The Parliament had been denied its due role in policy making and virtually reduced to a rubber stamping body. It could not even discharge its constitutional responsibility of electing a Prime Minister.
 

The unconstitutional removal of the Chief Justice of Pakistan in March 2007, and the forced retirement of 55 additional Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts after 3 November 2007, dramatically exposed the game plan of Military rulers to have a pliable judiciary that will sanctify the continuation of Musharraf's rule under a civilian facade.
 

The manner in which the general elections of 2002 and local body's polls of 2005 were manipulated and rigged has virtually destroyed the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan.
 

strengthen all democratic institutions, and traditions in all spheres of national life and improve the economic condition of the common man.

re-establish the supremacy of Parliament and its Committees to perform the role assigned to it under the constitution;

promote unity among the federating units through maximum provincial autonomy and decentralization of administrative and financial powers to provincial and lower levels; 

fully recognize the rights and privileges of the opposition and the importance of internal party democracy and free speech;

ensure that the armed forces perform only such functions as are assigned to them under the constitution;

 guarantee, subject to law and public morality, all the fundamental rights including equality of status and opportunity, freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association and equality before law;

ensure that elections at all levels under a neutral caretaker government are free and fair and the sanctity of the vote is fully respected. All election cells in intelligence and military establishments will be closed.

PML(N) will appoint the Chief Election Commissioner in consultation with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. While the Chief Election Commissioner will be a retired Chief Justice or judge of Supreme Court or High Court, its members will be appointed from among retired judges of the supreme Court or High Courts, distinguished retired civil servant with impeccable service record, or eminent jurists of national stature. The number of members will be increased to five so that the election petitions are decided within a reasonable period of time.

Hold elections for the national and provincial assemblies on the same day.

Appoint a judicial commission comprising eminent jurists, Judges, parliamentarians, representatives of lawyers, and civil society to recommend and supervise restructuring and reforms of judicial system.

The system of appointment of judges will be reformed to ensure appointments on merit alone and in a transparent manner. 

Judicial information system shall be put in place for the efficient functioning of judiciary. 

Lower judiciary will be strengthened for speedy delivery of justice in order to protect the life and property of ordinary citizens. 

Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms shall be developed to facilitate social cohesion. 

All discriminatory laws shall be abolished. 

Fair and across the board application of law shall be ensured in the fight against crime so that criminal elements are unable to misuse the judicial system to their own advantage.

Police will be made a community oriented service, and reformed to become a modern crime-fighting machine with better training and equipment.

Narcotics trade and sectarian/religious violence will be eliminated from the society.

Special monitoring cells will be set up in the center and the provinces to check heinous crimes, and heinous crime cases and criminals will be dealt with an iron hand. 

Crime fighting agencies will be trained in the modern investigation and crime prevention techniques and provided adequate tools. 

Citizen and Police liaison committees will be set up at all levels. 

Pakistan Penal Code, Law of Evidence, and the Criminal Procedures Code shall be revised to bring them in line with the present day requirements of the society. 

The appointment of the governors, services chiefs and the CJCSC shall be made by the chief executive who is the prime minister, as per the 1973 Constitution.

No judge shall take oath under any Provisional Constitutional Order or any other oath that is contradictory to the exact language of the original oath prescribed in the Constitution of 1973.

Administrative mechanisms will be instituted for the prevention of misconduct, implementation of code of ethics, and removal of judges on such charges brought to its attention by any citizen. All special courts including anti-terrorism and accountability courts shall be abolished and such cases tried in ordinary courts. 

A Federal Constitutional Court will be set up to resolve constitutional issues, giving equal representation to each of the federating units, whose members may be judges or persons qualified to be judges of the Supreme Court, constituted for a six year period. The appointment of judges shall be made in the same manner as for judges of higher judiciary. The Supreme and High Courts will hear regular civil and criminal cases.

The ban on a 'prime minister not being eligible for a third term of office' will be removed.

A Commission shall also examine and identify the causes of and fix responsibility for the Kargil crisis of 1999. 

The press and electronic media will be allowed its independence. Access to information laws will be further improved. 

The chairman of public accounts committee in the national and provincial assemblies would be appointed in consultation with the leaders of the opposition in the respective assemblies. 

In order to depoliticize bureaucracy, government servants shall be given security of service through constitutional amendments. 

All discretionary power at all levels will be withdrawn and all government decisions will be governed by law and merit.

