ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari will be paying rich tributes and showering immense praise on Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani “for his political wisdom in handling various challenges with courage and perseverance,” according to an unofficial preview of his joint session speech to parliament on Saturday.
“Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani deserves our unqualified appreciation for his political wisdom in handling various challenges with courage and perseverance,” are the exact words Zardari plans to use for the PM who has openly defied and insulted the Supreme Court and the higher judiciary repeatedly in the last 48 hours.Besides this praise, the president will also be making many other claims of success in his over 3,000 words address to the joint session.
No official of the presidency or the spokesman of Mr Zardari, Farhatullah Babar, were available on Saturday to confirm the contents of the speech, which were leaked to The News by a credible source in the president’s camp.
Starting with, “I feel honored to address the Joint Sitting of the Parliament. This is the first time in our history that an elected President is addressing time,î and ìThe world can see that the march of democracy goes on, that our institutions are working, together we are creating history,î he goes on to say that: ìWhile a lot more needs to be done, a strong beginning has been made. We Pakistanis can be proud of our young democracy.”
At another place, he says: “I wish to compliment the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for his able leadership in the House.”Zardari is likely to announce that during the new Parliamentary Year, Pakistan will see free and fair elections.
“Let us reflect on the journey we started together in 2008. Four years back, when the people of Pakistan trusted us with the responsibility to govern the country we inherited:
— A country at war;
— A divided nation;
— The threat of terrorism and militancy;
— A fragile and weakened Federation;
— Unclear roles and mandates of different institutions of the state;
— An altered Constitution in violation of the 1973 Constitution;
— Disillusion in the smaller provinces and vulnerable groups;
— Energy shortages due to past neglect of the sector; and,
— A serious economic and balance of payments crisis.
To add to the problems, we have also had the Great floods of 2010, the extraordinary rains of 2011 and a sharp increase in the price of imported oil.
ìWe have been dealing with these enormous challenges. We have tried to meet the aspirations of our people. We have tried to transform our country. We have pursued the politics of reconciliation and harmony. We have worked hard to generate consensus. We have tried to reach out. We have taken everyone along. And we have formed coalition governments to deepen democracy.î
No matter what the economic condition of the country where debt is touching a whopping Rs12 trillion, all is well for President Asif Ali Zardari, if the prepared speech is any indicator.
The speech does not talk of unemployment, debt burden, heavy power outages, in fact it talks of mega projects which we have been hearing since the last four years, and there has been no mention of stagflation economy. The impacts of inflation and the atrocities of the common man have also not been discussed in the presidentís speech, as it was leaked on Saturday. Some of these points may be added later, if so.
While the prime minister just 24 hours ago insulted the supreme judiciary, the president is going to claim that ìthe rule of law has been establishedî in the country. ìThe supremacy of the Parliament has been assured. As President, I surrendered my powers. And today, the prime minister, the chief executive, enjoys full authority as required by law.î
He calls it a ìshining moment for our parliament. History will remember this achievement.î Making other claims, he mentions: ìWe moved with speed and determination to strengthen the federation by redressing the imbalance between the powers of the centre and the provinces. We abolished the Concurrent List. We transferred 18 ministries to the provinces. We enhanced provincial autonomy. We have made the Council of Common Interests fully functional. This great transformation was achieved with complete agreement of all the stakeholders.”
ìThis shows complete unity of our nation in adopting legislation to make our country strong and democracy more inclusive.
ìWe have moved further to make our democracy more transparent and ensure that the elections are fair and free. The 20th Amendment ensures the independence of the Election Commission and the selection of an impartial caretaker government through a process of consultation in parliament.
“This extraordinary legislation will guarantee credible elections, increase confidence in democracy and enhance the image of our country in the world.”
Zardari claims that the government had taken special measures to develop Balochistan, end its sense of deprivation and bring it at par with other provinces. “11,500 jobs have been financed in the province by the federal government. Rs120 billion for Gas Development Surcharge will be provided. This year the share of Balochistan in the new NFC has been more than doubled from Rs43 billion to Rs93 billion.”
On the economy, he promises that inspite of all the difficulties, the economy will grow by 4 percent in 2012; exports crossed a historic benchmark of 25 billion dollars last year; remittances were 11.2 billion dollars last year, and will double over the 2008 levels this year; our foreign exchange reserves reached their highest level ever at over 18 billion dollars at the end of June; inspite of global increase in the price of oil and food our rate of inflation has been coming down. We have worked hard to bring inflation from its peak of 25 percent in 2008 to 11 percent now.”
More claims: “During the last four years, the government spent 2,200 billion rupees on development programs. More than 200 projects have been completed. These include Chashma Nuclear Power 2, Mangla Raising, Mirani Dam, Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway and Islamabad-Muzaffarabad Expressway.
“New projects of national importance have been started. These include: Bhasha Dam Project, Neelum-Jhelum Hydro Power, Tarbela Extension, Chashma Nuclear Power 3 and 4 and rebuilding of KKH and Indus Highway. We will soon start construction of Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway on BOT basis.
ìWe gave cash transfer of 70 billion rupees to flood victims to rebuild their lives and prevent them from falling into poverty. To reduce the burden of common man, the government provided over 1,000 billion rupees in the power sector alone. To help the growers, 110 billion rupees subsidy was given for fertilisers. 137 billion rupees subsidy was provided for food items and 104 billion rupees subsidy provided for petroleum products during the last four years.î
On loadshedding, he says: ìI know that loadshedding is a major problem especially when the water levels are down. We are trying to get out of this situation. We are taking steps that the people should know about. The steps involve dealing with issues of governance in the public sector organisations, better regulation, reducing dependence on expensive imported oil and bringing on line more megawatts.
ìSince 2008, the present government has added another 3,300 megawatts. Our long term policy to generate electricity is to move towards the power generation based on indigenous resources. The prime minister has laid the foundation stone of Bhasha Dam project, which will produce more electricity than combined production of Tarbela and Mangla Dams.
ìOther hydel projects under construction will yield another 1,740 megawatts. Chinese companies have made BOT offer to generate 5,000 megawatts at Dassu and Munda.”
On the relations with the US, there is only one para: ìPakistan-United States relations are multi-dimensional and important. The 2011 was a challenging year. We seek to engage meaningfully with the US on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect. We are looking forward to your recommendations for re-engaging with the United States.î
Many other issues have also been touched in the speech, including thanking the opposition for doing their job.
