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Monday, March 22, 2010
Pakistan backs Afghan reconciliation: Gilani
* Gilani says govt taking steps to overcome poverty, price hike, unemployment, load shedding
* Anti-labour laws introduced by dictators will be repealedMULTAN: Pakistan will provide complete support to the reconciliation strategy of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Sunday, while talking about Karzai’s recent visit to Pakistan.
He was talking to reporters after laying the foundation of a Rs 2.77-billion workers’ complex project that will provide shelter to homeless workers and labourers at Multan’s Industrial Estate Area.
To a question on the strategic dialogue with the US, Gilani said a delegation headed by the foreign minister had left for Washington and in the future more delegations would visit the US for discussions.
Steps: He said the government was fully aware of the common man’s problems, including poverty, price hike, unemployment and load shedding, adding that the government was taking concrete steps to resolve them.
Gilani said price hike was a global phenomenon but the government was formulating policies to overcome it and promised that relief would be provided to the people very soon.
Laws: He said anti-labour laws introduced by dictators would be repealed, adding that workers and labourers should have the right to appeal against hiring and firing.
Separately, addressing a lawyers’ delegation at the Circuit House, which met him under the leadership of Multan High Court Bar Association President Qamaruz Zaman Butt and Multan District Bar Association President Sher Zaman Qureshi, Gilani said the government believed in the supremacy of law and constitution. “We want the judiciary, parliament and the administration to work within their parameters, which will strengthen the institutions,” he said. “Benazir Bhutto had also envisaged the strengthening of institutions in the Charter of Democracy.”
Also on Sunday, talking to a delegation led by Poverty Alleviation Fund Chief Executive Kamran Akmal, Gilani said the government was committed to providing maximum relief to the masses at the grassroots level.
He said provision of welfare to the masses topped the government’s agenda, adding the Social Welfare Ministry and the Labour and Works Department had launched programmes in this regard. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk