ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that people have given them mandate for five years and it is premature to question about the performance of the Government after one and half years.
“If we fail to live up to people’s expectations in five years, we will not contest the next elections,” PM Gilani expressed these views while talking to media persons after attending a ceremony here at CDA headquarters on Monday.
The Prime Minister said, “Being representatives of the people, we are accountable to them and PPP will go to elections again on the basis of its performance and people, who are the better judge, re-elect it.”
He said the incumbent government was not responsible for electricity loadshedding and it was because of wrong policies of the previous regime, which did not adopt any policy to meet the growing requirements of energy. He said, “We have worked out short, medium and long-term strategies to overcome power crisis.” Under the short-term policy, several power projects are near completion and would be functional shortly to help bridge the gap between demand and supply, he added.
To a question, he said, “Don’t criticise us as the incumbent government is not responsible for the power, gas and sugar crises.” He said when sugar crisis occurred in the country, the Government fixed the price at Rs 45 per kilogram with the mutual consent of all provinces, however when interference was made in the decision of administration, the sugar rates surged up to Rs 70 per kilogram.
He added the Government would import one million tonnes sugar to overcome this crisis.
Gilani said the Government has been able to manage the issues of flour and sugar shortage amicably, as the former commodity was available in excessive quantity.
He said when the Government decided to import rental power plants, it was strongly criticised, adding some people donÂ’t want government to work well. He said the prevailing electricity shortfall was due to the closure of canals, which had reduced hydel power generation.
“We can’t give any time frame for solution of electricity, as it is a very grave matter. I have asked Raja Pervaiz Ashraf many times not to give dates in this regard as in politics, dates are not given,” the PM added.
For good governance, the Government has started to cut its spending, lessen borrowings and improve its monetary policies. He said Pakistan came into the folds of IMF as its economy had totally collapsed and foreign exchange reserves had fallen to 6 billion US dollars, which as on today stand at 15 billion US dollars. He added, “We went into the IMF fold as the economy was under pressure due to the global recession and the failed policies of the previous government.”
He said due to governmentÂ’s effective policies, the country received surplus crops of wheat and paddy rice. He said that the Government was spending Rs 2 billion for the storage of wheat crop.
When asked about the statement of MQM chief regarding setting up a judicial commission on the incident of blast in a Muharram procession in Karachi, the PM said, “I don’t want to interfere in provincial matters. Law and order is a provincial matter and let the provincial government decide it.”