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Saturday, August 18, 2007
Pakistan needs me: Musharraf* President says war on terrorism not being fought under foreign pressure
* Says no reservations about any judicial decisionsBy Qamar Jabbar
LAHORE: President General Pervez Musharraf said on Friday he had decided to contest the presidential election for another term because the country needs him.
Talking to federal and provincial ministers, senators, members of the national and Punjab Assembly, and district nazims from Gujranwala, Kasur, Okara, Sialkot, Hafizabad, Sheikhupura, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal and Lahore at Chief Minister’s Secretariat here, President Musharraf said that he wanted to complete the mega projects and reforms introduced by him in the next presidential term.
A Pakistan Muslim League member who attended the meeting told Daily Times that President Musharraf denied that Pakistan was fighting the war against terrorism under foreign pressure. The president told the public representatives that the government had decided to participate in the war against terrorism in Pakistan’s interest, he said.
The source said that MNA Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain told the president that the nation and the parliament backed his re-election as president in uniform. Federal Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan suggested that President Musharraf form a panel of senior lawyers to examine all constitutional and legal matters about his re-election from the present assemblies.
President Musharraf told the public representatives that he had decided to get himself re-elected after consulting the Constitution. He said the media and the opposition was creating confusion on the issue, but the assembly members and senators should not give attention to the “propaganda” and should focus on his election campaign.
To a question on his meeting with Pakistan People’s Party Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto, President Musharraf said that he met Benazir in the interest of the nation, but the PML legislators should ignore this issue and concentrate on the upcoming general elections.
On MNA Mehnaz Rafi’s question on the return of the Sharif family to Pakistan, President Musharraf assured the participants that the government possessed the deal documents signed by Nawaz Sharif and his family members and would present them in the Supreme Court at the next hearing. Rafi said that time had come for the government to disclose its deal with the Sharif family otherwise the PML would face problems in the general elections.
Agencies add: President Musharraf told the participants that he had no clash with the judiciary and had accepted all judicial decisions wholeheartedly, Online reported.
The president urged the PML members to remove intra-party conflicts before the elections. He added that the government was taking steps to ensure that the general elections were held in a transparent manner.
President Musharraf said that television programme ‘Aiwan-e-Sadr Say’ had been launched to bridge the information gap between the government and the people, APP reported.
The president said that the establishment of new industrial clusters like M-3, Industrial Estate and the Sundar Industrial Estate would set up thousands of industrial units and generate jobs. He said that the government’s policies had led to enormous progress in the telecom, health and education sectors.
President Musharraf praised the efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for the development of the province.
Addressing the participants, Elahi said that the local government system introduced by President Musharraf had stimulated democratic norms at the grassroots level. He said that it was the PML’s duty to re-elect President Musharraf for another five-year term because the president had improved Pakistan’s standing in international politics.
Later talking to a lawyers delegation led by SCBA Senior Vice President Khawaja Naveed, President Musharraf said that the government was taking all necessary measures for lawyers’ welfare.
Courtesy DailyTimes.com.pk
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