LAHORE, July 20: The government is, and will be, supporting the pro-reform political parties in run-up to the forthcoming general elections, Governor Khalid Maqbool said here on Saturday.

He was responding to a question about alleged official support to the PML(QA) and some other parties. “The government has decided to extend support to these parties for cleansing the system, and there is nothing wrong with that.”

When asked about the allegation levelled by some parties that the chief secretary was using his chopper and trying to put up an administrative setup which was a pre-poll rigging, the governor said the chief secretary was the highest provincial official and entitled to use official assets for the discharge of his duties.

Earlier, while addressing a seminar on constitutional package, Mr Maqbool said it was aimed at strengthening democracy.

“As a practitioner of power, I can assure you that whosoever controls the purse is powerful, and this package does not put any financial restriction on the future prime minister; he can impose taxes, collect money and spend it according to his own priorities,” he said.

“The package also gives power to people, which is essence of democracy. The government has already devolved administrative and fiscal powers to the district government.”

He said of Rs130 billion Punjab budget, Rs58 billion would be spent by the district governments. Women, a major part of population, had been empowered by this package and so were technocrats and minorities. Voting age had been lowered to bring young in the voting net. “These steps have strengthened, not weakened, democracy.”

Similarly, he added, political parties had been told to carry out internal cleansing and democratize their working. Floor-crossing had been prohibited and graduation condition would rope in literate people and improve law and decision making process. State institutions like the Election Commission, the National Accountability Bureau, Auditor General, State Bank and the Public Service Commission had been made less dependent on government for their working. These strengthened institutions would help create good governance in the country, he said.

The president, according to Maqbool, could have extended his rule by decree or opted out leaving the government to whosoever won the elections. “But this could not have improved the situation. Precisely for this reason, president chose a difficult but better path; he has thrown these proposals to the masses rather than a few hundred people in the National Assembly. This is a courageous decision which should be responded to positively by everyone,” he suggested.

The National Security Council, in its proposed form, would bring balance in the system and smoothen its working. There was nothing to fear about it; people unnecessarily tend to interpret everything in conspiracy theory. The NSC would improve people’s lot, he insisted.

Earlier, Minister for Local Bodies Brig Hamid Saeed (retired) claimed that the NSC would bring stability to the political system. It was wrong to think that the services chiefs would tilt the balance. Even one chief could tilt the balance. What people needed to do was to trust members of the NSC for helping the government to smoothly govern the country. Conspiracy theory might not be a healthy approach to see the future of the country.

Justice Dilawar Mahmood maintained that the Supreme Court allowed the chief executive to amend constitution only if it hampered fulfilling his seven-point agenda.