Pakistan will not accept conditional aid: Gilani

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Prime minister says parliament to decide fate of Swat deal
* Says assassination of Baloch leaders extremely condemnable
* No PML-N pressure to change Punjab governor

MULTAN: Pakistan will not accept any US aid that comes with conditions that go against the country’s interests, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday.

Pakistan is a sovereign country and will not accept conditions that are against its interests and stature, he added. Talking to media at the State Bank of Pakistan Multan auditorium after chairing a ceremony to mark the launch of the South Punjab Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said Pakistan wants friendly relations with all its neighbouring countries, whether it is India, Afghanistan or Iran. He also ordered the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan to provide 100 percent subsidy to female entrepreneurs.

Parliament to decide: To questions on the Swat peace agreement, he said President Asif Ali Zardari had not yet approved the Nizam-e-Adl, and it would be placed before parliament for a final decision. He said parliament is the appropriate forum to discuss the matter.

Gilani said he would soon convene a Chief Ministers’ Conference to devise a strategy with regard to the wheat procurement campaign, which would ensure that it benefited the growers and not the middlemen.

Condemnable act: He said the assassination of three Baloch leaders was an extremely condemnable act. “Let us wait for the judicial commission’s report in this regard,” he added.

To questioning, he said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif was engaging in positive politics. He said there was no PML-N pressure to change the governor of Punjab. On whether the PML-N would join the government at the centre, the PM said that he would soon meet Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to present the PPP’s point of view. He added that the PML-N leadership would then put up the matter before its party for a final decision. app

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg1_1