ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Friday urged the
parliamentarians to join hands for strengthening democratic institutions
and the Parliament.
Referring to the resolution, moved in the
National Assembly by leader of Awami National Party Asfand Yar Wali Khan
in support of democracy, the Prime Minister told the House, “The
resolution is not against any institution, against judiciary or army.”
The
Prime Minister vowed that the resolution is just to support the
democratic process and for continuity of parliamentary system in the
country.“You should protect yourself, you should protect the
Parliament,” said the Prime Minister directly giving the message to the
members of the Parliament.
Gilani said the present session of
National Assembly has not been summoned to seek support from opposition
for the government or against any other institution.
“We will
not beg support from any one and prefer to go to masses,” said the Prime
Minister.He said the resolution is for strengthening democracy and
other institutions. He said the Constitution is a sacred document and
all the institutions should fully respect it.
The Prime Minister
extended full support to the opposition if it wanted to make any change
in the Constitution for strengthening democracy in the country. He
emphatically stated that only the Parliament and no other institution,
has the prerogative to decide about the tenure of the government.
He
asked the opposition members and other parliamentarians to bring
constitutional amendment if they wanted to reduce tenure of the
Parliament or the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister said, “It
is not difficult for an independent House to bring any amendment in
support of democracy as this House has already done 103 amendments.”
He
said the government did not want to get support on National
Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), nor to get support against Army and
confront with any institution.
The Prime Minister said, “We do not want that the sympathies and loyalties of the members be changed overnight.”
He
pointed that the NRO was not drafted by the PPP, adding that no one was
talking about its creator.The Prime Minister said it was to the credit
of this Parliament that Chief of Army Staff and Chief of ISI came here
to apprise this House.
He said, “let us decide that either there
will be democracy or there will be dictatorship in the country” adding
that mistakes of the politicians should not punish the democracy. “We
are not against any institution.”
The Prime Minister said
removal of government in October 1999 was also a conspiracy against the
elected government that had two-third majority.
He said even if
the government is packed up, the opposition would not get any benefit.
We are political workers. We may commit mistakes but the democracy
should not suffer.
He said the resolution has been brought to
strengthen the democracy and democratic institutions in the country. The
Prime Minister said, “despite majority in the House, we do not desire
to bulldoze the opposition but to take them along,” and added, voting on
the resolution will be held on Monday with consensus.
Earlier,
Leader of the Opposition Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan strongly objected
summoning of the session without taking the opposition parties into
confidence. He said there is no threat to the Parliament and the
democracy,and we should avoid the course of confrontation among the
institutions.
He made it clear that the PML-N and other
opposition parties will not support any undemocratic move as destiny of
this country is only linked with the democracy. He said in the past the
opposition parties were used to facilitate the undemocratic forces to
topple the elected governments but now the opposition stands by the
government for protection of democracy and the system. Online
