Premier urges Opposition to accept defeat
By Uzma Zafar

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has urged losers of the just-concluded local government elections to accept their defeat gracefully and let the winners serve their constituencies and the country.
He was responding to questions by newsmen here on Friday. The prime minister emphasized the need to inculcate the positive thinking in politics and accept the verdict of the masses. He pointed out that by and large people had gave votes in favour of PML-backed candidates but in a number of districts candidates supported by other parties had also been elected as district and tehsil nazims.
He said, “if there is any specific complaint then the aggrieved party should seek recourse to legal system and the government would extend full cooperation in getting justice”.
He expressed satisfaction that people of Pakistan demonstrated their sense of political maturity by electing moderate and progressive candidates. This, he said, would help raise their standard of living and resolve their problems at the doorstep.
To a question the prime minister said the Government was in contact with the opposition both within the parliament and outside with a view to take it into confidence on important national issues. He told a questioner that rumours about reshuffle in the Federal Cabinet were baseless. He said he was continuing with the process of quarterly review of performance of every ministry and division. He said he had now initiated 12-month rolling review of ministries.
Responding to a question he said the government had spent seventy billion rupees in subsiding the oil prices.
Online adds: Negating the allegations of rigging in the third phase of local bodies polls, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has called upon opposition to accept the results of the polls with an ‘open heart’.
Talking to opposition lawmakers, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Liaqat Baloch and Sahibzada Abdul Khair Zubair, he said however if the opposition has ‘solid proofs’ of the rigging of the Thursday polls then it should provide it to election commission, which will take a proper action. Otherwise government, he said should not be criticized unnecessarily.
“As far as our knowledge is concerned, the elections were held in fair, free and transparent manner and these were not rigged because state machinery was not used to manipulate the results of the polls,” he assured the opposition legislators.
The prime minister said that the result of the polls is clear indicator of public opinion and opposition should accept it.
He urged upon opposition to play its part in stability of democracy in the country because it will be helpful in strengthening the parliament. He also made it sure that opposition lawmakers will get equal amount of development funds for uplift of their areas.
The opposition MNAs put some cases of riggings in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab saying voters were being bought and election’s code of ethics was ridiculed.
The Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that 3rd phase of Local Bodies Elections was held according to the code of ethics issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan and the whole process was clean and transparent as were the 1st and 2nd phases of the LB elections.
This he stated while talking to a group of Ministers, Minister of State and MNAs who called on him at his Chamber in the National Assembly today and discussed with him the current political situation, results of 3rd phase of Local Bodies Elections and the agenda of ongoing National Assembly Session.
The Prime Minister while talking to the representatives said that the masses have spoken and given their mandate to the pro-development and moderate forces. These elections, he said, would augur well for empowering the people through local participation and would help solve their problems at their door steps.
The Prime Minister said that the government has taken various initiatives to promote development in the country for the prosperity of the people. In this connection, he referred to the Khushhal Pakistan Programme. This Programme, he said, would provide electricity, gas, roads and clean drinking water besides focusing on improving sanitation. On the social sector, the Prime Minister said, the government has taken several initiatives like launching of a Programme totaling Rs. 2.5 billion for controlling Hepatitis and reinvigorating Basic Health Units to provide primary, secondary and tertiary health care to the people. The government, he said, is also focusing on improving education by revising education syllabus, increasing adult literacy and focusing on higher education.
The Prime Minister said that the government has allocated record funds for improving infrastructure like roads, electricity and telecommunication sector both to meet the increasing requirements of growing economy as well as improve the quality of life of the people.
Those who called on the Prime Minister include: Sardar Sikandar Hayat Bosan, Minister for Agriculture, Mr. G.G. Jamal, Minister for Tourism, Mr. Zahid Hamid, Minister for State for Defence Production, Mr. Makhdoom Khusroo Bakhtiar, Minister for State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Muhammad Ali Durani, Minister of State for Culture, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Division and MNAs Sardar Nasrullah Dreshak, Mr. Gyan Chand Singh, Ms. Bushra Anwar Sipra, Syed Asghar Ali Shah, Mr. Umar Nazir, Mr. Sheikh Waqas, Mr. Saifullah Tiwana, Mr. Khalid Lund, Sardar Jaffar Leghari, Mrs. Meena Ehsan Laghari, Khwaja Sheraz, Mr. Asim Nazir.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz , met with the elected nazims from Rawalpindi and Attock districts on Friday and congratulated them on their victory.
The newly elected nazims from Rawalpindi and Attock Districts, Raja Javed Ikhlas and Maj (R) Tariq Sadiq in separate sessions and discussed the general political environment and currently held LB polls.
The Prime Minister said that their victory was the choice of masses who have spoken their will , about their trust of the present government and its policies.
The Prime Minister expressed the optimism that Raja Javed Ikhlas will make Rawalpindi an ideal model district. The PM said that Rawalpindi was an important city of Pakistan and would foresee more of socio-economic development in times to come.
The PM also promised to oversee the provisions and betterment of such vital aspects as electricity, gas, health , roads and educational facilities in the district.
He stressed Raja Javed Ikhlas to work and endeavor hard to come up to masses’ expectations.
He offered similar sentiments to the Attock winner and also contemplated his satisfaction over the smooth and peaceful conducting of the elections in Attock district.
The PM also hoped that Fatehjang airport work would start soon and would open new vistas of employment for the people of the region.