Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, reiterating the government's resolve to fight terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations, said on Monday that a multi-pronged strategy is being evolved to confront the issue effectively.
The Prime Minister said the government would pursue both long and short term initiatives including political, socio-economic as well as administrative measures to overcome the problem. He was talking to the visiting US congressmen, who called on him here at the Prime Minister House this afternoon.
The Prime Minister further said that terrorism is a global phenomenon; therefore, the world community has to develop a collective approach and address the root cause which stems from socio-economic disparity and unresolved political disputes. Pakistan, he said, has been consistently fighting this menace and has sacrificed a lot including assassination of its leader Benazir Bhutto.
Gilani said that economic empowerment of the people in bordering areas near Afghanistan is the key to address the issue of extremism in that region. He expressed the confidence that the establishment of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) would help increase economic activities in the area as well as create new opportunities to improve the standard of living of the people.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan accords high priority to its strategic relationship with the US and is keen to further expand its relations in political, diplomatic, economic, defence and security sectors. Pakistan, he added, is also eager to enhance co-operation in the fields of education, health, energy, science and technology.
He also mentioned that US President George W. Bush had called him and assured Washington's full support to Pakistan. While talking about the recent elections the Prime Minister said that the people of Pakistan have given a clear mandate in favour of the moderate and democratic forces in the country.
He said that the country is facing serious problems of food and energy security but the government is determined to confront these on war footing and has already started working on various initiatives. The Prime Minister reiterated his government's commitment to take all possible measures to resolve the problems of the people and come up to their expectations.
While discussing the situation in Afghanistan, the Prime Minister said that Pakistan desires Afghanistan to grow and prosper because a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan is in the best interest of Pakistan and the region. Gilani expressed concern over the poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and the linkage of drug money with terrorism.
The Prime Minister said the international community needs to do more to support Afghanistan and help eradicate poppy cultivation through crop substitution and employment generation.
While appreciating Pakistan's efforts in curtailing extremism and terrorism, the members of the delegation said that the US relations with Pakistan and its people are very important and expressed US desire for developing a stable and multi-faceted relationship with Pakistan. The delegation included Congressman Michael Capuano, Democrat-Massachusetts, Congressman Bill Pascrell, Democrat-New Jersey, Congressman Frank LoBiondo, Republican-New Jersey, and Ambassador of USA in Pakistan, Ms Anne W Patterson.