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Journalism of Courage
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has rejected reports of differences with ruling Pakistan People’s Party chief Asif Ali Zardari and said he will “rise and fall” with the President.
“Certainly yes,” Gilani replied when asked in an interview with a news channel whether he would stand by Zardari. He would “rise and fall” with the President,the Prime Minister said.
He said he did not believe there were any conspiracies being hatched against his government.
The people had reposed full confidence in the country’s leadership despite the graft cases filed against them by authorities under the previous military regime,he said.
Such cases against slain former premier Benazir Bhutto,her mother Nusrat Bhutto and Zardari were not new and existed even when the party contested the 2008 elections and came to power,he noted.
Asked if he,as Pakistan’s chief executive,would decide to re-open graft cases against Zardari in Swiss courts,Gilani said: “We will cross the bridge when it comes… Let the detailed judgement come (of the Supreme Court judgement scrapping a graft amnesty that benefited Zardari)”.
Commenting on the government’s stand on demands for the resignation of public office holders who were affected by the apex court’s ruling,Gilani said these persons were facing allegations rather than convictions.
“And if you start levelling allegations,then no one in Pakistan gets spared,” he said.
