The Speakers said that war is not any option between the two nuclear neighbours and future of South Asian region is linked with peace, co-operation and sustainability. The Speaker expressed these views while addressing the closing plenary of 19th Sustainable Development Conference organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute here on Thursday. Speaking as the chief guest Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Afzal said the region had become explosive due to the issue of Kashmir which needed to be resolved according to the UN resolutions.
"Pakistan cannot leave 11 million Kashmiris on the mercy of Indian forces," he said, adding Indian designs of hegemony in the region could no longer prevail. He further said a strong and peaceful Afghanistan was in Pakistan's interest whereas an economically stable and prosperous Pakistan was in India's interest. He said Pakistan was faced with lot of challenges including the world propaganda of being a terrorist state whereas "we are in fact the victims of terrorism". He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a reality and 50 percent work on Phase I of the project was near to completion.
Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI) leader and MNA Asad Umer said all the mainstream political parties were agreed on good relations with neighbours, which was mandatory to promote peace and sustainability in the region. "Peace constituency in Pakistan is overwhelming," he said, adding Modi government could not sabotage the wishes of peace-loving people of India who wanted good relations with Pakistan.
Regarding women and minority issues, he said "now it's time to change our mindset, as we cannot respect our vulnerable communities unless we change our social behaviours." Former president of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malik Zubair Ahmed said peace lobby in India and Pakistan was going to shrink and Pakistan had to take bold decisions to promote trade and good relations through SAARC.
SDPI Executive Director Abid Suleri said during the conference more than 200 economic and policy experts and scholars from the world over discussed issues from climate change to minority rights. He said soon the conference recommendations would be shared with the government of Pakistan and related institutions. Earlier in the morning, speaking at a session on 'Regional co-operation in light of Paris Agreement', Nisar Memon, the chairman of Water and Environment Forums (WEF), said "human security is not possible if we don't address the issue of climate change in our policies, which should be more people centric." He stressed the need for inverse hierarchy and long communication cycle for the implementation of climate change policies.
Naseer Gilani from Planning Commission also stressed the need for addressing trans-boundary issues like air pollution and reducing the cost of the regional technology transfer. Sanjay Vishast from Climate Action Network, India stressed on regional co-operation in South Asia by suggesting investments in renewable energy source like solar panels, which were fast and efficient. He rejected the idea of using coal and identified solar energy as an emerging filed which required more focus.
In a session on 'Pakistan Food security and nutrition strategic Review: preliminary findings' Jean-Luc Siblot, the country director of World Food Program said "we should analyse the weaknesses, opportunities and threats of malnutrition in Pakistan. The WFP Pakistan is linked with future development and now extending circle up to provincial level."
Dr Imran Khalid from SDPI, Nazma Shaheen from Action Aid Pakistan, Mehmood Nasir, IG Forestry, SDPI's Shakeel Ramay, Dr Stephen Davies from IFPRI, Deputy Executive Director of SDPI Dr Vaqar Ahmed, Country Director CIPE Hammad Siddiquie ,Dr Khakkan Najeeb, Director General Economic Reforms Unit, Dr Najeeb, Former KCCI President Majyd Aziz and others also spoke on this occasion.
Comments
Comments are closed.