ON BOARD PM’S AIRCRAFT: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said he would not be coerced into leaving office through unconstitutional means and would exhaust all means to have a fair trial.

“I have no desire to stick to power, but I will take it to finality and exhaust all avenues,” Mr Gilani told a team of journalists accompanying him to the United Kingdom on a five-day visit.

He said the Constitution had explicitly spelt out ways to remove a prime minister and no one can force him out.

Mr Gilani was asked about the stance taken by him about non-implementation of the Supreme Court’s order and the subsequent conviction for contempt.

The prime minister said that all his decisions were in line with the Constitution.

He said he believed that under Article 248 (1), he enjoyed immunity and he only did what he thought was the right thing.

“I took all decisions to the best of my abilities and in line with rules and procedures, and in good faith,” he said. “I am proud that I fought for the Constitution of Pakistan.”

Mr Gilani said his coalition government enjoyed a two-thirds majority and its partners stood by it through thick and thin.

“Why should I fear those who are against the Constitution,” he said.

He said he had the right to appeal once the detailed judgement was announced, then the matter of his disqualification would go to the Speaker of the National Assembly and finally to the Chief Election Commissioner.

“But we must also see what happened to the decision taken by the Election Commission against Waheeda Shah, who was disqualified, but the Sindh High Court stayed the decision,” the prime minister said.

He dismissed the campaign launched against him by the PML-N, saying they were merely playing to the gallery.

“If they are genuinely interested that I move out of the way, they should resign from assemblies and join Imran Khan and others. There is no other way.”

He said if the PML-N and others joined hands, only then they might be able to have some impact.

Mr Gilani said he was hurt by the language used by PML-N leaders against him and said the PPP never reacted in the same way. He said even though Mr Sharif got a nine-year sentence and had to stay out of the country, this was never played up by the PPP.

He also recalled that when Mr Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister and was fined Rs1500 for a traffic violation on the Motorway, no one at that time termed him a convict.

He urged the PML-N to do only what was practically achievable and said their desire of acting as an opposition, while being in the government would not take them far. “They are trying to kill two birds with one stone.”

About the proposed long march against the government, Mr Gilani said that if one “federating unit launches a movement against another, it will be an act of treason”.

In reply to a question about Seraiki province, he said any measure to stop the demand could create a movement against the Punjab government. He claimed that the turnout was very poor in some of the recent anti-government marches.

He said for the time being reconciliation was the only way forward as the politics of long and short marches succeeded only against dictators and not against democratic governments.

Asked about options left for the opposition to oust him, Mr Gilani said all they could do was to either resign or to wait for the next general election.

The entire furore was meant to prevent the government from going ahead with the budget, which would be the fifth by the present government, a first in the country’s history, Mr Gilani observed.

Asked whether he saw any threat to his government from Rawalpindi, a reference to military intervention, Mr Gilani said there was now an atmosphere in the country that favoured democracy and the people, the media and the international community all stood for a democratic system.

About his letter to the Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for the appointment of a new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), the prime minister said he wanted to go ahead with the process as the government could call elections anytime and a caretaker setup had to be put in place before that.

ARRIVES IN LONDON: Mr Gilani arrived here on Tuesday on a five-day visit to participate in the First Pak-UK summit review of the Enhanced Strategic Dialogue and to work on an ambitious plan to raise the volume of bilateral trade to 2.5 billion pound sterling.

Mr Gilani will meet his British counterpart, David Cameron, besides having an in-depth interaction with members of the British cabinet, parliamentarians, prominent businessmen, investors and leading journalists.

The high-level delegation accompanying him includes Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Minister of Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Interior Minister A. Rehman Malik, Minister of State Raza Hayat Hiraj, Chairman of Board of Investment Saleem Mandviwala, lawmakers from PML-Q, MQM and PPP.

At the airport, the prime minister and his entourage were received by Pakistan’s High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hassan and other senior officials.

Mr Gilani will launch a Trade and Investment Roadmap to enhance trade to 2.5 billion pounds sterling by 2015, set by British Prime Minister David Cameron last year.

The first annual review meeting on Enhanced Strategic Dialogue will provide an opportunity for leaders of the two countries to take decisions for charting a way forward in five strands of cooperation.

The dialogue was formally launched during the official visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron to Pakistan in April 2011 and covers five areas of bilateral cooperation trade and business, finance and development assistance, education and health, culture and defence and security.

The United Kingdom is Pakistan’s second largest trading partner and largest development partner among EU countries.

Prime Minister David Cameron allocated 650 million pounds sterling for four million out-of-school children in Pakistan for receiving primary education.

He will also attend a function being arranged by British Pakistan Foundation, address a community gathering and lay the foundation-stone of the Consular Hall at the Pakistan High Commission.

A source at the Foreign Office termed Mr Gilani’s visit hectic, with meetings lined up with the Duke of York, a reception for UK lawmakers, launch of Conservative Friends of Pakistan group that would be attended by the British prime minister and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.—APP