Court to decide NRO's fate, says Gilani

ISLAMABAD Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Tuesday said that government had decided to let the court settle the matter of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) without taking it up in the National Assembly.
Expressing his views on the imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007 by Gen. Musharraf in the National Assembly, Premier Gilani said that they had all respect for the Parliament and keeping in view the sense of the House, which prevailed on Monday, they had decided not to pursue NRO in the National Assembly and let the matter be decided by the court.
Once again reiterating to make the Parliament supreme, Gilani said that they would implement the Charter of Democracy (CoD) in its true spirit and he, in that connection, had already directed the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms to finish their job expeditiously.
We will do away with 17th Amendment and 58(2)b and will work for striking balance of power between the Presidency and the Parliament, he assured and added that they were sincere in putting CoD into practice.
We aim at strengthening the institutions and promoting an impression among the masses that the parliamentarians are with them to resolve their hardships, the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister said that he had also talked to Nawaz Sharif on Monday and assured him that government would not pursue NRO in the National Assembly if the House did not favour it. We have not made it a matter of ego and it has added to the dignity and prestige of the House, he added.
During the meeting on Monday night too PMs stance was endorsed by the party MPs and he also thanked the coalition partners for giving proper guidance to them on the issue.
He said that the country was facing a number of problems of serious nature and it was not right time to divide the House on non-issues. Gilani said, Country is confronted with number of issues and we the elected representatives shall have to address these issues. Nobody will come from outside, only we have to decide and I seek your guidance to move forward.
Talking about the media reports that Government was out to purchase votes of MNAs and Senators for Rs. 20 million each to get NRO passed from the Parliament, he said everybody had seen that political leadership was mature enough to discourage the horse-trading. While referring to the unopposed elections of Senators, he said those polls were an ample proof that horse-trading was no more in vogue.
Referring to the problems like sugar shortage, paddy crop purchase and loadshedding, Premier Gilani said that a special cabinet meeting would take decisions on these issues. He said the Government was planning to launch an austerity drive and all the chief ministers were invited to a special cabinet meeting to formulate a strategy in this regard.
Recalling the events emerging out of emergency, the Prime Minister mentioned the stopping of Benazir Bhuttos plane at Dubai airport, her long march call and her house arrest, his own arrest, confinement and framing of cases.
But, we were determined. We summoned four sessions of CEC in one week and nobody could deter us from fighting for the cause of judiciary, media and our people, he added.
He congratulated the nation on restoration of democracy and said it was fruit of sacrifices of political leaders and workers.
He termed the democracy as precious gift and a valuable asset, which required protection and asked the political forces and public at large to come forward and join hands with them in achieving this objective.