The records of courts, land revenue and police stations will be computerized. These institutions will be provided with all necessary wherewithal and training so that they function effectively and efficiently to meet the requirements of the citizens at the grass root level without sifarsih and rishwat.

Kalashinkov culture, drug trafficking and smuggling shall be eliminated through a systematic and effective reform programme. 

Reforming the system of administration to ensure that merit prevails over contacts and there are generous rewards for efficiency and honesty. 

The National Accountability Bureau will be revamped. It will not be an organization to be used (misused) by the government for victimizing its opponents. Military and judiciary will not be excluded from its purview.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will be replaced with an independent accountability commission, whose chairman shall be nominated by the prime minister in consultation with the leader of opposition and confirmed by a join parliamentary committee with 50 percent members from treasury benches and remaining 50 percent from opposition parties.

Prescribing the criteria of integrity as a basic qualification for all senior appointments and strict observance of the process of accountability at all levels without any discrimination on the basis of rank or seniority.

District Ombudsmen offices shall be set up in all districts to provide relief to other common man against injustice and bribery. 

The administrative system will be further streamlined to reduce discretion and misuse of power. 

National Security Council will be abolished. The Defense Committee of the Cabinet will be reconstituted as the Cabinet Committee on Defense and National Security and will be chaired by the prime minister. It will have a permanent secretariat under a national security adviser to the prime minister. The efficacy of the higher defense and security structure, created two decades ago, will be reviewed. The Joint Services Command structure will be strengthened and made more effective.

Military's honour and respect as a professional and not a political institution shall be restored. Highest professional standards in the armed forces shall be maintained. 

The defense budget will be brought within the purview of the National Assembly for approval.

Supremacy of the Constitution and Parliament shall be restored through making parliamentary institutions effective, accountable, and responsive to the people.
 

A new political order shall be enforced in consultation with the opposition, whose guiding principles shall be the following:

The 1973 Constitution as on 12 October 1999 before the military coup shall be restored with the provisions of joint electorates, minorities, and women reserved seats. 

The Legal Framework Order, 2000 and the Seventeenth Constitutional Amendment shall be repealed. 

The Concurrent List in the Constitution will be abolished or drastically curtailed. A new NFC award by consensus will be announced regularly at 5 yearly intervals and the principle of provincial autonomy fully respected. 

The reserved seats for women in the national and provincial assemblies will be allocated to the parties on the basis of the number of votes polled in the general elections by each party. 

The strength of the Senate of Pakistan shall be increased to give representation to minorities in the Senate, and senate seats will be allocated to parties in proportion to total votes secured by them in most recent provincial elections on the basis of lists of candidates filed along with the nomination papers for general elections. 

FATA shall be brought into the mainstream of the country's political, economic and cultural life. 

Northern Areas shall be developed by giving it a special status and further empowering the Northern Areas Legislative Council to provide people of Northern Areas access to justice and human rights. 

Local body's elections will be held on party basis through provincial election commissions in the respective provinces and constitutional protection will be given to the local bodies to make them autonomous and answerable to their respective assemblies as well as to the people through regular courts of law. 

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be established to acknowledge victims of torture, imprisonment, state-sponsored persecution, targeted legislation, and politically motivated accountability. The Commission will also examine and report its findings on military coups and illegal removal of governments in the past two decades. 

Ensuring mutual respect and tolerance for a pluralistic society, and the constitutional right of all citizens to profess and practice their religion and develop their cultures. 

Promoting good governance on the basis of principles of equality and social justice. 

Simplicity shall be enforced at all levels of the state machinery and VIP culture shall be eliminated. 

The size of national and provincial cabinets shall be curtailed and the number of Ministers and Ministers of State will not exceed a certain percentage of seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies. 

Strengthening the capacity of law enforcing agencies to detect and control terrorist groups and their supporters;

Influencing the groups which directly or indirectly support terrorism, through political intermediaries and civil society organizations to adhere to basic Islamic principles of peace, moderation and justice. 

Promoting the rule of law, tolerance and mutual respect in the country to overcome the sense of desperation which pushes certain segments of society towards extremism.

Taking steps to mainstream the tribal areas into the political, economic and cultural activities of the country and accelerating the pace of economic and social development in these areas.

Intensify diplomatic efforts to deal with the underlying causes like Kashmir and Palestine. 

Ensure that education in all public sector institutions upto higher secondary will be free of cost. The system will work through provision of transferable voucher scheme to encourage competition in the public sector educational institutions.

