LAHORE, Nov 7: Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said the opposition has no justification for rejecting the holding of two offices by President Gen Pervez Musharraf after their validation by parliament.
Speaking at a grand Iftar reception hosted in his honour by District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood at the Model Town Central Park here on Sunday, the chief minister averred that those clamouring about launching a movement against the holding of the two offices by the president were the members of parliament like the leader of opposition, Maualana Fazlur Rehman, and parliament had allowed him to continue wearing his army uniform.
The chief minister said the MMA was trying to hoodwink people by threatening to launch a movement against the issue as the opposition party. The alliance, he said, was not the opposition party because it was not only running the NWFP government, but also sharing power in Balochistan.
He said President Musharraf had strengthened the democratic system despite wearing the uniform. He had ensured conduct of the general elections within the timeframe he had promised and transferred power to the democratically-elected representatives whereas late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto did not allow late Maualana Mufti Mahmood to run his government in the NWFP for more than six months. He said the incumbent assemblies would complete their five-year tenure.
Pervaiz Elahi said the provincial government was pursuing a balanced development policy. It was implementing short-term, medium-term and long-term plans for the welfare of the people in all parts of the province.
The government, he said, was not only attending to the development of the central areas of Lahore but had started uplift schemes in its suburbs as well. A number of projects had been started to restore the grandeur of the areas of historical importance in the Walled City.
The chief minister also announced Rs70 million for the restoration of the Green Town roads and the reconstruction of the Singhpura-Kot Khwaja Saeed Road.
Later talking to journalists, he affirmed that strict action would be taken against the occupants of the state land in Harbanspura, who had resisted the attempt of the government officials to dislodge them the other day.
He said the government could not allow any one to resort to hooliganism to prevent any of its employee from performing his official duties. The government would deal with such elements with an iron fist, he iterated.
The government would give ownership rights to the poor living in slums for solving their residential problems on a permanent basis.
The Pakistan Muslim League re-organization, according to the chief minister, was in full swing with due consideration to the wishes of the workers. He called upon the party workers to start making preparations for the local bodies' elections being held next year and prove that Lahore, like other cities, was the PML stronghold.