LAHORE: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that only political solution is durable to all the issues facing the country and added all political forces are being taken on board on the situation in Karachi. Addressing a meeting of the PPP MNAs from Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Sahiwal divisions at the Governor House here Sunday, he said the government was determined to resolve law and order problem in Karachi by taking all stake-holders along and developing consensus.
The Prime Minister took the parliamentarians into confidence on the situation in Karachi during the meeting. Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa, Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, PPP Ministers, MNAs and party leaders including Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Qamar zaman Kaira, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Khurram Jehangir Wattoo, Farooq Saeed, Sumsam Bokhari, Begum Beelum Husnain, and others attended the meeting.
Talking about the creation of new provinces, Gilani said PPP has constituted ‘Manifesto Committee’ which would present its recommendations to the party and a consensus-based decision would be taken about the creation of new provinces.On Balochistan situation, the Premier said socio-economic uplift was very important for the development of the people of the province, adding that the government has given 5000 new jobs to the Balochi people while 6000-7000 jobs were in the pipeline and officers from Balochistan were being preferred in promotion .The PM said next general election would be held on time in the country, expressing the hope that the parliament would complete its constitutional tenure.
Reacting to PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif’s recent statement, the Prime minister said Nawaz Sharif’s was a lone voice and he even did not have the support in his own party on the issue.During the meeting, the Premier also constituted a high-powered committee headed by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh to look into the issue of unscheduled load-shedding in the country.Gilani apprised the meeting that he had directed the finance ministry to give Rs 25 billion to PSO and other companies so that the masses may face minimum power outages during the remaining part of Ramazan and Eid ul Fitr.The Prime Minister said debt circular on priority basis was the biggest problem being faced by the government.
The Premier told the party MNAs that such meetings as these are being convened on the wishes of the PPP Co-Chairman President Asif Ali Zardari in order to hold consultations with PPP parliamentarians for resolving people’s problems as well as starting mega-projects for future development in their areas.Gilani urged the PPP parliamentarians to propose public welfare projects for providing relief to the people. – APP
