December 09, 2006	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 17, 1427

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Quetta, Dec 8: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Durrani has said that General Pervez Musharraf is constitutional president of the country and he will contest the next presidential election.

"Seeking support of the people as a presidential candidate is neither unconstitutional nor illegal," he said at a press conference here on Friday.

Responding to a question, he said that the protection of women bill had been passed by parliament and enforced in the country as law and no further amendment could be made into it.

He said that the people of Balochistan had rejected the politics of threats because they wanted peace and speedy development of the province.

He said that participation of large numbers of people, including women, in the public meeting of the president had proved that they supported his agenda of development. The march of development launched in Balochistan, he said, had been “converted in a movement of peace and prosperity with the support of the people."

He thanked the people of Balochistan, on behalf of the federal government, for supporting the president’s agenda of prosperity and development of the province and the country.

He said that President Musharraf visited various areas in Quetta on Thursday evening without any protocol and he saw that the city was peaceful and decorated with welcome banners and his photographs.

He urged the media not to highlight ‘negative statements’ against the country because such reports encouraged anti-state forces. However, he said, the media should expose activities aimed at harming the interests of Pakistan so that action could be taken in time to ensure national security.