Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid on Tuesday dispelled the western media reports regarding presence of missing Malaysia passenger plane (MH370) in Pakistan, saying that the missing plane was not in Pakistan and no unusual activity was reported on the air traffic control system in this regard.
"The missing plane, which left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, could not have landed in the country as only a few airports including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore have the air-strips for landing of 747 Plane. Pakistan's airspace is safe and secure, and as far as disappearance of the Malaysian plane is concerned, the traffic control system of the country has not observed any unusual activity, all the data of our air traffic control system is available and nothing is hidden," the minister maintained.
Talking to media persons after attending Readers Club inauguration ceremony at National Book Foundation, the Information Minister said that "MH 370 was not a balloon which someone can put in his pocket and disappear, it was a big plane with over 300 passengers onboard," he said while dispelling western media rumours.
He said that the government was responsible for the release of all Pakistanis detained in the tribal areas including the sons of both Salman Taseer and Yousaf Raza Gilani. Pervaiz Rashid said the peace dialogue with Taliban was the issue of the whole nation, adding that efforts were under way to address the issue on immediate basis.
The government would consider demands presented by the Taliban, he said. He maintained that information would also be collected from state institutions on this count, adding that both media and Taliban would be kept informed, he added. He said that the talks with Taliban were initiated with consensus of all the mainstream political parties, including Pakistan People Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). This was not the issue of one province but of the entire Pakistan, he observed.
About the high level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and attended by four chief ministers, Rashid told the media person that the meeting was held to review the national security and it called for enhanced co-ordination between the center and provinces to eradicate terrorism.
He said that provinces had to play an important role in implementation of internal security policy, which was being deliberated in the Parliament. To a question about his meeting with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he said that the JUI-F was the coalition partner of the PML-N government and such meetings were a matter of routine.
He said that the improvement of Pakistani currency would have a positive impact on the budget of common man. About the grant of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, he said that the previous PPP government had signed some agreements with India and the present government would only implement them as an obligation. He made it clear that no new agreement was being signed with India to grant it MFN status.
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