ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday said that people have attached great expectations with the elected representatives and all the political forces need to work together to steer the country out of difficulties and confront the challenges head on.The government would continue to pursue the huge socio-economic development agenda and come up to the expectations and confidence the people have reposed on them.He said this during a meeting with Senators of all the political parties at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.The President while commenting on the constitutional supremacy in the country said that credit goes to the current Parliament which has the distinction in the parliamentary history of Pakistan to establish parliamentary sovereignty and restore the 1973 constitution to its original form by removing undemocratic clauses inserted into the constitution by the successive dictatorial regimes.
The present government and parliament is also credited for accomplishing the longstanding demand of the provinces by granting provincial autonomy and removing the sense of deprivation of smaller provinces, the President said and added that parliament gave recognition to the people living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by renaming the province.
The President said that the government, during the mandated five year tenure, will continue its forward march on the path of progress and prosperity of the people as promised to them during the elections.The President said that the government is currently focusing on tackling the huge task of rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood affected people besides creating economic opportunities, employment generation, poverty alleviation and socio-economic and political empowerment of the women of the country.He remarked that the task of rehabilitation and reconstruction was too big for the government to tackle on its own and added that though the government, international humanitarian agencies and local charities are doing all they can but we need greater international assistance to meet the challenge.
The President said that it was the time that everybody has to contribute particularly the well to do people have to come forward and help in the task of rehabilitation and reconstruction. The government has no option but to take difficult decisions to rehabilitate the flood victims and generate employment opportunities for the poor.President Zardari said that despite challenges and hurdles in its way the Government had waded through difficulties successfully and achieved significant progress on political and economic fronts as well as in the fight against militancy.The President urged all the political forces to complement government’s efforts to confront the huge challenge of rehabilitation of flood victims and added that in current situation while the country was faced with grave challenges, the country could ill afford politics of confrontation. He said that the PPP will continue to pursue the policy of reconciliation.The meeting was attended by Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek and about sixty Senators belonging to various political parties besides federal ministers, ministers of state and advisors.Earlier, the President hosted dinner for the Senators – App
