PM Gilani sees no threat to democracy
12 January, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said democracy would stay, as it is the destiny of Pakistan.
Talking to reporters at the PTV Centre, the PM said the Senate elections would be held in time "despite the game being played". "This game is being played just to stop the Senate elections. But I think the Senate election will be held in time, democracy will stay," he said.
"Democracy is the destiny of Pakistan. It has become its destiny and all institutions will be working under the civil government," Gilani added. He said, "We do not have a match with anybody. From day one, our point of view is, the trichotomy of power."
To a question, he said, the trichotomy of power "keeps a very careful balance between all the institutions... and that is why we have restored the original Constitution of 1973".
The PM said his military secretary arranged the interview with the Chinese news agency. "That would have been planned a long time ago, and they (new agency) would have given the questionnaire a long time ago."
"The impression given was that the interview was done when the army chief was in China... after the last question, when I went outside, my MS (military secretary) told me that he (the army chief) has landed in Pakistan. So that was not a coincidence," he explained.
To a question about the removal of defence secretary, the PM said he talked about this matter earlier as he did talk about Husain Haqqani that "I cannot condemn anybody unheard".
"We had done the inquiry and according to the inquiry reports, the minister got answer from him in writing and then we sent that reply to the Ministry of Law and Justice for their comments and after receiving the comments, we were left with no choice because he (defence secretary) did not follow the rules of business."
To a question whether the army chief and ISI chief acted unconstitutionally by giving a direct reply to the Supreme Court, PM Gilani said, "According to them (both the chiefs), they had given their written replies to the defence secretary. What is the procedure of rules of business?"
"I am not at the helm of the affairs for the first time. I have been a minister for several times. Under the rules of business, a summary has to be moved or the summary has to be signed by the minister. And no summary was signed by the defence minister," he said.
He said the replies were to be sent through the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Law and Justice, and from it to the attorney general of Pakistan.
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