News
Sunday, June 17, 2012
PM sees conspiracies against democracy* Gilani says PPP will not allow anti-democratic forces to derail process
* Grievances of Baloch being addressed through comprehensive reforms
* Pakistan will export power in few years
* Thar Coal Project holds key to ensure energy securityMARDAN/LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday conspiracies were being hatched against democracy and vowed the government would foil all such attempts and protect the democratic system.
“There are conspiracies [being hatched] against democracy but the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will protect democracy at all costs and will not allow anti-democratic forces to derail democracy,” said the prime minister while addressing a public meeting.
The prime minister said the PPP government had been facing conspiracies since 2008 when it took over the rule but faced these challenges with the support of masses.
He said that despite efforts of anti-democratic elements, the PPP faced these conspiracies and succeeded to present its fifth consecutive budget this year.
Referring to the role of opposition, he said opposition leaders were sitting in Jeddah while the PPP was working for the rights of people.
The prime minister said institutions had been strengthened with the revival of the 1973 constitution.
Gilani assured people that it was responsibility and duty of the government to reach out to people to provide them basic rights and to resolve their issues.
Separately, the prime minister attended the passing-out ceremony of the 39th Common Training Programme at Civil Services Academy (CSA) in Lahore.
Speaking on the occasion, he said, “Aaghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan is a sincere effort of the present government to address socio-economic deprivations of the people of Balochistan and meaningfully integrate them into the mainstream.”
“Under the initiative, we are addressing the grievances of our Baloch brothers and sisters through comprehensive reforms in administrative, constitutional, political and economic sectors,” the prime minister added.
Gilani said the democratic government was aware of aspirations of the people of southern Punjab and was committed to the cause.
“We are working on ways and means to materialise the demand [for a separate province] into reality in accordance with aspirations of people of the area,” he said.
About the energy crisis, the prime minister said it would be a mistake to call it the failure of the PPP-led government as the crisis had started in the previous regime and hardly any major energy project was initiated.
“So far, we have added 3,400 megawatts of power to the national grid. The present democratic government has initiated a number of projects in short, medium and long-terms to overcome the crisis on a permanent basis. They include Thar Coal Project, Diamer-Basha (4,500MW), Dasu (4,320MW), Bunji (7,100MW), Munda (740MW), Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project and Tarbela extension project. We are also pursing the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, CASA-100 and TAPI gas project as well.”
The prime minister said, “The Thar Coal Project holds the key to ensure energy security of the country for 300 years and the government is working on a fast-track basis to exploit one of the largest coal reserves that is a source of cheap power generation.”
On completion, Gilani said, these projects would not only bridge the gap between demand and supply but also make Pakistan a power-exporting country.
The prime minister said reforms were required in all spheres of society.
“However, reforms processes are arduous and time consuming and results cannot be achieved in a short time as reforms require vision, analytical skills, hard work and patience. We, as a nation, are lucky to have institutions which can meet these challenges,” he added. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk