Committee formed to brief parliament: Gilani

LAHORE: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that a three-member committee, comprising the ministers of foreign affairs, commerce and finance, has been constituted to take parliament into confidence on the Afghan transit trade issue.

Talking to the the media after visiting Lahore General Hospital (LGH) to enquire after ailing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi on Saturday, he said that all decisions would be taken in line with the interests of the country.

To a question on the extension given to the Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, he said that since it was an administrative matter, he would not comment on it.

Commenting on his meeting with officials of the education department, he said that it had no connection with the issue of fake degrees. At the same time, Gilani said, he was not in favour of those who used forged degrees to qualify for the elections. Since the government had referred the falsification of academic records to the Election Commission, its officials would now decide on the issue under the purview of the constitution. To a question about Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s statement that there was insufficient sharing of data on terrorism, the prime minister said that it was not true that law-enforcement agencies were not cooperating with the Punjab government on the directions of Interior Minister Rehman Malik. All departments, he pointed out, were not under the interior minister.

The prime minister also said that he had directed the relevant authorities to immediately prepare a comprehensive plan to quell the ongoing spate of target killings in Karachi. He said that Karachi was a very big city and providing fool-proof security there was not an easy matter.

He said the government was specially focusing on the development of Balochistan but a lot of work was yet to be done there.

He also said that all departments had been directed to ensure the availability of sugar during the holy month of Ramazan.

In response to a question about the rumoured sanctions on the media, he said that there was no restriction on the media as the PPP had itself struggled for the freedom of journalism. He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had protested against media curbs imposed by former president Gen Pervez Musharraf. “How can my government impose restrictions on the media?” he asked rhetorically.

Earlier, he enquired after Hashmi and presented him with a bouquet. He offered prayers for the early recovery of the ailing PML-N leader and directed the hospital’s administration to take care of him.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2010.