ISLAMABAD: Two days before the expiry of the term of its government, the Pakistan People’s Party has pledged to do better than during the first term and to ‘protect’ the people of Pakistan from terrorism.

A manifesto of the party unveiled here on Thursday adheres to the old slogan of ‘roti, kapra aur makan’ (food, clothing and shelter).

“As we take Pakistan into its first constitutional transfer of power through elections, we resolve to take the country into a future based on social justice, peace and prosperity for all,” said president of the PPP (Parliamentarians) Makhdoom Amin Fahim at the newly-built Central Secretariat of the party.

Unable to promptly respond to some tough questions of reporters mostly relating to the five-year performance of the government rather than to the manifesto, Mr Fahim was occasionally assisted by former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar and Defence Minister Naveed Qamar.

At one point when Mr Gilani appeared reluctant to respond to a question about the failure of the government during its five-year term to arrest the murderers of Benazir Bhutto, saying “the matter is sub judice,” Mr Kaira intervened and claimed that efforts were being made to arrest one accused who had absconded to another country and another accused had been killed while charge-sheets against others had been presented before a trial court.

“The biggest security is the food security. The PPP has guaranteed the food security” was the response of Mr Gilani to a question regarding the poor law and order situation, resulting in deaths of hundreds of people in terrorist and sectarian incidents.

To a question about failure of the government to end loadshedding, Mr Gilani claimed that the PPP-led government had added 3,400MW of electricity to the national grid. He held the provincial governments responsible for not doing anything in this regard. “Under the Constitution, there is no bar on power generation by the provinces. Have you ever asked a provincial government how many megawatts it has generated?” he said.

On the issue of Balochistan, he said the main demand of the people of the province was provincial autonomy and that had been met.

In response to a question about price-hike, Mr Fahim said inflation and increase in prices of edibles were an international phenomenon and Pakistan faced the same problem.

Mr Kaira said the government had regularised the services of over 250,000 contract and daily-wage employees.

Earlier, announcing the salient features of the manifesto, Mr Fahim presented seven “core priorities” aimed at protecting and empowering the people of Pakistan. He pledged that the PPP would initiate key programmes in the first 100 days after coming into power at the federal and provincial levels to implement these core priorities.

The priorities are “ensuring basic needs of the economically- and socially-disadvantaged people; inclusion and empowerment of all citizens, especially women, minorities, youth and dispossessed; revival of a globally-impacted economy and investment in equitable and inclusive growth through job-creating programmes; investment in infrastructure for the future; spearheading a new social contract for the federation and provinces through parliamentary consensus; security and a guarantee of basic protections; and pursuing the goal of stability and peace-building in the region.

Although the PPP leaders – intentionally or unintentionally – did not talk about the party’s future policy regarding the war on terror, the manifesto has pledged to continue cooperation with the US in the war on terror.

Like the PML-N, the PPP also promised to “make military budgets accountable to parliament, and institutionalise better oversight of defence expenditure”.

The manifesto also promises to “encourage closer working relationship between defence and parliamentary institutions for cooperation as well as oversight”. The PPP claimed the credit of “doubling the salaries of members of the armed forces”.

It pledged to expand the tax net to five million people and increase the tax-to-GDP ratio to 15 per cent by 2018. The party will ensure cheap electricity by combining hydel, coal, gas and renewable energy of up to 12,000 MW by the end of its next term.

Through the next NFC Award, the manifesto says, Sindh will receive a special grant for Karachi as Pakistan’s only mega-city, port and economic capital.

“We will invest in the police and law enforcement agencies for each province to ensure internal security,” Mr Fahim said.

He said the manifesto was based on “ground realities in Pakistan” and added: “We make no promises for which we cannot find resources.”

“We believe that national security is premised on human security first. Anyone governing Pakistan in the next 10 years of a global recession and regional security upheavals will also have to make tough fiscal, economic, security and governance decisions,” he said.

The manifesto pledges complete eradication of polio from the country by 2018. The BISP cash payments will be increased to Rs2,000 per month. A health insurance plan will be launched for the poor through Waseela-i-Sehat and employment will be provided to youths through Waseela-i-Rozgar. Enrolment through Waseela-i-Taleem programmes will be increased. The party commits to spending more than 4.5 per cent of the GDP on education by the end of its next term in the government.

It also proposes to set up a national education standards council, seeking to bridge the gap between private and public schooling.

The manifesto promises to increase the minimum wages to Rs18,000 per month by 2018. It plans to reserve four seats for labour representatives in the National Assembly and two seats in each of the provincial assemblies and two seats for women from Fata.

The party also plans to set up a national commission on minorities with statutory status.