Achieve 100% enrollment in middle school education by 2012, 100% enrollment in secondary education (Matric) by 2015; and 80% enrollment in higher secondary education (Intermediate) by 2020. 

Guarantee that all students who get first division in both Matric and Intermediate examinations are ensured of a place in a public sector college in their tehsil/taluka/sub-division. This target will be achieved by 2010.

A National Education Corps will be set up to employ all graduates without jobs and they will be employed in literacy and adult education programmes with the objective of achieving 100% adult literacy by 2010, 100% adult education up to middle level by 2015, and 100% adult education up to Matric by 2020.

The Federal Government will fund 50% of the public sector education program up to higher secondary level through grants to provinces and 100% of all public sector universities and higher education institutions through grants. The Federal Government will also fund the National Education Corp.

Provide maximum facilities for science education and vocational training for all middle and high school students. 

Provide fiscal and other incentives for private investment in education.

Pay special attention to the development of libraries at national, provincial and district levels. 

Promote several centers for professional excellence in various scientific disciplines by providing highly qualified teachers, generous scholarships for training abroad, and liberal grants to science laboratories. 
 

Main Teaching Hospitals both in the Federal Capital and Provincial headquarters will be modernized and equipped with the state of the art medical equipment and facilities especially in the field of Cardiovascular surgery, Cancer, Organs transplant, Brain surgery and Burn and Dialysis units, so that people do not have to seek expensive medical treatment abroad. 

Production of quality generic medicines will be encouraged to provide cheaper medicines to the common man. 

Cardiac clinics and facilities shall be extended to district level hospitals, and institutes will be provided more advanced technology and modern equipment. Incentives will be provided to Cardiac clinics and institutes in the private sector. 

To provide better services and coverage, District and Tehsil Hospitals will be improved and upgraded by appointing DHOs on merit basis, and providing sufficient financial and administrative powers and better living facilities.

All out efforts will be made to provide clean drinking water and basic hygiene facilities to the rural population. 

AIDS is an incurable, fatal but preventable disease. A national campaign will be launched to make people aware about its prevention and dangerous consequences. 

Effective measures to control Hepatitis, which has become a serious health problem in Pakistan, will be taken and coverage against Hepatitis B extended to at least two third of the population.

A new anti TB program, DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course), against Tuberculosis will be implemented to control Tuberculosis. Massive vaccination against Poliomyelitis, Neonatal tetanus, Malaria and a cluster of childhood diseases will be carried out, and immunization coverage will be increased to 75-80%. 

Homeopathy and Tibb will be promoted after they meet the criteria of desired standards for medical education by making amendments in the law. 

Senior citizens will be provided special health care facilities like eye glasses, hospitalization and treatment at favourable fee rates, and pharmacies will be instructed to provide medicines at discounted prices. Free medical care will be provided to deserving patients. 

Free medical care will be provided to poor and deserving patients through Zakat fund assistance ear-marked for health care. 

Special health education centers shall be opened in all districts. 

PhD scholarships in local universities and world's top universities in areas of priority for human resource development.

Reorienting S&T infrastructure towards economic needs of Pakistan for creating sustainable competitive advantage in exports. 

Strengthening the S&T organizations by providing research grants and competent management. 

Developing competencies in the future technologies. 

Strengthening Quality and Productivity infrastructure in the country through launching a national campaign in partnership with the private sector.

Promoting indigenous solutions and applied technology for solving our economic and technical problems. 

Offering incentives to outstanding Pakistani scientists and engineers to return to Pakistan and contribute to national development. 

Promoting local talent and manpower in consultancies. 

Giving role to professional bodies in national policy and decision-making. 

The processes through which causes and solutions of the poverty problem are explored must involve the poor themselves. A participatory poverty assessment programme will then generate the awareness and the energy for participatory solutions. Most poor people, if asked, will point to the inadequacy of the justice system, harassment by police, discrimination by powerful individuals or groups in the locality, lack of water and other essential services and absence of dependable means of livelihood. These problems facing the poor cannot be resolved unless and until we develop the human capital of the poor through education and training, social capital of the poor through formal and informal institutions and political capital of the poor through inclusion in decision making at different levels.

The basic foundation of a pro-poor policy framework is to recognize and operationalize the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution by ensuring equal rights under the law, universal access for all citizens to public services, and equitable access to economic opportunities. These rights can be safeguarded only under a genuine democratic dispensation. 

