Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday refused to comment on former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's tirade against his government,saying he continued to be part of the ruling Pakistan People's Party and would again toe the party line. Qureshi refused to join Gilani's new Cabinet after he learnt that the PPP's top leadership had decided not to reallocate the foreign affairs portfolio to him. Over the past few days,Qureshi has repeatedly attacked the government's functioning and questioned its handling of the case of US official Raymond Davis,arrested in Lahore last month for gunning down two men. Gilani refused to comment when he was asked by reporters about Qureshi's remarks during an interaction on the sidelines of an official function at Bahawalpur in Punjab province this after. Replying to a question about Qureshi's future in the PPP,Gilani said: "He is in the party,he will remain in the party. He will not do anything,he will support the party." "When he meets the party co-chairman (President Asif Ali Zardari),he will toe the party policy line," the premier said. Gilani also said that as long as the foreign affairs portfolio is not allocated to someone,the "Prime Minister will be the Foreign Minister". Qureshi apparently upset the government's plans to provide diplomatic immunity to Davis when he told the media that he believed the American functionary is not entitled to "blanket immunity". Davis' detention has triggered a diplomatic row between Pakistan and the US and taken bilateral relations to a new low. Over the past two days,Qureshi criticised the government's functioning while addressing several gatherings in his constituency of Multan in Punjab province. "I have closely observed the internal affairs of the government and found that everything looks okay from the outside but factually,things are not up to the mark," Qureshi told a gathering yesterday. "The body looks fine from the outside and the clothes it is wearing look very nice. But the body is ill from the inside," he added. He said Pakistan is facing numerous challenges and only an honest leadership could resolve them.
