http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\10\03\story_3-10-2009_pg1_1
Saturday, October 03, 2009 No place to keep surrendering Taliban: Gilani * 3,000 terrorists have already surrendered, another 2,000 likely to do so * Ministers' resignation will not resolve power crisis By Irfan Ghauri ISLAMABAD: Following the successful military operation in Swat, Malakand and their surrounding tribal areas, the government is now having trouble accommodating the thousands of Taliban who have surrendered to security forces, said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday. Addressing the Senate, he said 3,000 terrorists had surrendered to the government already and another 2,000 were expected to surrender in the coming weeks. However, he added, there was no room to house all these prisoners. Discussing law and order, he said the government had successfully brought the situation under control with the help of the nation and its political leadership. Similarly, the premier noted, the government had taken an initiative to revive the economy and had brought it back on track. He said the national economy had been buoyed by the government's stringent fiscal policy, adding the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at $14.7 billion today. No solution: Gilani said overcoming the power crisis was the government's priority and assured the nation there would be no load shedding next year. He said the power outages would subside when demand reduced after November, adding the new power projects would be operational by next year. He said the opposition's demand for the resignation of the Water and Power minister or any other cabinet member would not solve anything. "If the issue could be resolved through the resignation of any minister or even the prime minister, the government is prepared to do that," he added. The prime minister also informed the Senate that the problems surrounding the Thar coal project had been amicably resolved. He said a Thar Coal Energy Development Board had been set up by the federal government under the chairmanship of the Sindh chief minister to oversee the project. The Planning Commission has signed an agreement with a private party to establish a 3000MW power station in the Thar region, which would be completed within three years, he added. Gilani said it was unfortunate the 1.8 trillion tonnes of Thar coal - one of the largest reservoirs in the world - had not been properly exploited. He said the government would generate electricity and produce diesel oil from these coal reserves. Responding to a point of order, the premier informed the House that the foreign minister would brief the Senate on the Kerry-Lugar bill as soon as US President Barack Obama approved it. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
