LAHORE: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday some
elements did not want amicable relations between Pakistan and
Afghanistan and were creating disturbance. He said this while
condemning the cross-border attack held in Chitral a few days back.
The
prime minister expressed the hope that relations between the two
neighbouring countries would strengthen in near future and “such
incidents cannot affect the brotherly ties between the two countries.”
The
prime minister was talking to media at the State Guest House. He said
that safeguarding national interest was of supreme importance for his
government. “Pakistan is in the middle of the fight against terrorism
and plays key role in eliminating terror from the region,” said the
prime minister.
About cross border attack in Chitral, he said that the Foreign Office had protested to the Afghan government on the issue.
“Pakistan
is a powerful country and can look any country in the eyes on national
interest,” he said. The prime minister said that Pakistan wanted to
maintain friendly relations with the United States (US) on the basis of
mutual respect and mutual interest without compromising on each other’s
national interests. Gilani said, “We have explained to the US
government that if it is answerable to Congress, then we are equally
accountable to the Parliament”. To a query, the Prime Minister said
there was no question of raising fingers at Pakistan’s role in the
fight against terrorism.
Because of strategic position,
Pakistan had to take up the role of a frontline state role in the fight
against terror, he said and added that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies
and the Central Intelligence Agency (of US) were working in close
liaison with each other while both the countries had launched joint
actions against high-level targets in the past, he said. About Al-Qaeda
links in the security forces, Gilani said Pakistan’s security agencies
were immensely efficient. Terrorism and extremism were a global
phenomenon as well as a global threat which had to be addressed jointly
through capacity building of each other, he added. Responding to a
question on the law and order situation in Karachi, he said that
extremism and terrorism were major threats to the country and that the
law and order situation in Karachi was a spill-over of the Afghan war.
He
said that successful operation of the law enforcement agencies in FATA
(Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Swat and Malakand had dispersed
the terrorists who turned to soft targets like girls’ schools, shopping
malls, public places and intelligence headquarters in order to cause
collateral damage to life and property.
The Prime Minister said
the situation of Karachi was also a reaction to the killing of Osama
Bin Laden in Abottabad operation. To another question, he did not rule
the involvement of some foreign hands in Balochistan and Karachi
incidents.
When asked if there was a role for the Army in
Karachi, the Prime Minister said police and Rangers were his priority.
The civilian law enforcement agencies are a preference for all
democratic governments while the Army also do not want to be
controversial by involving in the Karachi situation, he added.
Gilani
said he believed that a military action was not a permanent solution to
the problems and he wanted adoption of 3 Ds (Dialogue, Development
& Deterrence) policy in the resolution of issues. Removing
deprivation of the people leaves no room for the use of force which
should be used as a last resort only, he added.
When asked
about the law and order situation in Lahore, the Prime Minister said
that the overall situation was very good. However, he added that
poverty, inflation, dearness, unemployment and illiteracy were the root
causes of terrorism which could be eliminated through development.
Regarding
Latif Khosa’s emotionally-charged press conference on the abduction of
Shahbaz Taseer, Gilani said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was
oncerned about the incident. He added that the PPP had suffered a lot
for democracy and rule of law in the country. He said that the PPP
workers were emotional today as they had lost Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto, Salman Taseer, Minorities ffairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and
many other party leaders for the ause of country and the people and
recently Shahbaz Taseer was abducted while the decision on Salman
Taseer’s murder was still awaited.
Gilani said Punjab the
remarks of Governor Latif Khosa expressed his emotions. The Prime
Minister said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif prior to he meeting
of the Council of the Common Interest (CCI) in Islamabad, assured him
of early development in the Shahbaz Taseer case.
Replying to
another query, he said the Federal Government was ready to provide all
kinds of support to the provincial government in the case.
About
the Balochistan issue, the Prime Minister said the Baloch people were
patriotic Pakistanis who wanted development in their province.
He
said it was necessary to grant provincial autonomy as well as NFC
(National Finance Commission) award to the provinces for bringing an
end to the sense of deprivation among the people of Balochistan
prevailing over a period of last 64 years.
Gilani said that the
PPP government had the credit of granting autonomy to the provinces as
well as the passage of NFC Award. He said the people of Balochistan
should be given share in the royalty and jobs.
Responding to
alleged corruption in the Law Ministry, he said he had taken up the
issue in the cabinet. Some departments had passed cases on to other
department for fear of criticism which caused inordinate delay in
certain cases, he added.
About public reaction to corruption in
India, the Prime Minister said that Manmohan Singh was a twice elected
Prime Minister of that country and Indians were the best judge on the
issue. It was people’s right if they demanded adoption of certain
sections in a bill presented in the parliament as the parliament was
sovereign, he added.
Gilani said as per the dsire of the
people, his government would soon present an accountability bill in the
parliament.Critical of unscheduled power outages in the country, Gilani
said he had directed for scheduled loadshedding in the country so that
people could adjust their life-styles as per the already communicated
schedule, adding the problem arose when people faced unscheduled
loadshedding.
He said an energy conference would soon be convened to be attended by chief ministers of the four provinces.
The
prime minister said he had constituted a committee comprising ministers
Water and Power, Petroleum, Governor State Bank and deputy Chairman
planning commission which would submit its recommendations soon.
Counting
his government’s achievements, the Premier said 3000 MW had been added
to the national grid and the projects of the same magnitude were in the
pipeline, adding his government was committed to making the country
self-sufficient in energy resources. “We are working on nuclear, hydal,
thermal, rental as well as renewable energy resources”, he elaborated.
The
PM further said since the federal government could not fulfil energy
needs of the country single-handedly, the provincial government would
set up a project as soon as the federal government launches an energy
project in the country.
To a query, the Premier dispelled the
impression that Punjab was being discriminated against vis-a-vis
load-shedding schedule, stressing it was needed to improve capacity.
When
asked about possible reforms in the Pakistan Railways, the Premier said
restructuring of railways was important to bring it out of the present
chaos, adding a cabinet committee headed by Governor State Bank has
been constituted to present its recommendation on the restructuring of
the Pakistan Railways.
About the creation of a new province,
Gilani said Southern Punjab had been a victim of neglect during the
past 64 years and people wished the grant of rights so that their
deprivations could be removed. He said that he respected their wishes
and emotions in this regard.
The Prime Minister said that
‘PPP’s Manifesto committee’ had been tasked with presenting its
recommendations on the creation of new provinces in the light of
sentiments of civil society, media and other stake-holders, adding a
decision on the creation of a new province will be taken after the
committee presents its recommendations.
To another query, he
said there were three parties including PPP, PML-N and PML-Q on the
issue of creation of Seraiki province and the accord of two on the
issue, would win the day. Online
