Judicial crisis to be sorted out in the parliament: PM

ASSOCIATED PRESS SERVICE

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said the judicial crisis will be sorted out in the parliament. Talking to a delegation of notables from different parts of the country, the prime minister said his government will take along all the political forces while making the important decisions.
“To every wrong there is a remedy. There is no problem in the world which does not have a solution. We will create bridges not walls,” he said.
Prime Minister Gilani reiterated that as promised earlier, the government would remove the concurrent list within a year and give provincial autonomy to all the federating units.
“As Shaheed Zulfiqar Bhutto said, the power lies with the people. We have come into power not for the sake of power.
“We will serve the people who have given us the mandate.”
Prime Minister Gilani said National Assembly was the supreme body of country to whom the prime minister, ministers and all the members were answerable.
He said he has directed all the federal ministers to fix a day to meet the general public and when they go to their respective constituencies hold ‘open kutcheries’ and remain available to the people.
The Prime Minister said people are pinning great hopes in the government and he will do his best to come upto their expectations.
“We will do everything in the greater national interest and come up to people’s expectations,” he added.
Prime Minister Gilani said in his first address to the National Assembly he talked of the people of Pakistan.
“We have restored the labour unions. We will strengthen the institutions,” he said.
He said he firmly believes that the government which has the popular backing is always successful.
“When there is people’s power behind our back, the institutions will not only work but also gain strength.”
Speaking about the economic crisis, he said the main cause was the power shortage on which the government was working to find a solution.
“I have great faith in my team who have the will to move forward,” he added.
The Prime Minister said as many people say, in the absence of a strong opposition, the press has the responsibility to point out their shortcomings.
This, he added, will help the government and its functionaries to rectify their faults and serve the people in a better way.
The Prime Minister strongly stressed the importance of maintaining law and order which he said leads to economic stability.
He said there is a strong need to create the middle class in Pakistan.
“The absence of middle class ultimately leads to revolution. We want that there should be a middle class in the country.”
On a suggestion from one of the delegates, the Prime Minister said there was a serious flaw in the image of Pakistan which needs to be corrected.
For this purpose, he said, a think tank will be created but stressed the need for bringing a change in the popular thinking.
“As a nation we are divided on the basis of region, religion or caste. We should feel proud as Pakistanis,” he said.
Replying to a question as to why several prime ministers in the past were murdered and their killers never traced, Prime Minister Gilani said it was due to the ailing and out-dated system which was the cause of many ills in Pakistan.
He said the present government will change this system for which it has the mandate of the people.
The delegation also included some of Prime Minister’s mates when he was in the jail.
He said not only he himself personally knows but those who had remained incarcerated have informed him of the pathetic conditions in the jails.
The present government, he added, is committed for jail reforms so that the inmates are treated in a humane way.