Musharraf fulfilled all promises he made: Minister
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Information and Broadcasting Nisar A Memon Thursday said President Pervez Musharraf has fulfilled all his promises made to the people of the country.
Talking to a Chinese media delegation currently visiting Pakistan, he said Pakistan has a history of “broken promises” because elected governments in 1990s had backed out of their most of the promises despite their tall claims.
“It is quite interesting that a military leader has brought democracy back to this country where civilian autocratic rulers did nothing to strengthen democratic institutions, he said.
The minister said the President has consolidated the political institutions and introduced true democracy in Pakistan through consistent and effective efforts at all political fronts. He said the President has transferred the military command and now he is an elected civilian president who did a lot to make Pakistan a well developed country. He said, “The elected assemblies have completed their constitutional term for the first time in the history that showed the firm commitment of the President towards strengthening democracy in the country.” Nisar Memon said the local government system helped transfer powers to the grass roots level and now people have governments of their own choice even at the union council level.
He hoped that the next government would see the rationale behind introducing the local government system and further strengthen it for the betterment of the people. Referring to constitutional institutions, he said Senate has equal representation of all the four federating units and all major political issues are discussed in detail in the House.
The government, he said, has held February 18 general elections in free, fair and transparent manner and provided people with an opportunity to elect their representatives in congenial and peaceful environment.
“The government remained firm in its commitment for holding general elections despite the tragic assassination of PPP chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on December 27,” he said. Criticizing the role of some elements, he said the collaborators of anti- Pakistan forces do not want to see Pakistan embark on the road towards progress and prosperity so they are trying to destabilize the country.
Nisar Memon said, “We have neutralized propaganda against our nuclear assets and made the international world realize that there is a credible command and control system in Pakistan.”
He said there were talks that foreign forces would conduct military operations on our soil but “we categorically said that no foreign forces will ever be allowed to operate in our territory.”
The Minister said 50 local and 30 foreign television channels and 106 radio channels operating freely after the government gave them full freedom to media in the country. He said the government is making efforts to set up media university in Islamabad to sharpen the professional skills of the media persons. Lauding the progress achieved by China in all spheres of life, he said this great country progressed to the extent that its foreign reserves, trade and oil consumption is just next to the United States.