Bureau Report
KARACHI: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Monday said parliament was the mother of all institutions and there would be no instability in the country if all state organs worked within their ambit for stability in the country.
Talking to the media at Nine Zero and Kingri House, he said maintaining peace in Karachi was the priority of the government. He reiterated that the major problems facing the country were the energy crisis, and law and order, and they would be resolved with consultations.
Prime Minister Ashraf assured the MQM and PML-F that all promises made by the PPP government and former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani would be fulfilled on a priority basis. He said the government would continue pursuing the policies of former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. He said all allies of the PPP were still intact and his election proved that every effort to make the government weak had failed.
Raja Pervaiz said he would do his level best to follow the vision of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari. The PM said he believed in love for all and hatred for none.
About Sunday night’s attack by Afghan militants in Upper Dir that led to the killing of Pakistani security personnel, he said the government had strongly protested and he would talk to Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the incident.
He said the priority of his government would remain improving the law and order situation in the port city and elsewhere in the country and bringing relief to the people from power outages and shortages of energy.
PM Raja said the government, while taking on board all political forces, would continue its journey for strengthening democracy and supremacy of the parliament. He said President Zardari, in line with the vision of PPP martyred leaders, was working for the promotion of reconciliation among all political forces to overcome challenges.
He said the maintenance of peace in Karachi was one of the foremost priorities of his government. “We want to take along all to serve the people,” he said, adding that the government would not allow anybody to disturb peace in the economic hub of the country.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan and Senior Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik accompanied the prime minister to Kingri House and MQM headquarter. He gave assurances to the leaders of both coalition partners on Monday during his visit to Nine Zero and Kingri House.
Separately, talking to PPP leaders, he asked them to get ready for elections and start contacts with the voters because the party would contest the elections on the bases of the performance of the government. He said the performance of the PPP government was excellent and a record as compared to others, and the party had served the nation and strengthen the institutions.
Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Monday invited all opposition parties to gather at one place to debate the national reconciliation policy, and challenged that if his ideas were defeated, he would quit politics forever.
Talking to Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf at Nine Zero over the phone, he said democratic processes should be continued as any obstruction would not only harm state institutions, but also be dangerous for the country. “I am happy that the newly elected premier was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth as the country needed a PM from the middle class. He was also a worker. He used to place posters on walls. It is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that a person from the middle class has become the prime minister,” he said.
He said the PM should work for the country, not the party. Defending the prime minister’s tenure as a water and power minister, he said Raja was misguided and misled by others, and was blamed for all wrongdoings in the ministry. “Hopefully PM Raja will learn from his past mistakes and in his six months in power he will utilise all his capabilities, and take bold and courageous decisions to remove the reservations of the people and eventually the perception of the people would change.”
He said the judiciary, parliament, security agencies, and others should all work within their ambits, otherwise, it would not only be harmful for the institutions themselves, but also for the country’s security, democracy, economy and its future.
About dual nationality, he urged the parliament to table a bill of dual nationality as people with dual nationality were the backbone of the economy of the country. He appealed to the government to stop state oppression on Baloch people with immediate effect and appealed to the Baloch people to go to the negotiation table.
He said US forces had entered Pakistan’s borders so it was time to shun all differences and get united. The MQM chief asked the prime minister to take urgent steps for relieving the worsening energy crisis and loadshedding in the country.
Online adds: The MQM on Monday demanded of the government to hold transparent general elections. During the visit of PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf at Nine Zero, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar said holding the general election was necessary to strengthen democracy.
caption
KARACHI: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf addressing the people during his visit to the MQM headquarters, Nine-Zero, here on Monday. Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad Khan, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, Farooq Sattar and others are also seen in the picture
