisoners on parole, to be briefed by the Additional Secretary Prisons and the Director General, Probation and Parole Service.
The notification states that any additional agenda may be taken up with the permission of chair. The meeting has been described as a high-level and sensitive session, bringing together the provincial political leadership, senior bureaucracy, police command and intelligence agencies to review Punjab’s law and order and internal security landscape.
