FAISALABAD, June 12: Governor Salman Taseer said on Thursday judges would be restored through parliament and protests by lawyers had already proved a dud at initial stages.

He said Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto would start his maiden public contact campaign from Punjab in August. He said the supremacy of parliament was the spirit of democracy and the PPP intended to see a powerful parliament.

Mr Taseer said this at gatherings in Samundri and Gojra on Thursday. He said judges would not be restored through any march, but through parliament. PPP candidate Qasim Zia is contesting by-poll from PP-59, Samundri. The gathering was attended by the members of the assemblies and workers.

About lawyers-led long march to press the government for the restoration of judges, he said there was no “long” march in the country and “only short precessions were on”. He called the march a failure, saying that he himself had seen the long march of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in Lahore wherein only vehicles with flags were present and not the public.

He offered manpower to lawyers for their long march, saying the PPP was the master of road marches and its participation in the march could ensure its success. He said the party had rendered “countless” sacrifices for democracy and “no one can teach us the lesson of democracy”. The PPP had been trying to maintain democracy and it would not allow anyone to derail the process by any means, he said.

The governor said the opposition should be treated gently in the province. He without quoting any name or party, said people were enjoying treasury as well as staging demonstrations and delivering speeches against the government. He also inaugurated a gas supply project in Chak 45-GB and its allied areas in Samundri.

Senior Punjab Minister Raja Riaz Ahmed, provincial minister Neelam Jabbar, former federal minister Khalid Kharral and others were also there.

TOBA TEK SINGH: Mr Taseer said Bilawal would begin his maiden mass contact campaign in Punjab from August.

Addressing party workers at the residence of Punjab Revenue Minister Haji Muhammad Ishaq, he said even though he was not in assembly, Bilawal was a fulltime leader of the party workers.

He said defence budget had been frozen and rich people taxed in the budget to help the poor. He said he had become a governor after bearing torture in Lahore Fort for the party.

He told reporters he had no problems with the PML-N as both PPP and PML-N were coalition partners and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would try for the development of the province.