News
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Rallies cannot topple government: Gilani
* Prime minister says general elections will be held on schedule
* Says PML-N wants to wind up democracy
* Nawaz has learnt nothing from his exile
PERTH: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani has said that the government could not be toppled through rallies and creating hullabaloo, and that elections would be held according to the prescribed schedule.
Speaking to Pakistani expatriates here on Saturday, he said that it seemed that Nawaz Sharif neither learnt anything from his exile nor from sentence as he was still far away from political maturity.
“PML (N) wants to wind up democracy but the government will not let derail it,” he said categorically.
The prime minister is here on a four-day visit to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that is being attended by over 50 world leaders.
Prime Minister queried as to why PML-N did not give a sit-in on October 12 1999 when their government was overthrown by a dictator. “They did not hold any demonstration when Nawaz was banished but they should realise that politics of protest could not succeed.
He said that the federal government had always supported the Punjab government, as it could not allow anyone to engineer downfall of the provincial government.
“PPP is a symbol of federation and its opponents are confined to only one portion of the country,” he boasted.
Gilani categorically said there was no (no) permission to the United States to carry out any drone strike against any target inside Pakistan’s territory.
“There is no such permission,” he asserted.
The prime minister said such attacks were counterproductive because of the collateral damage caused, and these also undermined government’s efforts to get masses on the same page as far as fight against militancy was concerned.
He said drone strikes were one of the reasons of tense relations between Pakistan and the United States.
He said Pakistan had also conveyed to the United States that unilateral military operation, such as the operation on May 2 to get Osama bin Laden would not be acceptable.
Gilani, who also had an interactive session with the community members, said there had been a sea change in the country’s foreign policy towards terrorism as a result of vindication of his vision of three Ds, dialogue, development and deterrence.
“There has been a paradigm shift in the policy between a democratic government and a dictatorial regime,” he said, and added that now people of Pakistan and parliament were the ultimate arbitrators to take important decisions of national importance. agenciesCourtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk