PPP core committee takes up post-Senate poll scenario

A meeting of some federal ministers and senior leadership of Pakistan Peoples Party decided to employ distinct political advantage of the party in the service of democracy and welfare of the people in a sustained and systematic manner.Federal ministers and senior leadership met at Aiwan-e-Sadr Monday with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in chair.Senator Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar, Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Senator Dr. A. Rehman Malik, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Makhdoom Shahab-ud-Din, Syed Naveed Qamar, Senator Dr. Babar Awan, Senator Jahangir Badar, Senator Faisal Raza Abidi, Senator Sardar Ali Khan, Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Raja Parvez Ashraf, Fouzia Wahab, Rukhsana Bangash and Fouzia Habib were present in the meeting.Briefing about the meeting Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that political situation with particular reference to the post-Senate elections situation was discussed during the meeting.The participants felicitated the Party’s Co-Chairman President Asif Ali Zardari and Party leadership that PPP had emerged as the single largest party in the Senate. They also noted that the Government of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had achieved unique distinction of holding two consecutive Senate elections during its tenure despite the hurdles created by the detractors.The President advised that the Party should set up a committee on how best to proceed with it.The forthcoming address of the President to the Parliament was also discussed during the meeting. This would be the fifth address in a row of the President to the Parliament.The meeting called upon the Government that maximum possible relief should be provided to the common man in the forthcoming budget.Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Water and Power, briefed the meeting about energy and power situation in the country. The meeting said that loadshedding and power shortages were serious issues that impacted the people and called for stepping up efforts for overcoming the energy crisis.Senator Dr. A. Rehman Malik, Federal Minister for Interior, gave a briefing on the overall law and order situation including the situation in Balochistan and the Kohistan bus-firing incident.Spokesperson said that the President also informed that he would be meeting the heads of allies parties later this evening to discuss post-Senate elections situation. The meeting also dilated upon the post-Senate election issues that were to be taken up with the heads of ally parties Monday night, Farhatullah Babar said.The meeting said that policy of reconciliation has yielded political dividends and strengthened political forces in the country. The meeting decided that in order to further strengthen political forces in the country, the Party would continue to pursue policy of reconciliation.