Pakistan wants regional approach to combat terrorism: FM

MULTAN, (APP): Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday Pakistan remains committed to maintaining friendly ties with all neighbouring countries including India and prescribes a regional approach to tackle terrorism so as to stop recurrence of Mumbai like incidents.

“ Mumbai attacks was a big incident which caused great damage and we need to get to the bottom of it to carve out a strategy so that such incidents do not recur”, Foreign Minister said while talking to the newsmen upon his arrival at the local airport.

“We all face the problem of terrorism and stressed the need to tackle the menace through a joint struggle”, he said.

He said Pakistan was pursuing a policy of maintaining friendly ties with all neighbouring countries i.e. Iran, Afghanistan, China and India. Friendly ties with India was in the interest of Pakistan and would ensure stability in the region, he added.

When asked whether Pakistan would revise its list of friends keeping in view the Indian attitude, Foreign Minister said: “List of friends does not change overnight.”

He said the Mumbai attacks paused the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan but added that Pakistan was trying to ease the stress.

After heightening tensions in the wake of Mumbai attacks, Foreign Ministry had followed a three-point agenda. Firstly to avoid war for we believed it would bring destruction to both the countries. Secondly, to save Pakistan from isolation and thirdly to ensure internal stability. “We have reached near our objectives,” he added.

He said that the situation was improving and tension had defused comparatively. He gave the credit for this to efforts made by Pakistan, suggestions put forward by it, and the important role played by some important countries.

He, however, added that it would be unwise to suggest every thing was all right. “Problem still exists and we need to get to the bottom of it to stop recurrence of Mumbai like incidents”, he said.

Pakistan today faces tough challenges and internal stability was a prerequisite to counter them.

To a question, FM said that Pakistan’s stance remains unchanged on Kashmir issue.

The Foreign Minister said Pakistan has an extradition treaty with US, but no such an agreement exists with India.

Responding to a question about Israeli attack on Gaza, he said that Israel should halt aerial and ground attack and resolve the issue through dialogue after restoring ceasefire status. “We believe the attack has no justification and should come to a halt immediately”, he added.

He said that Pakistan has condemned the Israeli aggression and added that Pakistan’s stance on the issue has a historical perspective and remains unchanged. “We stick to our stance that violence can not solve problems.”

“Today, we need to show solidarity and the Ummah should raise voice on this serious matter that involves human sufferings”, he added.

He said that Pakistan actively participated in the meeting of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) that discussed the issue in detail. He said that the matter was also under discussion by other countries and at the UN forum adding that a resolution of Security Council of UN exists and the world body was now pondering over the ground attack issue today (Sunday).

The Foreign Minister contradicted reports regarding change in government or whether his name was under consideration for Prime Minister slot.

He said that UN has decided to form an inquiry commission to investigate the assassination of martyred PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

He said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s martyrdom was a national tragedy. Her martyrdom was a severe blow not only to Pakistan but the whole region, he added.

He said “Benazir Bhutto has left behind a vacuum that will hardly be filled and that is why it is our desire to get to the bottom of the facts behind the assassination of our leader”.

To a question on governance issue, the Foreign Minister said that civil institutions were weakened, some almost left dysfunctional, during last eight to ten years of rule by previous regime. He said that government was focusing on strengthening institutions in order to to bring political stability and to furthet improve governance.

He said that “improved governance needs liaison, harmony and compatibility among the three tiers of government including federal, provincial and local”.

Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that it has been agreed in principle between Iran and Pakistan that Iran will supply 1000 megawatt to the national grid and another 100 megawatt for Gwadar. The development took place during a meeting of Pakistan’s Water and Power Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf with his Iranian counterpart.

Foreign Minister, however, added that execution on the initiative needs transmission lines and lot of other things and will take time to complete.

He held demand and supply gap in electricity generation responsible for power crisis but added that loadshedding duration will reduce shortly as a decision has been made to take practical steps to enhance thermal power generation capacity in a high level meeting held two days ago.

He said that hydal power generation capacity reduces during winter times when water outflow at such facilities becomes low or zero. He said that after Tarbela, Ghazi Barotha was the only other hydal power project undertaken by the PPP government led by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, then Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Stating that Water and Energy were their main targets during last China visit, FM said, we will pay another visit to China soon to take benefit from their expertise in building big dams, and energy generation technologies. We will also try to attract investment from China, he said but added that the initiatives taken today will take some time to materialize.

When asked about price of petrol and gas, he said that it was heartening to note the price of petroleum products falling in the international market. He added that government has reduced the price of petrol twice in the country, however, before looking into further reduction, government will also have to keep in view the overall fiscal position and the borrowing from IMF. We have to keep in view the target of bringing fiscal deficit down by June 30 and our resources generation effort while pondering over further reduction in price of petrol.