President to contest for next term: Durrani
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani has said general Pervez Musharraf will contest presidential election for the next term in keeping with the procedure laid down in the constitution adding ruling PML-Q and its allied parties will launch his election campaign vigorously.
He said this while addressing a function held here Wednesday under “Caravan Ilm foundation and later talking to the journalists. Noted journalists and columnists Altaf Hussain Qureshi and Dr Ejaz Hussain Qureshi also spoke on the occasion.
The information minister also distributed prizes among 290 position holders from 23 secondary education boards on the occasion. Information minister said there is no concept of monarchy in Pakistan and general Musharraf will contest presidential election for the next term as per constitution. Ruling PML-Q and its coalition partners will extend full support to the president.
The federal government had asked the NWFP government not to present Hasba bill in the assembly, he said adding but they did not desist from it. They want to distribute national kitty among their workers. However, it is our endeavour that all the governments complete their terms so that no one can put forth any excuse that it was not allowed to work
On Kashmir he said “ our stance is very clear on this issue. All the passages for normalization of relations with India pass through Kashmir. Kashmir issue has been highlighted at international due to prudent and wise policies of the government. Therefore India is forced to make a shift from its stated position on this issue due to this reason. He went on to say government is in contact with all opposition parties. These contacts exist through members of parliament of the respective parties.
ARD and MMA will meet the similar fate as the next general election will expose their worth to them, he remarked. To a question about MMA political future, he said MMA has so far given 22 calls and every call has been rejected by the people. They have failed to assemble people. MMA’s political future is devoid of popular support. People will not side with them in upcoming elections.
About PPP-P, government contacts he said both are the parties with separate vote bank. The allied parties of government has their separate thinking and policy. They are free and independent in all matters.
Replying to a question, on opposition partiers APC in London he said about 100 million rupees is spent on APC of this kind. These parties are wasting the money collected from voters. That is why the APC convened in London remained inconclusive and it lost its political stature. To a question on upcoming elections, he said the elections will be held as scheduled in line with constitution.