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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 8 (APP):President Asif Ali Zardari,
Tuesday said that Gilgit- Baltistan package is in accordance with the wishes and
expectations of the people of the area who were denied their legitimate rights
for long.In an interview with APP at the Presidency, he said there
could be different opinions about everything and the perception that the package
was an attempt to de-link it from the Kashmir issue is uncalled for. “By and
large it has been taken well by the people”, he said. He said the ground
realities are different from the de-linking of the area from the Kashmir. “It
was a long standing demand and the people there faced many problems.”
He said there were certain places in the country where
there was no law of the land, for no reason.
“To acknowledge and give them their due status is a
realization of what was enshrined in the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed doctrine for the
people,” the President said.
He said Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the first person to
have visited the area and what we have done is to take forward his vision,
President Zardari asserted.
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President Zardari to a question about the recently
announced Gilgit - Baltistan package and the perception that it was being seen
as an attempt to de-link it with the Kashmir issue, the President said there
could be different opinions about every thing.
“But we are going by ground realities. It was a long
standing demand and the people there faced many problems.”
However the President said “By and large it has been taken
well by the people.”
Referring to Gilgit-Baltistan, he lamented that there were
certain places in the country where there was no law of the land, for no reason.
“To acknowledge and give them their due status is a
realization of what was enshrined in the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed’s political
doctrine for the people,” the President said.
He said Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the first person to
have visited the area and what we have done is to take forward his vision.
When asked to comment on the Presidency’s role during
transition from martial law to democracy, the President said there was a need to
realize the difference in system created by the dictator who placed his own
paraphernalia around him that resulted into creation of a weak governance
system.
“They [dictators] don’t give strength to the prevailing
system of democracy. They always break them,” he said.
The President said he realized the vacuum in the society in
1988 after a long dictatorship, that needed to be filled by a civilian
government. He said dictatorship always had long lasting effects and it took
more than double period of time to mitigate its negative effects.
The President said democracy is the call of the day and it
makes space for itself. He termed democracy as the strengthening of
responsibility of state and society, which has become the “new voice of
Pakistan.”
Zardari said realizing how difficult and dangerous it was,
he and his government took responsibility of the daunting task of bringing
political ownership to the situation whether it was insurgency, recession,
political disharmony between provinces or different quests and we asked the
world for a collective make-up of these distortions.
On Taliban, he said it was the collective responsibility of
the world to control them as “they were created collectively”. “So their
ownership and the cure should also be considered collective rather than
singular,” he added.
President Zardari mentioned US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton’s statement acknowledging Pakistan’s role and the present government’s
contribution in this regard.
He described terrorism as a cancer that had taken roots in
this region and hoped that the world would come to share this collective
responsibility in eradicating the menace from the region.
About the recent military successes in parts of NWFP and
FATA against the militants and terrorists and how the government has been able
to curb this tendency, the President said the matter has been resolved as the
people took collective responsibility and ownership to address it.
He said “bringing political ownership to the situation is
one part of the solution. Democracy is one part of the solution, winning
physically on the ground is another part of the solution.”
However, “the real victory lies in taking ownership of the
issue and area by the people.”
“What I consider victory is the peoples ownership,” the
President said and added that the people of Swat, Buner, Malakand, were now
taking ownership of their own space.
“At the end of the day it is the people who make the
country. They have realized that this cancer is poisonous and dangerous and can
pollute their lives, that I think is a political achievement.”
The President however warned that “the militancy and
militants are still on the ground and we need to take a united stand and not
become complacent on anything.
“We should understand that this is a long term war and will
go on but the first victory is the intellectual and moral victory.”
He pointed that the decision by the Pakistan Peoples Party
and the ANP to take ownership and by all the political parties to give it
ownership in the parliament, and than by the four provinces to come in aid of
the Malakand agency, that is the victory.
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President Zardari to a question said Parliament was the
major ingredient reflecting political wisdom of the people of Pakistan. He said
it was collective wisdom of the people who elected their representatives and
they chose their prime minister; who was first chosen by the Pakistan Peoples
Party through a process and finally the parliament voted him in unanimously.
About the progress on the Charter of Democracy, the
President said the biggest step forward was the Public Accounts Committee headed
by opposition leader. It was set up in pursuance of the Charter of Democracy
(COD) and the chairmanship has been given to the Opposition.
About abolishing the 17th amendment President
Zardari said he twice addressed the parliament and referred the matter to the
parliament. He emphatically said, “we are coming close to that position. I think
that it should complete during this parliamentary year.”
While responding to a question about the ongoing sugar,
energy and atta crises, he said:”It is not in my purview and it is not the
President’s job to interfere in the affairs of the government of the day. It’s
the job of the Parliament and the provincial government and all this is a
provincial subject. If there is a weakness in provincial set- up, I hope the
federal government, provincial governments will look into it.”
Regarding the judiciary, he said after years of suppression
and “maneuvering” by the dictators, “it has come to its own self and (as an
institution) it is in the process of evolution and let’s hope that this
evolution strengthens them.”
About his recent visits to China, the President said he was
following the policies of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto that China was the next
economic super power of the world and the present government has re-emphasised
this policy and taken the relationship to higher level.
China is going to be the next regional economical power of
the world and since “we have strong ties, we need to transfer these to a
collective success, in marketing, regional growth etc”.
To a question the President regretted that he could not
give enough time to the party, as much as he desired, but still was able to take
measures for further strengthening of the party. He said soon after the Ramadan,
a membership drive would be launched.
He said every minister and department was working better
than it was before, since the new government came into power. “There is a fresh
breath, new collective challenges, that need to be addressed, otherwise these
would have an impact on the party.”
He said his first priority was to address the international
challenges that Pakistan was facing. If these are corrected, the country’s
financial health will improve and will have a trickle down effect across the
board, particularly for the poor of the country - who form the Pakistan People’s
Party. “I am working for the party, but through a different forum,” he added.
To a question about the economic situation, the
President said the situation was under control and added “hope is in the
air”
He said it was due to the “collective wisdom” of the
government of the day that was guided by the policies of the PPP and other
friends and people in the government, who are partners.
He said there was a realization and a forewarning that the
global economy would be hit by recession soon. “We devised a homegrown formula
that we got accepted from the IMF and there was also a realization to give space
to stock exchange to enable it to perform, as we believe they are a natural
barometer.”
He said the government gave good wheat prices to the
farmers and with the grace of Almighty Allah the crops were good and brought a
positive change in the rural areas by attacking rural poverty through a massive
cash transfer.
He said for poverty alleviation the cards under the Benazir
Bhutto Income Support program have been launched. These would go a long way in
emancipation of the women and under the policy a self employment scheme would be
generated, besides giving stipends for children who then will get vocational
training and be able to support their families.
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