Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that Pakistan provides an attractive destination for both local and foreign investors and the country is maintaining political and economic stability. He said that the country's general elections would be held in 2007, and good policies would be consistently followed, irrespective of change in the government. "There is an active parliamentary system existing in Pakistan and ballot box will decide who wins the upcoming 2007 election. The rational policies should carry forward irrespective of who wins these polls," Shaukat said while addressing the Asian Strategic and Leadership Institute here on Friday.
He said that parliamentary opposition in Pakistan is quite robust and he along with his ministers face their criticism in the parliament. He said that Pakistan's press is totally free and newspapers even publish criticism against the President and Prime Minister.
Earlier in the morning, the Prime Minister held a business breakfast meeting with Malaysian businessmen. About parliamentary majority of his government, Shaukat said that he is running the government comfortably. "There are countries where governments complete their term with majority of a single vote," he added. In his keynote address on 'Peace, Conflict Resolution and Regional Security: Learning from Pakistan", Shaukat said that Pakistan is committed to nuclear non-proliferation, and it has established a strong National Command Authority for effective control of the strategic assets.
"We are opposed to the spread of nuclear weapons capability and have co-operated with the IAEA to ensure that there is no leakage of nuclear materials from Pakistan," he added.
He said that Pakistan is opposed to arms race, conventional or non-conventional. "We have offered India to work for a strategic restraint regime aimed at confidence-building and avoidance of an arms race," he said.
For durable peace and security in the region, he said that both Pakistan and India must find a final settlement of Kashmir based on the wishes of the Kashmiri people. "This issue relates to the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people and, therefore, it cannot be side-tracked or wished away," he made it clear.
He said a solution of this longstanding problem that is acceptable to India, Pakistan and Kashmiri people is not beyond human capacity, and added that this requires courage, sincerity, flexibility and magnanimity on the part of both Pakistan and India.
Referring to President Musharraf's recent visit to India, he said his visit to New Delhi yielded important results and made progress on confidence-building measures (CBMs).
He said the two countries have agreed on facilitating interaction among Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control. Pakistan has also offered India energy corridors from Iran and Central Asia. Gas requirements are growing in the region keeping in view the pace of economies, he said.
Talking about global issues, Shaukat said the world has seen an assertion of unilateralism that undermines the UN system. The experience of Iraq has once again demonstrated the importance of strengthening the multilateral approach and respecting the political primacy of the United Nations.
"Unless we work together for a consensus, there is risk of divisions among the UN membership, especially on the critical issue of expansion of the UN Security Council," he added.
On Afghanistan, the premier said that Pakistan helped it in restoring peace and democratic process. Trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan has reached $1 billion per annum out of total $14 billion exports, he added.
About sectarian violence, Aziz said the government took strict security measures to avoid such incidents during the last Muharram. The government is also focusing on improving intelligence network to apprehend the culprits.
On the question of US reliability as friend of Pakistan, keeping in view its historic background, the Prime Minister said that he believes that the relations should be based on win-win situation for both countries. One-sided relations cannot be termed durable, he added.
He said that US is a major trading and developing partner which is also assisting Pakistan in areas of defence supplies. Pakistan has played a crucial role in restoring peace in Afghanistan after becoming ally of US in the aftermath of 9/11 incident.
"Both US and Pakistan have their own interests and nothing is wrong in it," he added.
He said that the world should think to remove deprivations of the developing countries, which is one of the main causes of increasing terrorism. "The world should also focus to resolve the Palestine and Kashmir issues," he added.
Responding to a query on country's debt strategy, he said that Pakistan would continue obtaining loans from World Bank, ADB and other institutions for achieving higher growth and developing infrastructure after saying goodbye to IMF. Recalling his tenure in Kuala Lumpur as Citibank head, about 20 years ago, Shaukat said that he recognised many faces "who are sitting in this room". He appreciated the Malaysian development in the last 20 years, without changing the traditional touch of Kuala Lumpur.
Comments
Comments are closed.