Prime Minister rejects opposition’s tirade against President
TAXILA, Oct 6 (APP): Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday dismissed opposition’s tirade against President Zardari and said he stands tall amongst the democrats as he had restored the Constitution and handed over his powers to the parliament. “Never in the history [of the country] has been a President who transferred his powers on his own to the Prime Minister,” Gilani told a large gathering here at the inauguration of an underpass on the GT Road. The Prime Minister said President Zardari had transferred his powers to the Prime Minister as he believed in the supremacy of the parliament and for the sake of the country, the people and strengthening of democracy.
“Which other government in the past that enjoyed the two-third majority, restored the Constitution in its original form,” he questioned.
 He regretted that President Asif Ali Zardari was being blamed for not doing anything to strengthen democracy, whereas the restoration of the 1973 Constitution to its original form goes to his credit.
 Prime Minister Gilani said throughout his political life, he witnessed confrontation between different sections of the political spectrum and forces against the Pakistan Peoples Party who tried to level false allegations against it.
 He, however, said the government has proved beyond doubt that they have the support of the masses and have successfully presented the fourth budget.
 He regretted the trend of blaming the politicians for all the ills and corruption, and pointed that contrarily, neither of the dictators - president Zia, Yahya or General Musharraf - was blamed for corruption.
 The Prime Minister said the 2008 election was the success of the democratic forces and said his government came into power through the ballot and not through a back door.
 He said the government had handed over the most important position of the Chairman Publics Accounts Committee to the opposition to judge the performance of the government.
 “What else the government could have done to please its opponents,” he said and added if someone has complaints about the government, they should seek redressal from the courts.
Prime Minister Gilani said he had spent five years behind bars, under National Accountability Bureau, which was equivalent to ten years imprisonment under the ordinary courts.
 Prime Minister Gilani said his government had completed little less than four years in power and was pursuing the party manifesto and the Charter of Democracy.
 He said there were two standards to judge performance of a party - one was how well it followed the party manifesto and said he was proud to note that his government has accomplished 80 per cent of it.
 The other criterion, he said is the ballot and pointed that the party has been a success in all bye-elections, Gilgit and Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir that proved the success of its policies and its deep roots across the country.
 Gilani said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto entered into politics to lay down her life for the rights of the people of Pakistan, for independence of judiciary, freedom of media and uplift of the masses.
 Referring to the issue of electricity load-shedding in the country, he said it was the responsibility of the political leaders to give the people hope rather than provoking them to take to streets to destroy public property, and stop the police from taking any action against such miscreants.
 He said on the other hand, the federal government did not accuse the government of Punjab about the dengue outbreak. Rather, he said, it coordinated with the government of Sri Lanka and invited teams of experts to examine causes of the disease. He said no steps were initiated to take advantage of the situation as the people of Punjab are very dear to the government.
 Gilani said his government was committed to the welfare and uplift of the masses and would continue to work for them as it was a responsibility entrusted to them.
 The Prime Minister said those government employees dismissed during the government of Nawaz Sharif in 1995-96 had been restored, while those on contract would be regularised. He said the demands put forward would be studied and assured these would be looked into.
The Prime Minister earlier inaugurated the Rs 872 million four-lane underpass at the Grand Trunk road, constructed to ease flow of traffic on the national highway.
 He said he directed that the location of the inaugural ceremony be shifted to some place, away from the GT road, so that the traffic on country’s major national artery remains undisturbed.
 Gilani said this segment has the highest volume of traffic and the completion of the underpass would not only ease the flow of traffic but also shorten the time and help the government fulfil its dream of connectivity to the Central Asian Republics.
 The Prime Minister said his government desired that all major cities of the country be interconnected through high speed motorways and said all provinces would be linked with a modern road network.
 He said this road network would also help the country link with the Central Asian Republics and enhance access to this untapped market.
 Gilani said Pakistan desires good relations with China, Russia, the Central Asian Republics, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other countries and wants extensive communication links for enhanced commercial activity.
 Prime Minister Gilani also announced supply of natural gas for Chakri.