February 07, 2007	Wednesday	Muharram 18, 1428

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LAHORE, Feb 6: The ruling coalition effusively praised President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday for his hyphenated visits to a number of Islamic countries for the solution to the Middle East problem, and said the initiative reflected that the general was fully aware of the gravity of the situation facing the Ummah and the region.

The president’s efforts were lauded at a meeting of the coalition’s parliamentary party held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.

A parliamentary party meeting is normally called before the start of an assembly session to work out strategy to deal with the issues to be taken up by the house or situations likely to be created by the opposition parties.

The Tuesday’s meeting was as unexpected as the president’s visits to more than half a dozen countries during which he exchanged views with the leaders of the host states.

Political observers say the resolution was an attempt by the chief minister to win the president’s support to reach the higher rungs of the political ladder, an invisible race for which is already going on between the contenders. His reiterations that the president will be elected in uniform for another ‘10 terms’ is also seen in the same context.

Law Minister Raja Basharat moved the resolution, adopted unanimously by the participants.

The resolution said the president had played an historic role for the unity of the Islamic countries and his initiative mirrored his courage and leadership qualities.

The visits, the resolution said, established that in the contemporary world President Musharraf was the only leader who understood the problems and was in a position to solve them. The resolution said the visits had also provided Pakistan with an opportunity to play a proactive role and lead the way.

The chief minister also took exception to the police failure to control crime despite more than three-fold increase in their budget and substantial raise in the salaries of all officials. He warned that the DSPs and SHOs found involved in corruption would be taken to task. He indicated that services of such officials could be terminated.

He said transferring corrupt or inefficient officials from one place to the other would not help improve the situation as such people would not mend their ways even at their new stations. The right way to deal with such people was to remove them from service, said an angry chief minister, directing the IGP to keep a watchful eye on such elements.

The DPOs were directed to hold monthly meetings to review the law and order situation in their districts.

Pervaiz Elahi said he would give the province an efficient and corruption-free administration.

According to one participant, this was the sternest ever warning by the chief minister to the police whose failures provide the opposition and people at large with an opportunity to criticise the government.

The chief minister said he had raised the police budget from Rs6 billion to Rs21 billion and increased the salaries of the police people from top to bottom in the hope that they would deal with the criminals with an iron hand. However, he said, the police had failed to come up to people’s expectations.

He said the present situation could not be allowed to continue any more and directed the police to cooperate with the elected representatives, especially when they took to them matters concerning their constituents.

The chief minister ruled out cooperation between the PML and the PPP, saying the two were ideological rivals. “We can’t join hands with them. They will be our opponents in the elections”.

He directed the ruling party lawmakers to enhance their coordination with the people of their constituencies and help them get their ID cards or registered as voters. —Ashraf Mumtaz