A meeting was held on Friday night in the Presidency to take stock of the political situation in the country. The meeting jointly presided over by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani was attended by Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar.
Advisor on Interior Rehman Malik Minister for Labour and Manpower Syed Khurshid Shah, Advisor on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, Information Minister Ms Sherry Rehman, Political Secretary Ms Rukhsana Bangush, Minister of State for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ms Mahreen Anwar Raja, MNA Ms Fouzia Habib and Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar.
The meeting decided to continue efforts to defuse the present political tension through dialogue, reconciliation, respect for the Constitution and democratic principles and the commitments made in the Charter of Democracy.
The meeting resolved that the government will protect the lives and property of the citizens and maintain law and order at all cost but not do anything that was unconstitutional or abridged the basic rights- the cardinal principles for which the Pakistan Peoples Party has a long history to stand and fight for.
The meeting reiterated the offer to the political forces in the country to negotiate with the government on how best to implement the provisions of the Charter of Democracy in letter and in spirit and to restore political normalcy. It expressed the hope that the offer will be responded positively by the political forces in the country.
The meeting also decided that a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the PPP will be immediately convened on Monday March 16 to develop and fine tune an appropriate political response to an evolving political situation in the country.
The meeting in the Presidency continued till the small hours of Saturday morning. Earlier in a separate meeting, which was also attended by senior officers of civil administration and Punjab Police, Frontier and Islamabad reviewed the law and order situation and the security measures adopted. The law and order meeting was also jointly presided over by the President and Prime Minister.