Army not a permanent remedy to Karachi problem: Gilani

 LAHORE: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said that Pakistan was a powerful country and could look any country in the eyes on national interest.

Addressing a press conference at the State Guest House here, the Prime Minister said that safeguarding national interest was of supreme importance for his government. He said that Pakistan wanted to maintain friendly relations with the United States (US) on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest without compromising on each other’s national interests. Gilani said, “We have explained to the US government that if it is answerable to Congress, then we are equally accountable to the Parliament”.

To a query, the Prime Minister said there was no question of raising fingers at Pakistan’s role in the fight against terrorism.

Because of strategic position, Pakistan had to take up the role of a frontline state role in the fight against terror, he said and added that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and the Central Intelligence Agency (of US) were working in close liaison with each other while both the countries had launched joint actions against high-level targets in the past.
Condemning the cross-border attack in Chitral, he said that the Foreign Office had protested to the Afghan government on the issue.

Some elements did not want amicable relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and were creating disturbance, he added.

He said Pakistan was in the middle of the fight against terrorism and expressed the hope relations between the two neighbouring countries would strengthen in the near future.
About Al-Qaeda links in the security forces, Gilani said Pakistan’s security agencies were immensely efficient. Terrorism and extremism were a global phenomenon as well as a global threat which had to be addressed jointly through capacity building of each other, he added.

Responding to a question on the law and order situation in Karachi, he said that extremism and terrorism were major threats to the country and that the law and order situation in Karachi was a spill-over of the Afghan war.

He said that successful operation of the law enforcement agencies in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Swat and Malakand had dispersed the terrorists who turned to soft targets like girls’ schools, shopping malls, public places and intelligence headquarters in order to cause collateral damage to life and property.

The Prime Minister said the situation of Karachi was also a reaction to the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abottabad operation.

To another question, he did not rule the involvement of some foreign hands in Balochistan and Karachi incidents.When asked about any role for the Army in Karachi, the Prime Minister said police and Rangers were his priority. The civilian law enforcement agencies are a preference for all democratic governments while the Army also do not want to be controversial by involving in the Karachi situation, he added.

Gilani said he believed that a military action was not a permanent solution to the problems and he wanted adoption of 3 Ds (Dialogue, Development & Deterrence) policy in the resolution of issues. Removing deprivation of the people leaves no room for the use of force which should be used as a last resort only, he added.

When asked about the law and order situation in Lahore, the Prime Minister said that the overall situation was very good. However, he added that poverty, inflation, dearness, unemployment and illiteracy were the root causes of terrorism which could be eliminated through development.
Regarding Latif Khosa’s emotionally-charged press conference on the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer, Gilani said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was oncerned about the incident. He added that the PPP had suffered a lot for emocracy and rule of law in the country.

He said that the PPP workers were emotional today as they had lost Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Salman Taseer, Minorities ffairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and many other party leaders for the ause of country and the people and recently Shahbaz Taseer was abducted while the decision on Salman Taseer’s murder was still awaited.

Gilani said Punjab the remarks of Governor Latif Khosa expressed his emotions.
The Prime Minister said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif prior to he meeting of the Council of the Common Interest (CCI) in Islamabad, assured him of early development in the Shahbaz Taseer case.
Replying to another query, he said the Federal Government was ready to provide all kinds of support to the provincial government in the case.

About the Balochistan issue, the Prime Minister said the Baloch people were patriotic Pakistanis who wanted development in their province.

He said it was necessary to grant provincial autonomy as well as NFC (National Finance Commission) award to the provinces for bringing an end to the sense of deprivation among the people of Balochistan prevailing over a period of last 64 years.

Gilani said that the PPP government had the credit of granting autonomy to the provinces as well as the passage of NFC Award. He said the people of Balochistan should be given share in the royalty and jobs.

Responding to alleged corruption in the Law Ministry, he said he had taken up the issue in the cabinet. Some departments had passed cases on to other department for fear of criticism which caused inordinate delay in certain cases, he added.

About public reaction to corruption in India, the Prime Minister said that Manmohan Singh was a twice elected Prime Minister of that country and Indians were the best judge on the issue. It was people’s right if they demanded adoption of certain sections in a bill presented in the parliament as the parliament was sovereign, he added.

Gilani said as per the dsire of the people, his government would soon present an accountability bill in the parliament.Critical of unscheduled power outages in the country,
Gilani said he had directed for scheduled loadshedding in the country so that people could adjust their life-styles as per the already communicated schedule, adding the problem arose when people faced unscheduled loadshedding.

He said an energy conference would soon be convened to be attended by chief ministers of the four provinces.

The prime minister said he had constituted a committee comprising ministers Water and Power, Petroleum, Governor State Bank and deputy Chairman planning commission which would submit its recommendations soon.

Counting his government’s achievements, the Premier said 3000 MW had been added to the national grid and the projects of the same magnitude were in the pipeline, adding his government was committed to making the country self-sufficient in energy resources.

“We are working on nuclear, hydal, thermal, rental as well as renewable energy resources”, he elaborated.

The PM further said since the federal government could not fulfil energy needs of the country single-handedly, the provincial government would set up a project as soon as the federal government launches an energy project in the country.

To a query, the Premier dispelled the impression that Punjab was being discriminated against vis-a-vis load-shedding schedule, stressing it was needed to improve capacity.

When asked about possible reforms in the Pakistan Railways, the Premier said restructuring of railways was important to bring it out of the present chaos, adding a cabinet committee headed by Governor State Bank has been constituted to present its recommendation on the restructuring of the Pakistan Railways.

About the creation of a new province, Gilani said Southern Punjab had been a victim of neglect during the past 64 years and people wished the grant of rights so that their deprivations could be removed. He said that he respected their wishes and emotions in this regard.

The Prime Minister said that ‘PPP’s Manifesto committee’ had been tasked with presenting its recommendations on the creation of new provinces in the light of sentiments of civil society, media and other stake-holders, adding a decision on the creation of a new province will be taken after the committee presents its recommendations.

To another query, he said there were three parties including PPP, PML-N and PML-Q on the issue of creation of Seraiki province and the accord of two on the issue, would win the day.