By NNN-APP
Multan : President Pervez Musharraf Saturday said the new governments in the Centre and Provinces must end politicking after coming into power and focus on taking the country forward on path of progress and prosperity.
“All the political parties must understand this, put politicking on the backburner, provide good governance and take the country forward for the betterment of the nation,” the President said at the inauguration of Multan’s television Centre.
“A country where there is only politicking for the next five years, cannot move forward,” he added.
He said the Election Commission of Pakistan, under its laid down procedure, was yet to send a summary through the caretaker Prime Minister to him, so that he may summon the session.
“As soon as I get it, the sessions of national and provincial assemblies will be summoned, without any delay,” he said, adding a stable government and peace were the essential requirements of the day.
The President said Pakistan’s economy was growing and strong, but regretted that there were elements who were trying to hoodwink the people.
He said the country’s foreign exchange reserves were touching an all time high of US 17 billion dollars, the exports were up to the US 18 billion dollar mark, remittances up to 5.5 billion dollar, foreign direct investment was US 8 billion dollars last year, while the revenues were touching US one trillion dollars.
“Hard work, honest and sincerity to the purpose have gone down to achieve this,” he said and added that these figures have been endorsed by the international institutions.
He said the country’s economy was facing threats from three directions; rising international prices of fuel, the three time increase in prices of cooking oil and the pressure on the price of wheat, that has gone up by 22 per cent in the United States of America.
Musharraf said there was now a gap between the fiscal deficit and the balance of payment, that need to be filled.
The President said it was now the responsibility of the new government to take the nation on path of progress and prosperity and cut down the expenses, while keeping in view the poorest of the poor.
He said the nation must also be wary of those who were alleging massive rigging in the polls. There were rumours of a special cell at the Governor House, set up to manipulate the results. But all these allegations proved wrong, he said.
The people must be aware of such elements who were attempting to destabilise the country and demoralise the nation, by causing confusion.
He appreciated the Election Commission, the law enforcement agencies and specially the people of Pakistan for making the process a success.