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Islamabad: Promising good news soon about the reinstatement of deposed judges, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has appealed to the people to support his government's efforts to pull the country out of crisis.
In his first address to the nation on Saturday since taking office about four months ago, Gilani explained the measures being taken to tackle energy shortage, food inflation and the threat posed by terrorism and extremism.
The address was delayed by three hours due to unexplained reasons and there was a brief interruption after he started speaking when he switched over to reading from the written text.
More time needed
Gilani urged the people to give time to the elected government to deliver and solve the problems it had inherited from the era of dictatorship in the country.
"We will soon give good news to the nation to restore the judges," the prime minister said, without giving a timeframe, as a national convention of lawyers held in Lahore set August 14 as deadline for the coalition government to implement its pledge.
He said the heads of the member parties of the coalition, which is led by the Pakistan Peoples Party, would meet in Islamabad on Wednesday to evolve a comprehensive strategy to curb militancy and face other challenges.
The prime minister made no reference to the demand of the major ally, the Pakistan Muslim League-N of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, for initiation of a move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf.
He said during the last eight years neither gravity of international challenges was realised nor any planning was made which altogether created multiple problems and plunged the country into crisis. Terming inflation the biggest challenge, he said the country was troubled by economic turmoil.
He rejected claims frequently made by Musharraf that abundance of automobiles and mobile phones were a yardstick to measure progress.
Consumer economy
Instead of setting up new industries, the previous government preferred imports and made Pakistan a consumer economy, he said, adding agriculture was completely ignored and the country was run on heavy borrowing and printing currency notes.
Gilani said the government would focus on increasing industrial and agricultural production to counter inflation and reduce financial deficits while steps would be taken to control hoarding and profiteering.
He appealed to the business community to keep their capital in the country and assured them protection.
He said that a new policy has been laid for import of agricultural machinery. Sizeable subsidy is being given on fertilisers and sales tax on this input has been abolished.
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