Ministers tender resignations; pave way for new Cabinet

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet on Wednesday tendered resignations to Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani enabling him to announce a new one, in light of decisions of the Central Executive Committee of Pakistan Peoples Party.The resignations came in the last meeting of the Cabinet held here at Prime Minister Secretariat, chaired by the Prime Minister.The CEC had authorised the Prime Minister to dissolve the cabinet and form a smaller one on Feb 4. Gilani was tasked to appoint a smaller cabinet with fewer ministers enjoying reputation of “integrity, competence and efficiency.”Prime Minister Gilani paid rich tributes to the Cabinet members for achieving several successes in different fields. He expressed gratitude to them for their assistance and in improving governance in all areas.Prime Minister Gilani said the Cabinet during its 75 meetings took 175 important decisions out of which 77 have been implemented.He said the government after assuming power took up the challenges of terrorism and the global economic recession head-on.“We successfully steered this nation by taking prudent decisions,” he said.Gilani mentioned several achievements made during the past three years including great surge in exports, increase in foreign exchange reserves of over US 17 billion dollars and index of Karachi Stock Exchange crossing the 12,000 points, reflecting success of the economic policies. He also pointed the new NFC award, Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan, autonomy of Gilgit Baltistan and the fight against terrorism as decisions of great significance.“Together we faced the daunting challenge of the unprecedented floods, with the help of the friends in the world and our brave nation.”Gilani mentioned that the Council of Common Interests also took historic decisions such as the 18th amendment and restoration of the 1973 Constitution to its original form as presented by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.He thanked the Cabinet for resolutely standing by the leadership. He also prayed to Allah Almighty to help the government succeed in all areas and to take it “out of troubled waters – APP