The process of mainstreaming the poor, as opposed to helping them at the margin through micro credit or different employment promotion schemes, will require a series of institutional innovations that can bring together the poor as the main beneficiaries with support from professional managers.

In this context PML(N) will set up Education Foundations for the poor in each province. The foundations managed by qualified professionals will take over existing under utilized public school buildings or build new schools exclusively for the poor. The Provincial Government will give them annual grants on per student basis. These provincial foundations will gradually set up district education foundations. The foundations may receive additional funding from local and international donors. 

Similar foundations can be set up in the health sector at the provincial and district level to manage basic health units and rural health centers and expand these facilities for the benefit of the poor. The Foundation can provide quality health services by using electronic services. 

These institutional mechanisms for mainstreaming the poor will also be extended to investment and income earning opportunities by creating manufacturing and service enterprises which are owned by the poor but run by the professional managers. The poor will be given bank loans to buy equity in these enterprises and pay back the loans through dividends earned by the enterprise. 

Similar mechanisms will be establishment in other sectors, like land development, and agro services. Reclaimed land or state land brought under cultivation through irrigation schemes will be allotted primarily to poor and landless households, and Land Development Corporations established in different districts with majority equity holdings for the poor, contributed in kind or in cash through bank loans. In urban areas, these corporations will establish housing schemes for low income families. 

These foundations for the poor will play a major role in scaling up the micro credit operations in the country by improving access and ensure effective utilization and timely repayment. 

In addition PML(N) will maintain reasonable food prices throughout the year in all parts of the country and protect wages in real terms for urban and rural areas. 

A National Manpower Plan will be prepared to match the demand and supply of manpower and to provide a basis for periodical adjustments in the programmes of education and training. 

New employment opportunities will be provided to over three million persons in the public and private sectors.

A programme of vigorous industrialization and small and medium enterprises will be undertaken in the urban and rural areas to absorb unemployed labour. 

Maximum emphasis will be placed on the programmes of rural development to provide gainful opportunities for income and employment within the rural areas and prevent the tendency of migration from urban to rural areas. 

The taxation system will be modified to encourage rapid growth in investment, particularly in employment intensive activities. 

A National Employment Fund will be created to assist qualified and skilled youth to set up their own business or professional practice. Self employment on individual or cooperative basis will be given maximum support.

A National Education Corps will be recruited from among the educated unemployed to spread literacy in the country. 

Employment opportunities for qualified doctors will be provided by constructing more hospitals; extending soft term, easy installment loans on personal surety to doctors to establish them in private practice; and giving tax concessions for establishment and expansion of private hospitals. 

A comprehensive programme will be implemented for the full absorption of engineers, scientist and other skilled manpower, including a new National Consultancy Policy for the use of national consultants, strengthening and expansion of existing scientific institutions, creation of new institutes for modern technologies and making it obligatory for the private industrialists to hire adequate expertise in their respective fields. 

A programme for the development of technical skills to produce technically trained and employable manpower will be implemented. For this purpose the intake of polytechnics and vocational schools. Initially this can be achieved by introducing double shift in existing institutions. 

Para medical training institutions for females will be attached to each district and tehsil hospital and facilities for the training of female teachers will be expanded in all districts to meet the large demand for these personnel, particularly in rural areas. 

Giving top priority to the agriculture sector and within agriculture to high value and minor crops, like fruits, vegetables, pulses, vegetable oil and spices.

Improving the post harvest, marketing storage and transport systems for these crops to reduce crop losses and ensure reasonable prices in different parts of the country. 

Expanding processing facilities for high value crops to even out seasonal fluctuations in prices.

PML(N) will pay special attention to food prices, which have more than doubled in the past 8 years to ensure that items like wheat, rice, sugar and edible oils are available to the common man at reasonable prices. 

PML(N) will also adopt a pro-poor and inclusive growth strategy to increase the incomes of poor people by diverting resources from the consumption to investment through appropriate fiscal and other policies. 

Turn agriculture into a fully viable economic industry by changing the policy framework and terms of trade in favour of agriculture.

Focus on the small farmers as the real back bone of the rural economy and assure his access to knowledge, inputs and markets. Development of the livestock sector will be given high priority.

Revitalize the cooperative movement to meet the real needs of the rural population by setting up agri service corporations with majority equity of the poor and managed by professional managers. 

