Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said the Memogate issue should be over after the statement of former US national security advisor James Jones who in his affidavit to be filed in the Supreme Court has cast serious doubts on the veracity of Mansoor Ijaz's claims. During an interaction with journalists of print media here on Saturday, Gilani said that Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani spoke to President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday.
The Prime Minister said he received a phone call from him when he was having a meeting with Kayani. He said he told the President that he was in a meeting with General Kayani. The President then asked him to convey his Salam to the army chief. He said he handed the phone to the army chief and both spoke to each other for a while. However, he said he did not know about their conversation. According to him, the army and judiciary are pro-democracy and are against derailment of the democratic system.
Gilani insisted that Mansoor Ijaz was a liar. He said he himself asked the then Pakistan envoy to the US, Husain Haqqani to submit resignation in the interest of national security. He said that the response by the Chief of Army Staff and the DG ISI was routed through the proper channel of Defence Ministry and Attorney General of Pakistan.
He said that both Kayani and Pasha were part of the government and had filed their replies in the Supreme Court in response to notices through the Ministry of Defence and they would go along with the government if the decision of constitutional jurisdiction was given by the court in favour of the government.
Gilani said that this must not lead to a perception that Pakistan people's Party was not accepting the decisions of the court. According to him, the government is not running away from the Memogate probe. If this had been the case, the government would not have referred the case to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security to investigate the matter. The Prime Minister also reiterated that he as a chief executive of the country was responsible for all those working with him.
In reply to a question about his future vision, he said that law and order, global recession and its impact on the Pakistan economy as well as the impact of changing global environment in the form of floods for the second consecutive year were major challenges for the country.
He said the government had prepared a comprehensive plan on energy crisis and restructuring of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). He said that all the political parties would be taken on board in preparation of Afghan policy and new terms of engagement with the US.
"We should talk to the US and Isaf for new terms of engagement and that should be in black and white," he said, adding that Pakistan had conveyed to them that the people of Pakistan expected from their Prime Minister not to compromise on national sovereignty and there should be no other unilateral action such as May 2 Abbottabad operation.
Gilani said he had also made it clear to the US that for greater defence co-operation trust deficit had to be removed and confidence-building measures to be taken. Additionally, he said that he also asked the US to prepare a mechanism with Pakistan Army and Intelligence on drone operations and if they had any credible and actionable information they must pass on to Pakistan for action.
The Prime Minister said that general election would be held in 2013 under an independent election commission. Gilani also came hard on the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and termed it "an old wine in new bottle" and said that no change could be brought about by a party that lacked an ideology.
NAVEED BUTT from Islamabad adds: President's spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Business Recorder on Saturday that Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani inquired about the health of President Asif Ali Zardari during his (Kayani's) meeting with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday.
Babar said the President had called the Prime Minister while he was in a meeting with the Army Chief. The Army Chief asked the Prime Minister to convey his greetings to the President over his recovery, he said. The Prime Minister handed his cell phone over to the Army Chief, asking him to talk to the President himself. The Army Chief then had a telephonic conversation with the President and inquired about his health and well-being, he said.
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