ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said in the Senate on Thursday he was ready to step down if anyone could come up with solutions to multifarious problems, particularly law and order.

In a reply to senators’ reservations about privatisation, IMF package and law and order, the prime minister, in only his second appearance in the Senate since taking office in March, said the biggest problem plaguing the nation was law and order.

“Mere change of faces cannot solve the problems. All of us will have to join hands to meet the challenges.”

The prime minister categorically stated that guidelines provided by parliament would be followed, adding that the ruling coalition believed in supremacy and strengthening of state institutions.

He warned that the coming challenge for the country would be shortage of water resources, accusing the previous regime of doing nothing to address the issue.About the IMF loan, Mr Gilani said he had ‘clearly’ told his adviser on finance Shaukat Tarin that no terms against national interest would be accepted.

He said that because of the measures taken to stop capital flight and arrests of people involved in it, the dollar had come down from Rs87 to Rs77 and pound sterling from Rs147 to Rs120.

“We have decided to diversify our economy by giving maximum attention to agriculture. We have twice increased support price for wheat and rice and set aside Rs32 billion for subsidy on fertiliser.”

The prime minister said that Rs8 billion had been earmarked for drip irrigation and a tractor scheme launched for growers.

About the government’s efforts to mitigate the sufferings of earthquake victims, he said that medicines and food supplies had reached the quake-affected areas and there was no dearth of relief goods.

The prime minister announced a package of Rs2 billion for rebuilding houses damaged during last month’s earthquake in Balochistan.

Earlier, lawmakers criticised the government for its failure to provide relief to the common man. They bemoaned that instead of taking steps to restore investors’ confidence, it was falling back to the IMF for a bailout package.