Jamali rules out in-house change: Opposition’s role criticized
By Aziz Malik
HYDERABAD, Sept 14: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has said there is no likelihood of an in-house change, stressing he is not aware of such a move.
He was talking to journalists at the Circuit House here on Sunday.
In reply to a question about PPP’s participation in his scheduled meeting with heads of Opposition parties on Tuesday, Mr Jamali said People’s Party Parliamentarians had not been invited to the meeting as it had declined to attend previous meetings.
Mr Jamali said initially he had gone from door-to-door to invite all parties to hold negotiations on all controversial issues but the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-N had refused to attend any meeting.
Thereafter, the government held several meetings with the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal and that was the reason that only MMA leaders were invited to the meeting scheduled for Sept 16, he added.
About the Legal Framework Order, the prime minister said everyone had his own opinion on the issue. However, if the LFO was repealed, everything done under the LFO would have to be undone.
He said the president would leave the post of the Chief of the Army Staff when he thought that the time was appropriate.
The prime minister reiterated that construction of reservoirs was necessary to meet water requirements of the country. He said if reservoirs had been constructed earlier, the rainwater could have been saved. He said construction of dams had become a must. He said water and Kalabagh dam issues had been lingering on for years.
Answering a question about the delay in the issuance of a notification regarding appointment of ANG Abbasi as the head of the technical committee on the water issue, Mr Jamali said the notification would be issued in due course of time.
He said that a parliamentary technical committee, comprising Senate and National Assembly members, would also be appointed by parliament to submit its recommendations on the water issue.
He said in 1985 when he was the water and power minister, he had tried to develop a consensus on the Kalabagh dam among the provinces but the then prime minister, the late Mohammad Khan Junejo, had disagreed with the proposal after which he had resigned as the minister.
He said he did not understand why the PPP was now opposing the construction of the Kalabagh dam when it had allocated funds for the project during its government.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that the Sindh Assembly had rejected the Kalabagh dam, the prime minister replied that it was not the opinion of all the provinces.
Sindh alone was not Pakistan, he said, but added Sindh, like Balochistan, was also his home and if Sindh got water, Balochistan would also be benefited.
He said the provinces had equal rights and smaller provinces must be taken into confidence before initiating any project.
Answering a question about the plight of Pakistanis living in the United States, Mr Jamali said the foreign minister had talked to US authorities after which the pressure on the Pakistani people had been reduced. He denied that Pakistan had arrested or handed over anyone to the US.
On the Kashmir issue, the prime minister said Pakistan was ready to hold talks with India on all the issues, including Kashmir, anytime and at any place.
Criticizing the opposition, he said by raising unnecessary hue and cry it was creating confusion and hurdles in the way of providing relief to the people and resolving their problems.
Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar and provincial minister for Auqaf, Zakat and Ushr and religious/minorities affairs Dr Irfan Gul Magsi were also present on the occasion.
