August 06, 2007	Monday	Rajab 21, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: The judiciary, like the legislative and the executive, has a very significant role to play to ensure justice and give confidence to the people for a progressive and peaceful Pakistan, says Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

He was talking to the head of PML’s legal wing, Justice (retd) Mohammad Azam, who called on him at the Prime Minister’s House here on Sunday.

Mr Aziz said that the government had always respected judiciary’s verdicts and always supported legal reforms to deliver quick and cheap justice to people.

Justice (retd) Azam informed the prime minister about his efforts to organise PML’s legal wing and to play a constructive role in creating a healthy environment for the legal profession.

The prime minister assured that the government would fully support all such initiatives and said that all stakeholders should work together to realise the country’s true potential, promote development and ensure peace and security.

Meanwhile, talking to Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqaam here, Mr Aziz said that the PML and its allied parties were confident of winning people’s mandate in the upcoming elections.

The prime minister said that party tickets would be awarded “purely on the basis of merit” and after consultation within the party and with its coalition partners.

The prime minister said that the current international and national environments demanded continuity in the system to ensure stability and national solidarity. In this context, he said, PML and its allied parties would make all out efforts to re-elect the president in uniform from the incumbent assemblies.

The prime minister said that the PML believed that dialogue with other political parties would help in evolving a code of conduct for holding free, fair and transparent elections.

The PML and its allies, he said, would contest the elections on the basis of their performance and would not enter into any deal with any political party.

Highlighting the country’s economic progress, the prime minister called for early completion of ongoing projects and said that the quantum of development projects reflected the government’s performance.

Amir Muqaam thanked the prime minister for his support towards development activities, especially in the NWFP and said that the pace of infrastructure expansion in the country was unprecedented, adding that the ruling PML and its allied parties were still committed to serve the people under the present leadership.