ISLAMABAD, Sep 27 (APP): President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday reiterated that the democratic government will complete its mandated five year term and would continue to pursue the huge socio-economic development agenda which the party had promised with the people of the country during elections.The President said this while addressing a meeting of the party MNAs and Senators in the Presidency which was presided jointly by the President and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Briefing the journalists about the meeting, the Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that the meeting discussed in length the current political situation in country, reorganization of the party and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood affectees.
The President urged members and workers of his party to remain calm and avoid being provoked and continue treading the path of political reconciliation. “Being a sitting government, the PPP has huge responsibilities and it is our duty to remain calm and not to overreact on political provocations,” the spokesperson quoted the President as saying. The President said that “we will continue our forward march and complete the term, no mater what the machinations against us”.
The President said that the government is currently focusing on tackling the gigantic task of rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood victims besides creating economic opportunities for the people affected initially by the war on terror and now by the devastating floods.
He urged all the political forces including opposition parties to complement government’s efforts to rehabilitate the flood victims and added that in current situation while the country was faced with numerous challenges, the country could ill afford politics of confrontation.
The President said: “The PPP knows the value of democracy because it has made huge sacrifices for it and it will protect democracy at all cost.”
He added that the PPP led Government will face all the challenges with grace and composure and would rise to the expectations of the people. He said militancy, economic turnaround, poverty alleviation, rehabilitation and reconstruction of flood victims were the grave issues that stared us in the face.
It calls for regrouping ourselves and focusing our energies to fight these challenges, he said. The Spokesperson said that the President while addressing asked the party parliamentarians to also gear themselves for the local bodies polls which he said will test the popularity of the Party at grass root levels. The Spokesperson said that the President while referring to the achievements of the government during last two years asked the Parliamentarians to reach out to the masses with the success story of the government that includes restoration of the democratic constitution by removing from it the clauses inserted by dictatorship, Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), reinstatement of the sacked workers, giving 12 percent shares in state-run enterprises to the workers, plans to give state lands free of cost to poor women in the command areas of the new dams, NFC award, Gilgit-Baltistan reforms and Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package.
The President then invited MNAs and Senators to express their views on any issue they considered crucial.
Party parliamentarians spoke on host of issues including the current political situation. Party MNAs and senators reposed complete confidence in the leadership of the party and the government. The meeting was continuing till the filing of this report – APP
