Newspaper article can’t topple govt, says PM

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said here on Sunday that the memogate scandal had not imperiled the government, and nor had it created a crisis in the country. Talking to a group of reporters at State Guest House, the premier said governments could not be toppled with the publication of an article in a foreign newspaper. He said there was no danger to the government as everyone wanted the completion of the assemblies’ constitutional tenure.
Coming down hard on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, he said there were bigger concerns than just the memogate scandal in Pakistan at the moment but Sharif never went to court for those and it was unclear why he was pushing only this issue. He said the memogate issue was not a big one but had been blown out of proportion. However, he added, had democracy in Pakistan fully matured, there would have been no need to go to the apex court as all such issues of national interest could have been discussed and deliberated in parliament. The prime minister told reporters that his government would use parliament to develop uniform policies on all national issues by taking on board all stakeholders. However, he added that this policy would have no military interference as was the case in the past.
He said there should be no interference in the national uniform policy as the affairs in the country had worsened because of this. Citing the example of former president Pervez Musharraf, the premier said that in a single phone call he bowed down and compromised on national issues, while the democratic government did take a firm stance in a similar situation and tackled the matter with confidence by taking all stakeholders on board. He pointed out that parliament was the best forum to formulate national policies through debate and discussion. In this regard, he mentioned that outstanding issues such as relations with the US, NATO, ISAF, Kashmir, India and the nuclear programme, which had direct bearing on the sovereignty and security of the country, would be debated in parliament to evolve national consensus.
Responding to a question, the prime minister said democracy in Pakistan would have strengthened and been stabilised long ago had there not been frequent military interventions. Democracy in Pakistan, he added, was no longer a one-man show. He said Pakistan’s nuclear assets were in safe hands under a complete command and control system with the prime minister in charge overall.
POLITICS OF 1950s: Speaking on democracy in Pakistan, Gilani urged politicians to stop describing their fellow politicians as ‘traitors’. Asking politicians to shun the politics of the 1950s and 1960s, he said they should adopt modern ways of politics and work together for the greater national interest. About the decision of boycotting Bonn Conference on Afghanistan following the killing of 24 Pakistan soldiers in a NATO/ISAF attack on a checkpost in Mohmand Agency last week, the prime minister said the decision was taken by the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) and supported by the people of Pakistan. Gilani recalled numerous meetings with the Afghan leadership in the recent past in Turkey, Kabul and Maldives and Pakistan’s efforts for peace in Afghanistan. Gilani said the NATO strike on the Salala checkpost clearly showed that the US and NATO had yet to realise the sacrifices of Pakistani soldiers and people in the war on terrorism.
In his telephonic conversation with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, he said he had explained reasons behind the Pakistan’s decision to refrain from attending the Bonn Conference, which offered little benefit to Islamabad. Responding to a question, the prime minister said his government was in favour of local bodies’ elections, but the subject had been devolved to the provinces and it was now up to the provincial governments to hold polls.