Bilour’s killing an attack on humanity says Gilani

The Express Tribune

Former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Sunday the assassination of senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister Bashir Bilour on Saturday was an attack on humanity. He said the deceased was a brave man and his martyrdom was a loss not only for the Awami National Party, but also the entire nation. Gilani was addressing a gathering after attending the chehlum of Awais Gardezi, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf former deputy district nazim in Bahawalpur. Gilani said that some 30,000 to 35,000 people had lost their lives to terrorism in Pakistan since the war against terrorism began. “The country is in one piece due to democracy. Without democracy, Pakistan will face tougher challenges.” He said Pakistan had lost much due to the fact that it was playing a front line role against terrorism. “It is time for political leaders to agree that extremists are Pakistan’s enemies. We need to end them.” Gilani said the successful military operation in Swat was a model for how to defeat the extremists. On energy crisis Gilani hoped that power load shedding would end by 2014. “If Kalabagh Dam is not approved by the Counsel of Common Interest, no financial institution, including the World Bank, will sponsor the project …agreement of all provinces is a must.” Referring to his tenure as the premier, he said he had gotten approval for Basha Dam from all the chief ministers. This was the reason, he added, that the World Bank as well as other donors, were willing to finance it. He said there had always been some amount of cheating and bogus votes. However, given an independent Election Commission now, Gilani added, he was certain that no one could defeat the PPP in the upcoming elections. To a question, he said there was no question of postponing the elections. A 20th Amendment had been passed in this regard, he added. On new provinces Gilani denied that he was conspiring against the creation of the Bahawalpur province. He also said that a commission was made for the creation of a south Punjab province and Bahawalpur province. Several projects initiated by the PPP government were in their completion phase and the PPP would not allow any political or social party to be a part of any conspiracy that could halt development in the area. He told the gathering that motorways from Faisalabad to Multan and Karachi to Hyderabad had been approved and that these projects will begin soon. The motorway will also pass through Bahawalpur.