Islamabad, Feb 10 (PTI) In a first, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday awarded appreciation certificates to the top 10 best-performing federal ministries and divisions for achieving their targets under his government.

A ceremony was held in Islamabad to distribute certificates which were based on the basis of a "The Performance Agreement" signed last year by each ministries with the PM Office.

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Based on the criteria set by the PM Office, the communications ministry got first position, followed by the planning ministry and poverty alleviation division as the second and third respectively.

The ministers heading the respective ministries and divisions received the certificates.

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Addressing the ceremony, Khan said it was a great opportunity for the ministers to prove their mettle by meeting the target set for them. "Our ministries will get incentives to work hard, the more we publicise this," he said.

He compared the award ceremony with reading out the marks obtained by students before the entire class so that those not performing well should be motivated to score good marks, adding that no system can work without rewards and penalties.

Khan said that bonus would be given to the employees of the top performing ministries.

He said 1,090 targets had been set by the ministries of which 424 would be completed this year, including 207 related to governance and 100 to infrastructure.

However, Opposition parties criticised the move, saying the premier had shown no-confidence in the majority of his ministers and advisors.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that Khan awarded his favourite ministers and expressed "no-confidence" in the rest of the members of the federal cabinet.

"The government's three-year performance is full of mismanagement, corruption and failures," PPP Vice President Sherry Rehman she said in a statement. "There is a crisis situation in every ministry."

Analyst Nasir Beg told HUM News channel that Khan should have also awarded “bad performance” certificates among the rest of the ministers.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)