Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza has said the entire nation is united to give a befitting reply to any foreign aggression. "Our army is completely a professional army and is capable enough to defend its frontiers," she said while addressing the participants of the Ninth National Security Workshop here on Wednesday.
National leaders from various segments of the society, parliamentarians, district nazims, senior bureaucrats, ambassadors designate, industrialists, advocates, media representatives and senior military officers are participating in the workshop. Our defence is in strong hands, Pakistan wants peace and stability for progress and prosperity of the South Asian region, she said adding that the region was facing various challenges like un-employment, poverty and illiteracy.
"We should put in all our energy to meet these challenges instead of indulging in negative activities," she stressed. Government showed a high sense of responsibility after the emergence of new challenge in the form of Mumbai attacks, she added.
Fehmida said that following Mumbai attacks, the government had called All Parties Conference in which political leadership exhibited unprecedented maturity, giving assurance of all kind of co-operation to the government in tackling the issue. "The government has taken all stakeholders into confidence over the issue of Mumbai attacks," she opined.
She said Pakistan itself was victim of terrorism and playing an important role in the global war against terrorism. Dr Fehmida said the government has asked India to provide solid evidence with regard to Mumbai attacks, but India has so far not given the same.
To a question, she said people of both the countries do not want war rather they want to resolve their bilateral issues through dialogue. She said both the countries have democratic governments and they should resolve their bilateral issues through dialogue.
The Speaker said Pakistan always respected resolutions passed by the United Nations. "I would also like to commend the efforts of National Defence University who accepted the challenge of running this kind of intellectual exercise, first of its kind in Pakistan," she said.