Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. - File Photo

FAISALABAB: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday vowed to stand by the nation and his party just two days before he was to appear in the Supreme Court in a contempt of court case.

“The Pakistan People’s Party will continue the politics of reconciliation,” he told a public meeting in Jaranwala, 35km from here.

The meeting was attended by a large number of people, including PPP legislators.

The prime minister said the PPP was a party whose leaders had refused to “ditch the masses in the face of hardships”.

Recalling the roles played by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, Mr Gilani spoke of how he himself was asked to change his political course while he was in prison.

“People still love ZAB and BB and are following their ideology,” he said. Mr Gilani termed his stint as PM historic and marked by unprecedented development projects.

The PPP government will go to the voters after completion of its five-year tenure and will do everything for safeguarding the integrity of the country, he added.

Mr Gilani announced the setting up of an information technology university in Faisalabad and, taking a dig at the Punjab government’s project of free laptops, said it would not serve students without a strong infrastructure.

In response to demands for making Jaranwala a district, the prime minister said he would take up the matter with the Punjab government.

Mr Gilani said Rs3.5 billion had been spent on gas projects for Faisalabad division, Rs3 billion on roads, Rs1.5 billion on electricity and Rs2 billion on small projects. He said the UAE government had given two plants to Pakistan for solution of electricity crisis and both plants would be installed in Faisalabad.

The PM also inaugurated a number of public welfare projects, including broadband services to three community centers and five educational institutions, gas supply costing Rs710 million and Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Park completed at a cost of Rs100 million.