ISLAMABAD - In his maiden speech at the national assembly as prime minister-elect on Friday, Raja Pervez Ashraf vowed to defend supremacy of parliament and ensure that no outer force exercises the power this elected institution.He was all praise for the disqualified Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for “strengthening democracy and supremacy of the parliament”.“Powers to all the institutions flows from the parliament. The parliament manifests aspirations of the people and we shall ensure that nobody exercises this right of the parliament and the people,” he said after the house elected him as prime minister.“Some undemocratic minds try to belittle democracy and the people of Pakistan. This is an irresponsible thinking that the country can be run against the aspirations of the people.“Raja, however, added that his party will continue making efforts for promoting harmony among the institutions. “We do not hold institutions responsible for the mistakes of the individuals. We shall not let the institutions confront,“ he said.“We do not desire the politics of confrontation. Our country cannot afford it. We, following the philosophy of reconciliation of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, invite the opposition for dialogue to resolve the problems,” he said and hoped a positive response from the opposition as he saw it the only way to the progress of the country.He asked all the political forces, opposition included, to join hands for steering the country out of the prevailing crises; strengthening of the parliament and other democratic institutions; and evolving a mechanism to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.“We are at a critical juncture of history that entrusts on political forces to manifest sagacity, unity and collaboration to take forward the democratic process and ensure free, fair and transparent elections for the continuity of democracy.“The newly-elected PM thanked party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Co-Chairman and President Asif Ali Zardari and the coalition partners for reposing confidence in him. “I will sincerely resolve the masses problems and seek guidance from President Asif Ali Zardari to play a role in resolving national and international issues,” he said while expressing his intention to remain faithful like his predecessor to the party boss.Pledging to work in light of the guidelines given by Quaid-e-Azam, Qauid-e-Awan and Benazir Bhutto, Raja assured the nation he would serve them to best of his abilities. Recounting the sacrifices of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, he vowed to tread the path of his leaders and make every effort to strengthen the democratic institutions and respect the will of the people.“The office I have been elected for is sacred and respectable for me and I will endeavour to come upto the expectations of my people, my party and the house... It is time to write a new history – a history which will manifest the aspirations of people and this should be our destination,“ he said.Pervez Ashraf said, “I am a human being. I can commit a mistake. But, I promise that the office presented to me is the chair of martyrs and I pledge to work to my full capacity and capability to promote good governance for strengthening the country and the welfare of our people.”Talking about the national challenges, the new PM said that religious extremism inflicted heavy loss to the country and the religion and “I appeal to those fighting against the state to surrender and join the mainstream for the progress of the country.”He also mentioned different other crises the PPP-led government faced during past four years but did not forget to mention the ‘exemplary legislation’ by the house, provincial autonomy, efforts to resolve Balochistan problems and giving Gilgit-Baltistan a new status. “But, still we face the challenges of poverty, unemployment, energy crisis and economic revival,” he added. “We can only meet these challenges with the cooperation of the parliament and collective wisdom,” he said.The prime minister-elect described development of agricultural and industrial sectors, resolution to the problems of Balochistan people, holding dialogue with Baloch youth and compensation of the injustice meted out to them as his key priorities.Speaking about the foreign policy, he said Pakistan desires peaceful relations with neighbouring Iran, Afghanistan and India and it wanted to resolve all outstanding issues including Kashmir through dialogue. “We believe in peaceful co-existence. We also attach great importance to our relations with time-tested friend China and the brotherly Arab countries.”Consolidating Pakistan’s relations with European Union and having relations with United States and other world nations on equal footing to promote peace and stability in our region and in the world would also be his priority, Pervez said, adding that peace in Afghanistan was imperative for peace in Pakistan.He said to meet the challenges and put in place a system based on good-governance, the country direly needed impartial and powerful accountability system. Therefore, I seek cooperation of the opposition parties to deliberate on pending Accountability Bill and bring it to the house to give country an effective accountability law.

Trending Discussions

Chinese PM arrives in Islamabad amid warm welcome