WOULD HAVE WRITTEN TO SWISS, BUT…

As a first formal denial to comply with the Supreme Court which issued orders that Swiss authorities be moved to open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Saturday said that it was the constitution that hindered writing of the Swiss letter.
Talking to columnists and editors at the Governor House, Ashraf said, “We will not let our first class president to capitulate to a third class magistrate, as the constitution stands against it.”
The premier, regarding immunity of the president, said that presidents all over the world enjoy immunity. “The parliament may debate on the matter of presidential immunity,” he responded.
Rounding off his reply over the issue, Ashraf asserted that the government’s stance over the Swiss letter will be made public on July 12, “but one thing is for sure that President Zardari enjoys immunity until he is in office.”
The PM said that uncertainty prevailing in the country was harmful to the institutions and undue importance given to a single issue might be detrimental to democracy.
“The institutions should work within their constitutional ambit and let the people decide about the future of the democratically elected government since it is they who matter,” he said.
The PM said that uncertainty had been damaging the political system and the opposition should not forget that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, in their meetings, had resolved to avoid leg pulling for political gains. Ashraf said the government believes in the supremacy of the constitution and law. He said if all institutions in the country worked within their ambit, there would be no problem in the country.
Ashraf said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) wrote the history with blood and blood would once again be given if needed in future.
Regarding the law and order situation in Karachi, he said that after the NFC award all provinces had been granted powers to maintain law and order. Now it was the responsibility of the provinces to take care of the law and order.
The prime minister said that the federal government was hesitant about sending in the army to resolve provincial issues for fear that such measures may turn out to be the “wrong cure” to remedy the situation. He said that the army was patriotic and it was rendering enormous sacrifices for the country and had played front role in natural calamities.
“The federal government will be willing to help the government of Sindh if they ask for it,” he said.
While taking about the severe energy shortfall and load shedding, Ashraf said, “The electricity crisis is the first priority.”
About the Kalabagh Dam, the PM said the project could only be undertaken after national consensus, adding that the government had initiated other power generation projects like Diamir-Bhasha Dam, Boonji Dam as well as run of the river projects to meet energy needs. Ashraf said the rental power projects (RPPs) were not properly understood, acknowledging he could not accurately clarify his statements regarding the energy crisis in the country. “The statement given in December 2009 regarding the end to load shedding still hounds me,” he said.
Regarding the cooperation of PML-N in the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), the PM said he was sure to have a positive response from the PML-N leadership. The CEC should be a consensus candidate, who would go by the book, he added. The premier urged all the political parties to shun off their differences and work together for strengthening the country. He said on its part the PPP was committed to avoid politics of confrontation. The group of senior editors with whom the PM had an interaction included Saleem Bukhari‚ Mujeebur Rehman Shami‚ Arif Nizami‚ Zia Shahid‚ PJ Mir and others.