President seeks vote for people who backed him: Parties urged to ensure peaceful polls
By Gulzar Baig
VEHARI, Dec 17: President Gen Pervez Musharraf urged people here on Monday to vote for candidates who had been with him in the past.
Addressing a meeting on the lawns of a local government college after inaugurating a gas project here, the president claimed that the continuity of official policies and projects depended on the re-election of people who had initiated them.
The audience mainly comprised PML-Q candidates, their supporters and government employees in the district.
In the nearly 40-minute speech, the president gave reasons for imposing the state of emergency and accused lawyers, journalists and political opponents of ‘misguiding’ the people.
“I have lifted the state of emergency before schedule,” he said.
“I appeal to all parties to ensure peace during the elections and accept the people’s verdict without resorting to a blame game,” he said, adding that successful candidates should respect their opponents and losers should accept their defeat gracefully.
“A boycott will not benefit anyone,” he claimed.
The president assured that the Jan 8 polls would be free, fair and transparent. “The elections will not be rigged and politicians should not pre-judge the entire exercise. I assure you that the elections will be completely free of any manipulation and
I ask the international community to send any number of observers to monitor the elections,” the president said, pledging that power would be transferred to whoever won the majority.
He claimed that after the lifting of emergency and restoration of the Constitution, all three tiers of the state had started functioning as usual.
He said that curbs on media were necessary to enforce a code of conduct. “I stand for independence of the media and hope everyone will perform his duties with a sense of responsibility.”
He said extremism and terrorism were hampering national development and sought support of the masses in confronting it.
The president also condemned the Kohat suicide blast. He said suicide attacks were un-Islamic and people should take on the ‘perverts’ who wanted to impose their brand of religious ideology on them.
President Musharraf said when he took over power, the development budget stood at Rs80 billion but now it had jumped to Rs520 billion. He said that Rs87 billion had been spent on developing southern Punjab during the last five years.
In the past, he said, only 1,000 villages had been receiving electricity but now 160,00 villages had power supply. He added that gas connections had gone up from 100,000 to 250,000 during his tenure. He claimed that the nation had not progressed in 50 years as much as it did during the past seven years.
He said the annual development plan had crossed the Rs500 billion mark and numerous mega projects were being executed in the country.
The president said a comprehensive plan was being implemented for developing infrastructure, including roads, railways, airports and seaports and providing basic amenities, including electricity, gas, clean drinking water and sewerage system across the country.
