KARACHI: Jamali hopes political process will continue
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 29: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has said that the government is holding talks with political parties with good intentions.
“We pray that the ongoing political process may continue in the country and the parliament complete its term. However, the rest is known to Allah,” he said.
Regarding the water controversy, the Prime Minister gave assurance that all the provinces would get their due share and there would be no injustice done to Sindh because “if Sindh suffers, its fallout will affect Balochistan”.
Prime Minister Jamali was talking to a group of journalists at the Kingri House after his meeting with Pir Pagara, Chief of the Pakistan Muslim League (F), on Tuesday.
Sindh Chief Minister Sardar Ali Muhammad Mahar, and the Prime Minister’s son, Mir Fareedullah Jamali, were also present on the occasion.
Replying to a question, Prime Minister Jamali said that two sessions had already been held with the opposition on the LFO issue and a committee had been formed consisting of five representatives from each side. He said the committee would submit its report by May 15.
About the law and order problem, he said the federal government was paying special attention to the issue.
“Only yesterday the interior minister presided over a high-level meeting in Islamabad on the subject. It was also attended by all the four chief ministers and the chief secretaries, besides other high officials,” the Prime Minster said and added that he himself was paying personal attention to the issue and the federal government had extended full cooperation to him in that regard.
About his meetings with Pir Pagara, he said he had come to seek his blessings.
“I have been paying visits to the Kingri House like my elders used to do. There was no other purpose except to meet him. I wanted to call on Pir Sahib at Pir Jo Goth but owing to bad weather I could not make it.
The Prime Minister said he had urged the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to initiate cooperation in the fields of sports, culture and economy.
He said he had asked his counterpart to “sit and talk on the issues.” He said the statements of Vajpayee in the parliament and in Kashmir were very encouraging and indicated that he wanted to initiate talks.
Talking to journalists after the departure of the Prime Minister, Pir Pagara advised the opposition parties not to create a confrontation by making the LFO and the President’s uniform an issue.
He said wisdom and political acumen demanded that political parties should have flexibility in their attitude and strengthen themselves by allowing the ongoing democratic process to continue.
“If they fail to change their attitude, the army will again take over the country, and politicians and political parties will disappear from the scene,” he warned.
The PML(F) chief opined that the great hue and cry was being riased over the LFO because this time “the number of elected Maulvis has increased”.
Replying to a question on the water issue, Pir Pagara said: All can get water when there are rains, so all the people ought to pray to Allah for rains”. He added that sometimes Punjab distributed less water amd sometimes it did more.
Regarding law and order, he said that in certain districts the law and order situation was not satisfactory.
To another question, Pir Pagara said that during his meeting with Prime Minister Jamali he had not discussed expansion of the Sindh cabinet.
KARACHI, April 29: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has said that the government is holding talks with political parties with good intentions.
