November 11, 2002	Monday	Ramazan 5, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: The PML-Q vice-president and MNA-elect, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, has said Pakistan needs continuity of its policies for a 10 years period to ensure a steady growth in GDP and economic uplift of the downtrodden.

In an interview with Dawn, Mr Kasuri said, the country needed a stable government which could deliver on a strong foreign policy as well as improve the internal political environment.

Expressing his views on the military take over in October 1999, he said the civilian government turned out to be a worst autocratic regime and the opposition parties also demanded Nawaz Sharif’s dismissal.

Mr Kasuri, however, supported dialogue between political parties with majority seats in the assembly to recommend mechanism for a smooth transfer of power from the military to a civilian government.

HE SAID: “We should accept his (the President’s) position for the sake of giving the army a safe passage.”

He did not agree with the notion that the new prime minister would be a dummy in the hands of a military chief as president and said: “I believe he (the PM) will be representative of the elected parliament and enjoy all powers.”

HE SAID: “We should accept the statement of president on its face value whereby he has repeatedly assured that the future prime minister will enjoy all powers as head of the federation”.

About the talks between various parliamentary groups on formation of government at the centre, he said: “I am confident that the process of transfer of power will take place smoothly”.

The PML(Q), he said, was in a position to form a government with the help of its allies and splinter groups in the national assembly, but a weaker government would only lead to failure.

He, however, dismissed the idea of a government through horse trading or carving out forward blocks in other parties and said such practice in a political dispensation always prove counter productive.

The PML-Q leader also opposed formation of a single party government with four to five members majority and said thin majority never worked in a volatile political atmosphere.

Mr Kasuri expressed the hope that the next government would be able to hold parleys with IMF and other IFIs on evolving strategies for the concession in payment of national debts and draw up policies beneficial for the common man.

Replying to a question he said all factions of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) including Nawaz league would reunite and form a strong party.