Parliament to sort out all issues: Gilani

LAHORE : Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that the Parliament is the supreme institution and it will sort out all matters including the issue concerning the President. At a press briefing soon after landing at the old airport here Saturday, he said that PPP government would not go on a solo flight and take all its coalition partners along while deciding about major issues.
Gilani dispelled the impression about differences between the PPP and PML-N over the issue of the President, adding that all matters would be settled by taking all the stakeholders into confidence. The Parliament is the supreme forum and whenever the coalition will have two-thirds majority, it will sort out the issue of the President, he said.
The Prime Minister said, “It was Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s political sagacity that President Pervez Musharraf doffed his army uniform.”
He said PPP had always rendered great sacrifices for the restoration of democracy, supremacy of judiciary, parliament and the 1973 Constitution and sacrifices had no parallel in the entire sub-continent.
About the Kalabagh dam project Gilani said that the PPP’s stance had always been that it should be constructed with consensus of all the four provinces.
He asked as to why no government constructed Kalabagh dam during the last 60 years. “We do not tell lies to masses on the controversial dam,” he said, responding to a questioner.
The Prime Minister said that the government was focusing on construction of small dams to cater to the energy and water needs of the country.
To a question about Balochistan, Gilani said, “There is sense of deprivation in Balochistan and we will settle all issues of the province through dialogue.”
He said PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would soon call an All Parties Conference in Balochistan. He added that the government had stopped Army operation in Balochistan and the situation was improving there gradually.
Earlier, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer welcomed the Prime Minister, while Provincial Senior Minister Raja Riaz Ahmed, Punjab Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, Excise and Taxation Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, MNAs Samina Ghurki and Tasleem Qureshi, PPP Lahore President Aziz-ur-Rehman Chan and Imtiaz Safdar Warraich were also present.