'Senate elections to be held in time'

FAISALABAD: Pakistan People's Party leader and former Federal Law Minister Dr Babar Awan on Sunday said Senate elections would be held in time and no Assembly would be dissolved before polls.

He was addressing a press conference at the residence of former Senior Minister Punjab Raja Riaz Ahmad here. Raja Riaz, former Health Minister Badr-ud-Din Chaudhary, Kamran Dar, Nadeem Sindhu, Chaudhary Muhammad Iqbal, former MPA Qaisar Ali and leaders of PPP Women Wing were also present.

He said that under a plan, Nawaz Sharif and his party were creating rumours in the media that the Punjab Assembly would be dissolved before the Senate elections, scheduled to be held in March next year.

He said it was a mere hoax and propaganda was being made by their loyalists to hoodwink people but they will not succeed in their nefarious designs, he added.

Babar Awan said the PML-N was staging sit-ins and threatening for a 'Billion March' against the government. But it was not realizing the fact that it has not billions of votes and how it can stage a 'Billion March' to achieve its designs.

He said the PML-N thought that the PPP would cease to exist after the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto but the PPP was still functional and playing its dynamic role for the betterment and welfare of the masses under the visionary leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.

Criticizing the PML-N, he said that Takhat-e-Lahore had created a number of problems in Punjab province. He said that about 50,000 dengue patients had been confirmed while tests of more than 900,000 patients were conducted so far.

He said that every day 5 to 10 persons were dying in Punjab and the Punjab government had failed to save people from dengue mosquitoes.

He said that huge funds were being embezzled by the rulers in Punjab under the pretext of spray and saving people from the wrath of the dengue. The whole drama is being staged for amassing public wealth and government financial resources, he added.

He said that PML-N leaders were busy in saving their vote bank instead of redressing the miseries of people.

Responding to a question, Babar Awan said that no Musharraf or Zia-ul-Haq would come to promote the business of the PML-N. It should leave all conspiracies and propaganda and concentrate on resolving genuine problems of the people, he added.

Awan said PPP persuaded Nawaz Sharif to contest elections but he was now hatching conspiracies against PPP instead of facing the people. The PML-N leadership has some turncoats to say that the Assembly should be dissolved before Senate election, Babar said, adding that the elections would be held in time and if someone tried to violate the Constitution, he would have to face legal action.

He said only PPP would resolve problems of the Punjab as PML-N failed to redress the grievances of people during its tenure.

He said according to the Constitution, there were clear-cut provisions and criteria for the creation of new provinces.

Under these provisions, the new governments were established in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, he said and added that during next elections, the people would use 'arrows' to finish dengue mosquitoes from the country especially from the Punjab.

Responding to another question, Awan said that no industry was being shifted abroad. Only those industrialists were going outside the country whose capital was in foreign banks especially in Middle East countries.

Investment in Pakistan is most secured than any other country, he mentioned.

He said the PPP government had inherited problems but it tried its best to address them on priority basis.

On other hand, the PML-N instead of helping the government in overcoming prevalent crisis has aggravated the situation. Protest rallies and sit-ins were staged against loadshedding under the supervision of government functionaries in Punjab where state properties worth billions of rupees were damaged by the protestors, he added.

Awan also said that Lahore High Court (LHC) was the right of Faisalabad people and Benches would be established in Faisalabad and Sargodha.

For the purpose, the PPP government will also allocate funds in the next budget, he added.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011