NRO judgement Asif consults aides before leaving Lahore

LAHORE - In the aftermath of Supreme Courts detailed judgement on NRO, President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday cancelled his scheduled visit to Pakpattan, and consulted his close aides at Governors House to chalk out future line of action vis-a-vis the apex court decision.
A spokesman of Governors House, however, said that Presidents visit to Pakpattan, where he was going to inaugurate a bridge over Sutlej River, and later address a public gathering, was cancelled due to bad weather.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badr and Presidents adviser Qayyum Soomro were among the persons Zardari consulted on Wednesday to come out of the imbroglio the government is currently in after the SC verdict on NRO.
Later, the President left for Islamabad to have more rounds of talks with legal experts on the issue. Before his departure at around 3 pm, President Zardari performed inaugural ceremony of a bridge to be constructed at Sutlej River that would connect Pakpattan with border tehsil of Minchanabad.
He also inaugurated a broadband project for southern Punjab at the Governors House.
President spent eight days in Punjab and inaugurated development projects besides addressing public meetings at Governors House including one at Faisalabad.
APP adds: President Zardari on Wednesday ordered the formation of 'Senior Citizens Wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Punjab to recognise the services of the founder members for the party.
'You people are witness to the democratic history written by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the generations to come and I salute your glorious sacrifices, he said while addressing the senior PPP workers from Punjab who had borne the brunt of late General Zias regime at Governors House.
The Senior Citizens Wing will have a separate body that would work independently besides other local and provincial organisations of the party. President Zardari said he had a vision that Pakistan emerge as one of the richest countries and economic powers of the region.
He urged the workers to work with unity for the realisation of the ideals of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto.
He said that 12 per cent shares had been dedicated in all State-owned enterprises for workers, adding OGDC, Pakistan Steel Mills and PIA belonged to their workers also. This historic milestone was a reflection of the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhuttos philosophy that every organisation was a legacy of labourers, he said.
He said that Benazir employees Stock Exchange Option Scheme (BESOS) was another step in the direction of empowering the masses.
Earlier, the senior party workers reposed their full confidence in the PPP Co-Chairman and eulogised his services for the country as well as the party.
They also shared their bitter experiences of oppressive regime of the dictator Ziaul Haq with the President and assured him of their fullest cooperation to defeat the conspirators as they had done in the days of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto.
President Asif Ali Zardari listened to their views very patiently.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Punjab Senior Minister Raja Riaz Ahmed, Punjab Finance Minister Tanveer Ashraf Kaira, Senator Jehangir Badr, MNA Mehreen Anwar Raja and PPP Punjab President Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan were also present on the occasion.