Govt is here to stay, says Zardari

Zardari says announces the govt will complete its mandated five-year term after his meeting with Kayani.

ISLAMABAD: The PPP-led government will survive all intrigues and complete its mandated five-year term, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday, hours after his meeting with the military chief.

“We will continue our forward march and complete the term no matter what the machinations against us,” an official handout quoted the president as saying in a speech to the party’s parliamentarians. Chairing a late-night meeting, Zardari said the government would continue to pursue the socio-economic development agenda which the party had promised the people during elections.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani co-chaired the meeting that was convened in the backdrop of rumours that the government might collapse in the face of political and legal challenges. The president also asked the party’s parliamentarians to gear themselves for the local bodies’ polls which he said would test the PPP’s popularity at the grassroots.

He, however, didn’t mention when the crucial local government elections would be held.

Briefing journalists about the meeting, the president’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said the current political situation, reorganisation of the party and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood-hit areas were discussed in length. The president urged PPP members and workers to remain calm and continue treading the path of political reconciliation.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2010.