Reform the agricultural credit system to ensure that at least 50% of the total is provided to the small farmers and land owners are able to obtain credit on the basis of the market value of the land rather than outdated produce index units. 

Move rapidly towards national self-sufficiency in oil seeds. 

Convert Pakistan into a large net exporter of food and high-value crops and remove restrictions on agricultural exports. 

Building consensus on the basis of the 1991 Water Accord on the distribution of Indus System to allow new water projects to be undertaken and extension of irrigation facilities to additional areas. 

Ensure full utilization of available water resources by expanding the on-farm water management programme.

Initiate schemes for crop insurance through private insurance companies to protect the farmer against the vagaries of weather. 

Encourage ecologically sound development policies to preserve and develop the country's natural and forest resources to counteract the impact of global warming.

Provide incentives for farmers to adopt social forestry on a commercial scale rather than depend on restrictive laws for this purpose particularly in border areas. 

Expand the programme to fight the cancer of water-logging and salinity.

A major programme of aquifer recharge in arid and semi arid areas of Cholistan, Thar and Balochistan to ensure that water flow from tubewells installed in these areas can be sustained. 

Immediate updating of the revenue and property records using Information Technology will be undertaken. Based on the information so generated 'benamis' can be done away with property rights of female members protected and access to credit by the poor assured. 

Policy shift in agriculture from commodity based agriculture to product based agriculture. As an example 22 products can be produced from corn.

All agricultural research organizations will be completely revamped to ensure that the benefits of research actually reach the farmers. 

Agricultural education in general and curriculum of agriculture universities in particular will be modernized. 

Mafias and monopolies in case of major agriculture products will be done away with by putting in place appropriate agricultural marketing strategies. 

Provide the full energy needs of an expanding industrial sector through maximum exploitation of domestic sources of energy namely coal, gas and hydro to reduce the country's dependence on imported energy, combined with measure for the conservation of energy and more efficient use of energy. 

Provide improved means of communications including telecommunications and port facilities to meet the growing needs of our industry. 

Improve the transportation systems in major industrial zones and urban centers and complete the network of motorways initiated by the PML(N) government in the 1990's. 

Chambers of Commerce and Industry will be encouraged to develop industrial zones in suitable locations with access to as for electricity generation. 

Industrial estates, equipped with electricity, gas, telephone, and sewerage will be developed, especially in backward areas and along the motorways, for the convenience of domestic and overseas investors. Efforts will be made to put in place standard factory buildings ready for occupation, without any waiting period. Multinational companies with expertise in the field will be invited to develop infrastructure facilities in collaboration with local companies. 

Streamline the procedure for industrial sanctions and other facilities required in line with the principle of "one window facility". 

Improve the system of industrial credit and enable land owners to borrow funds on the basis of the market value of agricultural land and rural property. 

Ensure respect, dignity, and protection granted by Islam to women. 

Promote participation of women in national development and their social, political and economic empowerment.

Give preference to women teachers in primary education.

Promote female education and health care programs to overcome gender gaps. 

Effective representation of women in all key policy/decision making bodies shall be ensured. 

Special legislation on violence against women and child abuse shall be enacted. 

Micro credit for female borrowers will be expanded substantially as a part of the process of their empowerment. 

Youth training program shall be started to create 100,000 positions for apprenticeship in trade and industry. These opportunities shall be created in collaboration with the private sector. 

Self-employment loans shall be extended to those who complete training/apprenticeship.

Inter-province visits of youth shall be organized.

Youth shall be provided special sports facilities in all educational institutions.

Anti-addiction campaign shall be launched to stop youth from drugs abuse. 

Safety at work and proper compensation for industrial injuries shall be legislated.

Total prohibition of child labour through effective monitoring and strict enforcement of law shall be ensured. 

Laws against bonded labour and unpaid labour shall be strengthened and effectively enforced. 

Quality of labour force shall be improved through technical training and apprenticeship. 

Parks / community centers shall be developed near labour colonies.

Incentives shall be given to employers for offering scholarships for the talented children of workers. 

The minimum wage for workers will be enhanced to Rs.5000 per month and the role of collective bargaining agents will be made more effective keeping in view the relevant ILO Conventions.

A commission shall be set up to look into complaints of religious discrimination. 

Scholarships for higher education shall be offered for talented children of minorities from low income families.

Minorities shall be integrated in the mainstream of national development through active participation at different levels.