Don’t you criticise my president, PM tells Opp

Dismissing the opposition’s tirade against President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday said Zardari stood tall amongst democrats as he had restored the constitution and handed over his powers to parliament.
“Never in the history [of the country] has been a president who transferred his powers on his own to the prime minister,” Gilani told a large gathering at the inauguration of an underpass on the GT Road. The prime minister said President Zardari had transferred his powers to him as he believed in the supremacy of parliament.
“Which other government in the past that enjoyed two-thirds majority, restored the constitution in its original form?” he asked.
He regretted that President Zardari was being blamed for not doing anything to strengthen democracy, whereas the restoration of the 1973 constitution to its original form went to his credit alone.
Gilani said throughout his political life he witnessed confrontation between various sections of the political spectrum and forces against the PPP who tried to level false allegations against it. However, he said the government had proved beyond doubt that it had the support of the masses and had successfully presented the fourth budget.
He regretted the trend of blaming politicians for corruption.
Gilani said the 2008 election was the success of the democratic forces, adding that his government came into power through the ballot and not through the backdoor.
He said the government had handed over the most important position of the Publics Accounts Committee chairman to the opposition to judge the performance of the government.
“What else can the government do to please its opponents?” he said and added if someone had complaints against the government, they should seek redressal from the courts.
Referring to the issue of electricity load shedding in the country, he said it was the responsibility of the political leaders to give hope to the people rather than provoking them to take to the streets to destroy public property, and stop the police from taking any action against such miscreants.