News
Monday, January 10, 2011
Govt bows to opp demands
* Gilani assures Nawaz that govt accepts challenge of implementing PML-N’s 10-point agenda
* Says govt will take appropriate measures in line with recommendations to improve governance, economy and curb corruption in country
* Says President Zardari, not him, was main cause of recent political bickering in country
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Sunday bowed to the opposition’s demands and lured Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif to once again come into the fold of ‘friendship’ by assuring that he had accepted the challenge of implementing the PML-N’s 10-point charter of demand.
Premier Gilani talked to Nawaz on the telephone a day before the expiry of the provisional deadline given by the PML-N to express his will that the government would take appropriate measures in line with the recommendations to improve governance, the economy and to eradicate corruption in the country.
Addressing a hurriedly called press conference at the PM’s house, Gilani said that before calling the PML-N chief, he had taken President Asif Ali Zardari into confidence, while all of the political leadership, including Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Fazlur Rehman, Altaf Hussain, Pir Pagara, Munir Khan Orakzai and Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had assured him of their complete solidarity and support.
He said the PML-N chief had categorically denied the announcement of a 45-day ultimatum for the implementation of his 10-point agenda. “Nawaz expressed his willingness to work with the PPP to bring the country out of the crisis it is currently in,” the premier said.
However, PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal expressed hope that the government would show progress within 45 days to implement the charter of demands presented by the PML-N chief. “Rapid progress in the implementation of the agenda will be favourable for both the country and the PPP government itself,” he said.
Gillani claimed that President Asif Ali Zardari, not him, remained the main cause of the recent political bickering in the country. “President Zardari remains the main target of opposition parties, not me, but they know it very well that until I am here, no one can destabilise the president,” he said when asked why the opposition parties had started giving negative remarks about him.
He said that Nawaz had assured the PM that the former would not create any problems for the PPP in the Punjab government, saying, “The PML-N will play its role to strengthen democracy in the country as well as provinces for vital national interest.”
The premier said that the leadership of all political parties was united in the aim to strengthen institutions, adding that the government respected the decisions of the judiciary. “The PPP is fully determined to take measures to assure transparency in accountability, elimination of inflation and load shedding from the country as well as bringing an improvement in the law and order situation,” the PM said.
“We are ready to implement the 10-point charter of demand presented by the PML-N, however, those demands, which will not be durable... the PPP will sit with the committee constituted by Nawaz under the chair of Senator Ishaq Dar to convince each other for mutual consensus,” Gilani said, adding that as per the PML-N’s demand to restructure public sector organisations, the Finance Ministry had been entrusted with the task to reorganise PEPCO, the Pakistan Steel Mills, PIA and the Pakistan Railways.
About the appointment of a new governor in Punjab, he said consultation was in progress in this regard “and the decision would be announced at the end”.
To a question about the proposed amendments in the blasphemy law, the premier said, “I assured Fazlur Rehman today that the government has no intention to table any amendment in this regard.”
The PM said that the JUI-F had been a coalition partner of the PPP-led government for the past three years, and would be once again in the near future.
Nawaz had given three days to the government to give a clear-cut reply on a list of demands, including the withdrawal of the increase in POL prices, introducing a mechanism to control electricity and gas prices and load shedding, effective measures to control corruption as well as oust corrupt ministers and corrupt officers from government departments.
The PML-N had also demanded in its 10-point charter of demand that the PPP government take measures to provide relief to the masses by checking the price hike, implement the decisions of the Supreme Court, including its verdict against the NRO, ensure a 30 percent reduction in the government’s development expenses, reconstitute the Election Commission of Pakistan, recovery of loans that were written off on political basis, ensure security of the country and strengthen the standing committees of both houses of parliament.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk