Don't be afraid of sponsored demonstrations, Gilani tells MNAs

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday gave a morale booster to the elected members of the Parliament and advised them not to 'feel threatened' from any agencies' sponsored demonstration, saying they have support of the masses who had elected them as MPs.
"Be confident in your powers as people have posed confidence in you and elected to represent them in the Parliament. We cannot be threatened by sponsorship of the agencies," remarked PM Gilani in response to the concerns raised by Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan that agencies had came into action through meetings with some politicians and had started backing public rallies.
The PML-N leader had clearly stated that the recent sit-in against drone attacks in Peshawar by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) was sponsored by agencies as he lamented, "this house should have staged the sit-in instead of some test-tube leader who act on someone else's instructions."
While highlighting gravity of the situation, Nisar had stated that some senior members of his party were approached by the agencies and he was ready to share details of agencies' involvement in political activity. "If you have such evidence, then share it with us and I assure you that we will support you for larger interest of the country," he said. Though Gilani expressed readiness to face any such challenge, he did not deny the apprehension by negating in clear terms that agencies were not involved in any such move.
Gilani, who was provoked to address the issue by the leader of the opposition which he mentioned in his brief speech, said that we do not want army or agencies on the front seat. "The role of army shall be kept to the battleground otherwise authority (of house) will erode," he added.
In response to the repeatedly asked question by leader of the opposition regarding mandate of ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha's visit to the US, the Prime Minister referred to decades old multilateral relations with the USA and said it was not something new. The PM explained that such visits were of routine while informing the house that Defence and Foreign Secretaries were also scheduled to visit USA in coming days.
If civil government, Army and ISI are on the same page many issues of the country can be addressed, Gilani said as he referred to his recent visit to Afghanistan in which Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parves Kiyani and ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha had accompanied him.
While talking about the increase in petroleum products prices, agitated by the PML-N on several counts, the Prime Minister advised the opposition to put up the issue under rules of business and Petroleum Minister would answer all queries of the house.
If you have any proposal following which we can give subsidy on petroleum products as done by the Indian government, then share it with us and we are ready to follow that formula, the Prime Minister asked Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Earlier, Prime Minister Gilani while speaking on the floor of the House had assured the house that Petroleum Minister would take the house into confidence over increase in prices of petroleum products but it never happened.
Since Leader of the Opposition had hit hard at the government for it's would-be alliance with PML-Q, Gilani calmly replied that it had not damaged any principle adding, we had coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and even in Punjab with you (PML-N). "It is up to the leadership of political parties" to go for alliance with any party, he added. Gilani, however, apologised to the house over the absence of federal ministers during the question hour and said he had taken notice of the matter since his government does not take the house non-seriously.