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| PPP can accommodate all forces: president |
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Saturday, November 07, 2009
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the PPP, as the country’s largest political force, possesses the will and capacity to accommodate all political forces with divergent manifestoes on the same platform for strengthening democracy and democratic institutions.
He said this on Friday while talking to a 17-member delegation of the Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentarians, which, led by Asfandyar Wali Khan, met him in the Presidency. The meeting was part of the president’s initiative to hold meetings with the PPP’s coalition partners after the government’s retreat on the National Reconciliation Ordinance.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar told reporters that the president had said the experiment of coalition government was gaining strength, which was a very positive development for the growth of democracy.
The president said that if coalition partners disagreed on a certain issue, it did not mean
that they could not co-exist. He said it was encouraging that political forces had agreed to disagree among themselves and were mature enough not to rock the system.
The president said that the PPP would play its part in strengthening the federation. In this context, a package for empowering Balochistan had almost been finalised and the prime minister had briefed him on Friday in this regard.
Babar said that the president had appreciated the ANP’s role in the fight against militancy. “The fight against militancy, however, is a long and tough battle as we have to not only fight the extremists but also the extremist mindset. The adversary in this battle should not be underestimated,” he said.
The president said that when political forces fight among themselves, the situation is exploited against democracy. Therefore, he said, the political forces should be always alive to the situation and not let their mutual differences spill over beyond limits. “The PPP is determined to take all political forces on board to strengthen democracy,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan said that dialogue and discussion was the essence of democracy and thanked the president for inviting the ANP MPs for a dialogue.
The ANP appreciated the fact that the president had, for the first time, described “our province” as Pakhtukhawa both in his address to the United Nations and in his address to parliament, Asfandyar said.
A number of ANP MPs also spoke on the occasion and drew the president’s attention towards various issues, including the NFC award, Fata reforms, payment of net hydal profits and women rights.
The meeting was also attended by Qamar Zaman Kaira, Syed Naveed Qamar, Raza Rabbani, Senator Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, Fouzia Wahab, Rukhsana Bangash, Fouzia Habib, Sardar Ali Khan, Zahir Ali Shah, Rahimdad Khan, Mehreen Anwar Raja, Asma Alamgir and Farhatullah Babar.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
