Jamali’s address bypasses core issues: opposition

Staff Report

LAHORE: The opposition parties called Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s maiden speech to the nation as baseless, saying it avoided to comprehensively address the current issues of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and foreign policy on Iraq.

They also called the speech an eyewash because it reiterated the same policy as announced by President Musharraf at various platforms many times before.

People were expecting the PM would announce constructive policies to bring about revolutionary changes in the lives of common man but he not only disappointed people but also proved that he did not have the capability to hold the office of prime minister, said PML-N leaders while commenting on the address.

Punjab PML-N President Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa said the prime minister only pleased the generals who entrusted him power. He said the opposition parties, lawyers and other organizations were against the LFO and the government policies on Iraq and Kashmir, but Mr Jamali bypassed these issues only to prove that he was a representative of generals and not the general public.

Punjab PML-N secretary general Khawaja Saad Rafique said the prime minister defended the policies of the establishment and proved that he was a government servant not a public representative. Mr Jamali became a true soldier of Gen Musharraf by repeating the latter’s slogan of ‘First of all Pakistan’.

PML-N senior vice president Tehmina Daultana said it seemed that Mr Jamali was acting as President Musharraf’s mouthpiece.

Supreme Court Bar Association president Hamid Khan said the government had failed to maintain the supremacy of the constitution and rule of law. There was an atmosphere of insecurity and fear in the country, he added.

Lahore High Court Bar Association president Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari said the prime minister’s speech was full of ‘rosy promises’.

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