ISLAMABAD Aug 21: Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Saturday spurned allegations of cross-border infiltration levelled by some Indian ministers.
Talking to newsmen at the Pakistan Muslim League secretariat, the premier said there was no truth in such allegations.
He said Pakistan was sincerely pursuing the composite dialogue as envisaged by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and strictly adhering to the understanding reached between the two countries about not issuing any statement which could cause bitterness and become an irritant in the process of normalization.
Asked if he would have any say in the selection of ministers, he said: "Certainly the new cabinet will be formed through consultations."
He denied reports that certain coalition partners were taking recourse to 'blackmail' in order to retain their portfolios in the new cabinet.
Replying to a question, he said: "We remember only one military operation in Balochistan which was carried out by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government. At present, there is no military operation going on there but action against a bunch of miscreants is certainly being taken."
Replying to another question, he said the party leadership would bring back the remains of national hero Chaudhry Rehmat Ali from the United Kingdom.
About the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal's plan to launch a mass mobilization campaign against price hike and unemployment, he said: "In democracy every party has the right to project its programme by whatever means." Asked about the Wana situation, Chaudhry Shujaat said: "I am in constant touch with the opposition and I held a meeting with MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed yesterday."
He said the government wanted to resolve the issue through political dialogue.
He said that evidently there was no reason for any irritant between him as the party president and prime minister-in-waiting Shaukat Aziz.
The prime minister earlier launched the party's website.
He said the UK government was willing to allow the shifting of the body of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, who gave the country its name.
"We had initiated efforts for getting the national hero's body exhumed two years back," he said and added that he had directed the Foreign Office to expedite the process.
He expressed the hope that the government would succeed in getting the body reburied in the country during the current year.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said the British government had said that some formalities needed to be completed before the exhumation of the body.
PML secretary-general senator Mushahid Hussain said that besides the centenary celebrations of the party, observance of anniversaries of various leaders of the Pakistan movement would be made a regular feature.
