News
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Any chaudhry in region not acceptable: Gilani
* Gilani says Pakistan will not accept any country’s hegemony in the region
* MQM resignations still not accepted
* Fai not a Pakistani citizen, his links with secret agency being probed
* Response on Zafar Qureshi will be submitted to court
* Billions of rupees provided to Railways to improve economic conditions
ISLAMABAD: In response to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement urging India to match its economic progress by taking a more assertive political role in Central and East Asia, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani categorically said on Saturday that Pakistan does not want any chaudhry (chief) in the region. “Pakistan will not accept any country’s hegemony in the region,” asserted the premier while talking to newsmen at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat after presiding over 13th annual awards ceremony of the National Highways and Motorway Police.
Gilani, to a media query about the resignations of ministers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said the resignations tendered by the Sindh governor, provincial and federal ministers of the MQM had not been accepted, therefore their status as ministers was still intact.
On a question about the arrest of Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, head of the Kashmir Centre in Washington, the premier clarified that Fai was not a Pakistani national, but a citizen of the Indian-held Kashmir.
About Fai’s reported links to a sensitive agency, he said the matter was being investigated. “Let the facts come and we will see it then.”
Replying to a question about the law and order situation in Karachi, Gilani said it was a provincial subject and the federal government was in contact with the provincial government to improve the situation in the financial hub city.
On the issue of Zafar Qureshi, an Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) investigator who was probing the multi-billion National Insurance Company Limited scandal, the prime minister said he would give his response to the Supreme Court in this regard.
About the financial conditions of the Pakistan Railways and shortage of funds, the premier said that sufficient funds, in billions of rupees, had been provided to the railways to improve its economic conditions.
In reply to another question about the allegations against the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for fudging the figures of tax collection, the prime minister said the Ministry of Finance had been directed to take notice of the assertions.
To a question about Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s criticism of the federal government during his recent visit to the United Kingdom, Gilani said that political leaders, particularly “when they go abroad”, should only talk about Pakistan and not about petty differences. He stressed that all political parties should respect each other and do away with such practices.
The premier, to a query, replied that the MQM had been the PPP’s coalition partner and it had supported the government on the 18th Amendment, 7th NFC Award and Devolution Plan.
In a televised interview with a private television channel, the prime minister said that trust deficit between Pakistan and the US escalated after the May 2 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
“Intelligence agencies of the two countries worked together in the war against terrorism and achieved many high value targets,” the prime minster recalled and said, “We feel we were led down. We were ignored for not sharing this important information with us.”
Meanwhile, Gilani urged Pakistani envoys posted to various countries to work for facilitating people to people contacts with the countries of their accreditation to open up new avenues of cooperation. He was talking to Pakistan’s ambassadors designate to different countries who called on him at the Prime Minister’s House on Saturday afternoon. agencies/appCourtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk