Victory for democracy

30 Aug, 2006

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday rejected as baseless 500-page draft allegations the opposition levelled against him to support the no-trust motion and termed its failure as a victory for the democracy and truth.
"Today democracy and truth have won. It will help the democratic system to flourish (in the country) and Pakistan to grow," Shaukat Aziz said immediately after the National Assembly voted out no-trust motion against him.
The Prime Minister extended his word of thanks to treasury members for backing him.
Earlier, before the voting on the motion, the Prime Minister termed it a frustrated move by the champions of negative politics, who had a stained past.
"This move belongs to those who have stained past...the representatives of negative politics are sitting here," Shaukat Aziz hit back at the opposition after patiently listening to their daylong furious speeches.
He then counted their 'past sins" one by one without naming them. "They are those who opposed the creation of Pakistan, those who introduced SRO culture and those who looted Pakistan and bought palaces outside the country," the Prime Minister alleged.
"We have rescued Pakistan from the brink of default...and we will never let the country trap in this marsh again," he himself praised the policies of his government.
The spirited Prime Minister, however, was careful enough to have a high regard for President General Pervez Musharraf in the course of praising his own policies. "True democracy has come to Pakistan due to him (Musharraf). He is our leader and highly respectable," he said.
The Prime Minister said there was nothing new in the opposition's charge-sheet. "I have gone through the entire draft and there was nothing significant (in it)," charged Shaukat Aziz told the lower house.
The Prime Minister touched upon major allegations in an attempt to defend himself and his government. However, he either did not come out with anything substantial.
First, he chose to reply charges of 'omissions and commissions' in the scraped deal of Pakistan Steels Mills (PSM) sell-off. For him, there was nothing wrong with the share price evaluation of the country's premier industrial entity. Only there were some procedural lapses that caused the reversal of the deal, he said.
The anomalies were being looked into and efforts underway to remove them in light of the Supreme Court verdict, the Prime Minister assured the house.
He also defended his government's response to the stock, sugar and cement crisis.

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