Presidential Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar quoted the President as saying here during telephonic address from Bilawal House to the Punjab PPP MPs who had gathered in the Governor House Lahore for the purpose.

He said that the President also advised the MPs to perform their duties as responsible and critical opposition but not allow themselves to be provoked into saying or doing anything that militated against the spirit of democracy.

President Zardari said that the Party has a long history of fighting against dictatorship and democracy had been restored in the

country after huge sacrifices by the people of Pakistan.

"The hard earned democracy must not be allowed to be weakened," the President said.

The President said that it had been a practice in the past to divide the political forces and parties and taking advantage from their mutual bickering democracy was undermined by undemocratic elements. The political forces must be cautious against the repetition of the past, he added.

President Zardari said that he was aware of the difficulties faced by the PPP Punjab MPs in respect of their development funds and project after their exit from the provincial government.

The President said that in consultation with the Prime Minister, he would constitute a committee of the Party MPs to look into their problems and suggest measures for the continuation of their development projects with the help of federal government, if needed.

He also recounted the achievements of the PPP government during the last three years and said that the record spoke of itself adding that the Party was proud of its performance.

Listing the achievements, the President said that restoration of the democratic Constitution, restoration of provincial rights and devolution of powers to provinces will go down in the history as some of the greatest achievements.

The PPP made these achievements even though it was not in simple majority, he said recalling the governments, in the past, with two-third majority in the Parliament could not achieve this.

He said that despite huge setback to economy due to fight against militancy and unprecedented floods last year tax collection and foreign remittances had greatly increased.

Talking about the devastation caused by floods, President Zardari said that more than 20 million people were badly affected and one-fifth of Pakistan's land was under water and the total loss to infrastructure, crops and houses was over ten billion dollars.

Despite these problems, the President said that the PPP government had provided relief to salaried persons, pensioners and the farmers on the one hand, and to the poor through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) on the other.

Farhatullah Babar said that the President also paid glowing tributes to Salman Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Khalid Ghurki and other martyrs of democracy.