PPP wants to reconcile with PML-Q: Taseer

PPP to have a formal meeting with the PML-Q in an effort to improve its relationship with the Q-League, said Taseer.


Express October 26, 2010

LAHORE: The PPP government is dedicated to the politics of reconciliation and will continue to work to stay close to all major parties, said Governor Salmaan Taseer on Monday.

“People assumed that the government would be forced out. But we are preparing for the 2013 elections,” Taseer told reporters.

He said that the PPP was having a formal meeting with the PML-Q because it wanted to improve its relationship with the Q-League. About his ‘Qatil-League’ statement made a while ago, he said it was in the past and such things happened all the time in politics.

As guest of honour for an event held by the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) at Royal Palm Golf and Country Club, Taseer promised tanners that he would bring up the leather industry’s grievances in a meeting scheduled with the prime minister on October 27.

Earlier, Khurshid Alam, chairman of the PTA, pleaded for government help for the industry, which he said was “on the verge of collapse”. Two years ago, he said, leather exports were worth $2.2 billion; this year they were 30 per cent less, and next year were likely to fall by another 10 per cent.

Two major reasons for these losses, Alam said, were load shedding and smuggling. He said the smuggling of cattle to Afghanistan and Iran was done through special permits issued by the customs department, which charged Rs2,000 for large livestock and Rs500 for small livestock. This had led to a shortage of raw materials for the leather industry, he said. Also, some 1.5 million hides were lost in the recent floods.

The governor suggested that the tanners propose a five-year plan for their sector to the Ministry of Industries.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2010.

COMMENTS (1)

Sohrab | 13 years ago | Reply This is perfect. This is the essence of democracy. You make coalitions in order to come to power. It is up to the people to hold the politicians accountable at the time of elections if they do not perform. If this type of a process had happened from the beginning of the country, without un-constitutional interventions, we would have matured into a much better democracy than our neighbors. Allama Iqbal had said the we as a people are naturally suited and inclined to practice constitutional democracy because of the essence of our faith. Yes, on the surface it does seem like unscrupulous politicians are wheeling and dealing to save their hold on power. Trust me, this is what democracy, or at least part of it, is all about. The other part has to be played by the other arms of the state: the judiciary, the media, and more importantly, the public. One thing is for sure, the khakis should stay out of it and concentrate on building themselves into a fighting force to defend the borders, not to conquer their own nation. The young of this nation has to learn to get involved. If not in politics, then at least in public service, by volunteering to help the poor and the needy. Volunteer in the hospitals, at lungers (called soup kitchens in the west) at the mazaars, or form cleaning committees in the neighborhoods to pick up the garbage, or form groups to offer tuition to the children in katchi abadis. Like they say: it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. For the efforts of People's Party to form an alliance with PML (Q), I say 'bravo.' Go for it.
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