News
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Govt implementing SC decisions: Gilani* PM says govt has to be cognisant of judiciary’s suo motu actions
* Hopes govt will be able to double power generation in 10 years
* World should help Pakistan in war against terrorismBy Saeed Minhas
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, addressing course participants at the National Defence University (NDU) on Tuesday, said the government was implementing the decisions of the Supreme Court.
“We respect the Supreme Court and have always worked for the restoration of the judiciary. I released the [detained] judges on the very first day of assuming office,” said the prime minister, adding, “We want independence of the judiciary, a free media and a vibrant civil society”.
Gilani said that besides taking the cabinet, the allied parties and the parliament into confidence, the government has to be cognisant of the fact that the judiciary might take suo motu notice of anything done by the government.
Citing the case of the rental power projects (RPP), the prime minister said that fearing the judiciary, his government had to get an evaluation done on the RPPs by the Asian Development Bank, which had taken more than six months.
He said that he now hoped that his government would be able to double the electricity generation capacity in the country within the next ten years, and that every month, new generation facilities could be added to the national power grid. The prime minister said that successive political governments since the 1950s had been removed by dictators on charges of corruption, but instead of ridding the country of corruption, the despots had left the country mired in all sorts of crises. He said that had the judiciary not been so complacent with such dictators, the country would have been in a much better shape.
Gilani said the government would restructure eight government organisations that had become ‘white elephants’, and were eating upto Rs 220 billion of public resources annually. He said, “I assure and commit to the nation that these organisations will be restructured and run on an economically viable basis.”
He mentioned Pakistan Steel Mills, the Railways, Pakistan International Airlines and WAPDA among the government entities that always have to resort to government assistance to keep functioning, despite incurring huge losses.
The prime minister said he had tasked Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh with the responsibility to personally monitor the affairs of the Steel Mills and WAPDA. The restructuring would take place without any political interference and doling-out of jobs, he added. Gilani said that “Pakistan has to rid itself of the evil of terrorism for its own sake”. Praising the role of the armed forces in curbing terrorist activities, he said, “We don’t need any certificate from any foreign country in this regard.”
He, however, urged world leaders to “share our social and financial burden, instead of criticising our efforts,” since benefits of Pakistan’s efforts in the war against terrorism have a direct bearing on peace and development in the entire world. The prime minister said the government would not allow anybody to challenge its writ, and the whole nation stood behind the armed forces to rid the country of terrorism and extremism.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk