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February 29, 2008 00:59 IST
Pakistan's new government will be formed with national consensus by getting support from all political parties, Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday. "We believe that all the difficulties the country is facing can be resolved with the support of all the political parties," Zardari told journalists after meeting Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. "We will give good news to the country's people soon," he said, without giving details. The Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which emerged the two largest groups in the February 18 polls, have announced that they will form the new government with the support of other parties like the Awami National Party and independent candidates. The PML-N has indicated that it will support the PPP-led government from outside. Zardari has been working to get the backing of all parties, including the Jamiat, for the government and his meeting with Rehman was part of these efforts. Zardari said the PPP and the Jamiat could work jointly as both had good relations in the past. A committee of the PPP also held talks with the leadership of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, on the formation of the government at the centre and in Sindh, he added. Rehman said Pakistan is facing several challenges and political parties should try not to create political differences. He suggested that all political forces initiate joint efforts to tackle challenges and to resolve all outstanding issues. The new government's policies should be aimed at strengthening democratic institutions and establishing the supremacy of the judiciary and law, he said. The top leaders of the PPP and Jamiat discussed the current political situation and cooperation between the two parties. Earlier, Zardari chaired a meeting of PPP candidates who lost the election in the North West Frontier Province and Balochistan, during which he said that it was incumbent on all political forces to join hands to strengthen democratic institutions as the establishment had been weakened. "This would ensure that dictatorship is never able to rear its head again", he said. The PPP wanted to change the system by "removing anomalies introduced in the constitution that had made the elected parliament subservient to the establishment", he added. Zardari said, "A weak judiciary had always been manipulated by the dictatorship and it was in the interest of the people and democracy that the judiciary is strengthened". The PPP will seek the support of other political forces to strengthen the judiciary, he said. "In this connection, the party had submitted a constitutional amendment bill in the Senate to make far-reaching changes in the mode of appointments of judges and for giving the judiciary financial and administrative independence that would make judges independent of pressures from the executive," Zardari said.
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