Musharraf assures Gilani of support

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday, stressing on cooperation on national issues, urged the need to avoid clashes that could weaken the foundations of democratic institutions.The president and the prime minister during their interaction discussed a host of issues, including the present political scenario, security situation, cooperation of the new government, flour, power crisis and other matters in detail at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday.The president stressed the need to run the affairs of the country in a smooth manner, adding clashes could lead to the weakening of the foundation of democratic institutions, which will not be good for the country.The president assured the prime minister that he was fulfilling his constitutional duties in the best-possible way, stressing that he will continue supporting the new government according to the Constitution.He hoped that the new government, akin to the past government, would complete its full five-year term and play a positive role in strengthening the democratic institutions.The president said the country was passing through a challenging situation. “We don’t want politics of confrontation,” he said.The president further said he knew flour and power crisis were further augmenting miseries of the masses, stressing the need to take realistic decisions.Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the government would fulfill the promises made to the masses, adding all-out efforts shall be made to overcome flour and power crises at the earliest.He said they wanted to continue the unfinished mission of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, adding the government was taking gigantic steps to end the rising incidents of terrorism.Both the leaders reiterated to end the current wave of terrorism and extremism, urging that no compromise shall be made on the national security of the country.Terming the meeting between the president and the prime minister a consultative interaction, Presidential Spokesman Maj-Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi said the issue of the judges did not come under discussion at all.However, well-placed sources revealed that the president had informed the prime minister about his stance on the judges’ restoration.While talking to media, Rashid Qureshi said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had informed President Pervez Musharraf about the overall law and order situation, internal security issues, including the government polices to tackle terrorism.He said he did not attend the meeting, and also ruled out the impression that President Pervez Musharraf was not happy with the government’s initiative of holding negotiations with the local Taliban.