Cameron causes considerable controversy: don't belittle Pakistan's sacrifice, says Prime Minister
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday warned US and its allies, particularly UK, against negating or belittling sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in the war on terror, saying that such an attitude may even harm the on-going war against terrorists and extremists.
He made these remarks in response to British prime minister David Cameron's comments that he made on Wednesday on a trip to India. He told reporters in Bangalore: "We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country (Pakistan) is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world."
Responding to a point of order raised by senators in the Upper House of Parliament, Gilani said that Pakistan had contributed more than any other country towards war on terror. Our people and security forces, he added, have rendered innumerable sacrifices, "which must be acknowledged by our allies."
"We hope that our friends must convince themselves that what Pakistan is doing to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the region and its co-operation in eradicating terrorism from the globe," he maintained. Earlier, speaking on a point of order, PPP Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said the 'white man' (Cameron) should have carefully thought about his choice of words before giving such an irresponsible statement about Pakistan and that too in India.
It was the need of the hour to make it clear to the international community that Pakistan will not tolerate such baseless statements, said the firebrand PPP stalwart, adding that if they continued to malign Pakistan, then Islamabad reserved the right to pull out completely from the war on terror. Raja Zafar-ul-Haq of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) called for an All Party Conference (APC) to review the policy on fighting terrorism and find a way out to control the targeted killings in Karachi and terror incidents across Pakistan.
"The APC must be convened as people have lost confidence in the parliament because it has miserably failed in resolving the issue confronting the masses," he added.
Responding to his point of order, Prime Minster Gilani said he wanted to call an APC as suggested by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif after consultations with all the political parties. "I agree with the suggestion of Nawaz Sharif about convening an APC with a view to obtaining consensus to steer the country out of the present crises," he added.
Earlier, the Prime Minister said that Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) had been launched to give some relief to the vulnerable segment of society. Addressing the upper house of the parliament after the unanimous passage of BISP bill, 2010, Gilani said the government was taking all possible measures to make the programme transparent.
The prime minister said he had received no complaint about corruption in BISP. "I further assure you that it will be made more transparent", he added. He said the programme was meant to benefit the poorest of the poor. "This is not a programme to revolutionise industrial, gas or power sectors rather to help poor people," he remarked.
The BISP, he said, had been lauded at international level and it had been getting assistance from abroad as the money was directly going to the poor. "The government is facilitating every constituency and every parliamentarian irrespective of party affiliation or distinction on the basis of gender," he added.
He said that a door-to-door survey to identify the poor families would help collect data of the deserving people so the assistance could reach them automatically. The PM said that an MoU had also been signed with NAVDEC to train the children of poor people with a view to equipping them with all necessary tools to get jobs in the country and abroad. "We have promised to train the children of poor families besides giving job to one child per household," he added.
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