‘Taliban won’t be allowed to impose their agenda’

ISLAMABAD: The government will not allow the Taliban to impose their political and ideological agenda on the people through the use of force, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday.The president was talking to a delegation of parliamentarians, senators and ministers of the Pakistan People’s Party that met him at the Presidency.
The meeting was jointly chaired by the president and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, but Gilani left the meeting early, as he was due to leave for Davos, Switzerland, early on Tuesday morning (today).Zardari said the Taliban would not be allowed to challenge the writ of the government in Swat or any other part of the country.During the meeting, the PPP leaders informed the president about the non-cooperative attitude of ministers and the bureaucracy, complaining they were treated like members of the opposition.The PPP parliamentarians told President Zardari that the ministers did not even attend their phones, which further encouraged bureaucrats of various ministries to ignore them. The most vocal during the meeting were Amjad Dasti from Punjab and Nawab Wasan from Sindh.“Most the complaints were against Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.Legislators were also critical of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, saying he had ignored the problems of the people in their respective constituencies.
Rumours of a change in the government, mid-term elections and the lawyers’ long march also came under discussion in the meeting.The sources said the president rejected the rumours of the change in the government, saying the PPP government would complete its five-year term and no one should have any doubt about that. “The government will complete its term and no conspiracy against it will succeed,” the president said.
Long march: Zardari also asked the PPP leaders not to be afraid of the lawyers’ long march. “We will tackle this march as we did in the past. Let them exercise their democratic right,” the president was quoted as saying.Challenges: Zardari said the PPP government was not afraid of the challenges confronting the nation. “We are not afraid to lead ... we know the way.” The president said that the party was committed to its principles of democracy and would not deviate from its stance in any case.
Several PPP parliamentarians spoke on the occasion to express their views on the country’s current political situation and to highlight the problems of their constituencies.President Zardari said he had decided to hold such consultative dialogue with the party legislators every time parliament was in session. He said he valued such consultations, adding “trust and wisdom is not the monopoly of any individual”.Truth and wisdom, he said, emerged only as a result of discussion among a large number of people, in which each individual contributed with his/her ideas and proposals.