Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said the government has decided not to impose any new tax on people in the FY12-13 budget. According to him, the government will provide relief to the masses through Benazir Income Support (BISP) Programme.
Talking to a select group of media persons here on Saturday at his residence, Gilani also said his economic team had been directed to devise a strategy for the creation of 100,000 new jobs in the next one year through Ministry of Information and Technology (MoIT).
Gilani said he had been holding meetings with his economic team for the preparation of next budget and directed to provide scholarships was the youth through Ministry of IT. The Prime Minister said his economic team was working on the next fiscal year budget and all the proposals would be placed before the Finance Committees of both the Houses for detailed deliberation as early as possible.
The Prime Minister said that rising oil prices in the international market were affecting all the countries and that Pakistan was no exception. According to him, Pakistan does not want to be dependent on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) despite challenges. Gilani identified power shortage as one of the major challenges and said most of the issues in relation to circular debt had been resolved and a Rs 50 billion shortfall on this account would also be bridged before the presentation of FY12-13 budget.
Another major issue being faced by the country, he said, was the problem of gas loadshedding. He said the government was not only working on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to resolve it, but it was also in negotiations with Qatar for an early materialisation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to help generate 2500mw of power with a view to reducing the existing demand-supply gap.
According to him, law and order situation is the third major challenge for the country. About Balochistan, he that the people of Balochistan were pro-federation and pro-Pakistan and that it was the responsibility of the government to address their grievances. He said the government was in consultation with all the stakeholders in the province and any decision for convening an All-Party Conference (APC) would be taken after completion of the consultative process. The Prime Minister said that Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package could not become effective in the absence of an improved law and order situation, and the government was striving by involving security agencies and army leadership to find out a solution to the problems.
About Afghanistan, he said the entire world had now agreed to Pakistan's stance that the only way to deal with war on terror was an initiation of a political dialogue and Pakistan, on the request of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, had appealed to all the stakeholder to support an Afghan-back and Afghan-led solution for Afghanistan.
Gilani said that Karzai had sought help from Pakistan for political reconciliation in Afghanistan. In reply to a question about relations with the US, Gilani said Pakistan wanted relationship with the US and all other countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect and any decision about future course of relations with the US would be determined in light of recommendations of Parliamentary Committee on National Security. He said the joint session of Parliament was not convened primarily because the government wanted to discuss the issue for the full ownership of the policy after the completion of Senate election process.
Replying to a question about the use of air route for Nato supplies, Gilani said he was not aware in what context the Defence Minister had made the statement. In reply to a question about the extension in service of DG ISI and Chief of Air Staff, Gilani said any would be taken at an appropriate time.
About contempt of court case against him, Gilani said that either he would become "Ghazi" or "Shaheed" and tried to dispel the impression of a bargain with opposition on the 20th Constitutional Amendment, saying that after the passage of the amendment no one would be able to challenge the fairness and transparency of election. Gilani said that all he had done was the validation of the lapsed funds to complete the on-going development projects of the members. According to him, it has nothing to do with the approval of the 20th Constitutional Amendment.
Gilani blamed the opposition for violating the Charter of Democracy (CoD) by fielding candidates on the seats vacated by the government candidates. Gilani said he was ready to talk to Nawaz Sharif, Chief of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) for implementation of the remaining 20 percent portion of the CoD.
To another question about grant of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, he said that the MFN was meant for non-discrimination of trade with India and the government was trying to strike a balance in trade with India. He said that China had also advised Pakistan to increase trade link with India, suggesting that only a strong economy could strengthen the sovereignty of Pakistan.
Gilani said that people should not be carried away by the religious parties and groups "who do not even have 3 percent votes in the country; and they have no seat in Parliament." He questioned why Pakistan cannot enhance trade links with India if China could have a $60 billion trade with India despite a border dispute.
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