ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told parliamentarians at the Parliament House on Friday that despite the Pakistan Muslim League-N’s grievances against the Pakistan People’s Party-led government, it would continue to follow its policy of reconciliation.
“This (reconciliation) policy has introduced a new political culture of tolerance and cooperation in the democratic system. We will continue the policy of taking all political forces on board on national issues, including economic challenges,” said Gilani.
Separately, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Raza Rabbani told a press conference that the PPP’s policy of reconciliation in order to avoid destabilising the political system would continue as the party sat on opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly. “Now we have decided to play the role of opposition and do issue-based politics without destabilising the system. We will follow new and good traditions and avoid politics reminiscent of the 1990s,” Rabbani said.
He also denied that the government had any role in the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif from the 2008 general elections, or that no significant progress had been made on the PML-N’s 10-point agenda, since the government had agreed not to raise prices and incurred losses of Rs 30 billion by doing so.
Rabbani said that the government had told the PML-N that two judgments of the courts were a hurdle in the issue of uninterrupted gas supply and the government was ready to find a constitutional way out. Rabbani said that considerable progress was made on recovering loans that had been written-off and that the State Bank was asked to provide a list of all such loans.
It had been decided, he said, defaulters would be scrutinized to assess if their loans were written off on political basis. Khosa returns summary: Separately, in what may well be an indication of what is to come following the split between the two parties, Punjab Governor Latif Khosa returned the government’s summary for the appointment of vice chancellors with several objections, according to a staff report from Lahore.
