LONDON: President Asif Ali Zardari, who is on official visit to UK, held important meetings with foreign secretary David Miliband and conservative Opposition leader David Cameron. During the meetings, they discussed the regional situation, war on terror, ongoing military operation in Swat and other bilateral issues.

Pakistani High Commissioner in UK Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan, president spokesman Farhat Ullah Babar and other high officials were also present during the meetings. Sources privy to the meetings said that Zardari was of the view that international community and Britain would provide assistance to Pakistan to get rid of terrorism especially in strengthening of law enforcement agencies, stability of economy and rehabilitation of IDPs.

During his meeting with Cameron, the president also condoled the death of his son and apprised him of the military operation in Swat. Cameron praised Pakistan efforts it has done so far in the war on terror.-ONLINE

WASHINGTON: President Asif Ali Zardari has stressed the need of devising a strategy to eliminate the menace of terrorism. Speaking in Meet the Press program of NBC, in Washington he called for close cooperation between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the United States to tackle the challenge of the extremism and terrorism.

President Zardari said the terrorism is a world wide challenge of the 21st century as the terrorists are launching attacks everywhere including Spain, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Africa and the United States. The President strongly dismissed the impression that the extremists and terrorists will be able to inflict irreparable damage on Pakistan. He said one hundred and eighty million people of Pakistan are resolved to fight the menace.

To a question, the President opposed conditions to the US financial assistance for Pakistan. In an another interview with the Washington Post and News Hour Television Channel, President Asif Ali Zardari has urged the United States to provide sustained financial assistance and drones technology to Pakistan to curb extremism.

He urged the United States to provide a fleet of US aerial drones to Pakistan to strike Taliban and Al-Qaeda hideouts in Tribal Areas along the Afghan border. To a question, the President rejected media apprehensions about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets and said that they are in safe hands under a foolproof command and control system. NNI

NEW DELHI: India on Sunday welcomed President Asif Ali Zardari’s remarks that India is not a threat to Islamabad, saying it is a positive step towards the peace process between the two neighbors. “It is a positive step. It looks to be a positive step towards the peace process. Pakistan should now concentrate only on Taliban militants who are a threat to the world security,” an Indian External Affairs official told Chinese news agency on condition of anonymity.

For the first time, a top Pakistani leader like Zardari has said that India is not a threat to Pakistan and terrorists inside the country is the worst threat for Pakistan. “Well, I am already on record. I have never considered India a threat,” Zardari told an interview on the PBS news channel’s popular show “News hour With Jim Lehrer” in Washington DC Saturday.

“I have always considered India a neighbor, which we want to improve our relationship with. We have had some cold times and we have had some hard times with them. We have gone to war thrice, but democracies are always trying to improve relationships,” he said.-SANA

WASHINGTON: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that an appropriate number of army has been deployed at the western borders of the country. At a meeting with the members of Editorial Board of Washington Post, he said if required, government will consider sending of more troops there.

He said army at the western border is capable to meet any eventuality. He said there is no need to withdraw troops from eastern borders as India has deployed four time more troops. To a question, the President said Pakistan wants to have good relations with its neighbours particularly India and hoped that after the elections, an elected government in India will respect our gesture.

The President said the drone attacks are against our sovereignty and US should transfer this technology to Pakistan. NNI

WASHINGTON: Interviewed by a major American newspaper just before this week’s meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and President Barack Obama, common people on the streets of Pakistan had a single message for the U.S. leader: stop drone attacks. Although many Pakistanis had welcomed the election of President Obama as an opportunity for some fresh thinking about their troubled region, The Los Angeles Times reported, the honeymoon hasn’t lasted long.

Pakistanis from different walks of life say they’d give the American leader an earful if they were at the White House table, correspondent Mark Magnier wrote from Islamabad. One of the biggest complaints: the deadly drones, the hugely unpopular unmanned aircraft involved in spying and firing on suspected “high value” militants on Pakistani soil. Islamabad sees them as violation of its territory.“These drones are very bad,” Ashraf Bhatti, an apparel merchant, was quoted as saying in the Anjuman bazaar in Lahore. “What would America think if someone started shooting rockets and killing people in their land?”

The anger and resentment remain so great, some here argue, that America loses far more in goodwill than it gains in assassinated militants. “It just hits everyday people like us,” said Mohammed Yasin, a retired shopkeeper. Some Pakistanis say they would be less distrustful of U.S. motives and objectives if Washington put a quick end to its “Af-Pak” terminology, strategy and mind-set, some told the The Times correspondent.

Besides Pakistanis, a number of lawmakers on the Hill have also questioned the use of the term Af-Pak, calling it an affront to the sense of sovereignty of the two nations. The American approach is meant to combine policy toward the two countries into a single cohesive plan, the dispatch pointed out. But people here say that while the region may look like one big mess from afar, there’s a world of difference between themselves and their neighbour to the west.

Pakistan, they say, is a nation with a functioning government, respected universities, a longstanding legal tradition and a vibrant arts tradition. Afghanistan is a land without much in the way of law, government or other conventional definitions of a nation, some contend.

“The majority of Pakistanis really don’t want to be put in the same category,” said Abid Sulehri, head of Islamabad’s Sustainable Development Policy Institute. “It’s very bad if they continue to use that term.”

David Kilcullen, a key adviser to the US Central Commander Gen David Petraeus told a Congressional committee last week that the predator strikes are creating more extremists than they are taking out the bad guys. He pointed out the drone attacks have taken out some al-Qaeda terrorists but they have killed 700 Pakistanis.

Pakistan and the United States have been cooperating closely since 9/11 in fighting al-Qaeda militants who crossed into Pakistani tribal areas when the U.S. swept the Taliban out of Kabul. The U.S. is a major economic and trade partner of Pakistan but has angered Islamabad with a series of drone attacks in its tribal areas. The Pakistani side is expected to raise the issue at Wednesday’s talks.-APP

LONDON: President Asif Ali Zardari and the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain held detailed talks here Sunday evening on the internal situation in Pakistan, a discussion Hussain later described as ‘very positive and meaningful’.
The meeting between the two leaders lasted well over four hours at a Central London hotel. The President was assisted at the talks by Dr.Asim Hussain, Petroleum and Energy Minister, Federal Interior Minister Rahman Malik and Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan while Altaf Hussain was accompanied by the members of the London-based MQM Rabita Committee.

The two leaders also held one on one meeting. The MQM Chief told waiting media that they deliberated upon various issues confronting the country and the steps that are required to prevent the spread of Talibanisation. ‘The increase in Talibanisation is a process to destabilise and disintegrate the country and we are determined to prevent such a disaster by all means,” said the MQM leader.

Hussain said the President told him that the Federal Government was taking all measures in this regard and the law enforcing agencies backed by the Army was battling the militants and extremists. He said issues relating to Baluchistan also came under discussion and the importance of bringing all stake holders on board was emphasised.

Under February’s peace deal, the government agreed to impose Islamic law in the districts that make up the Malakand Division in hopes that the militants would lay down their arms. But the Taliban in Swat did not do so and entered the adjacent Buner district to impose their harsh brand of Islam. He further said the President expressed his optimism that they would eventually succeed in turning back scourge of Talibanisation.

Hussain also mentioned that the President agreed that all political parties irrespective of their ideology and philosophy must sink their differences and unite against the dangers confronting the country.

Rahman Malik who was also present at the briefing said the President acknowledged and valued the support of the MQM both at the Centre and in Sindh. The Minister said the President explained that Nizam-e-Adl was introduced in Swat in order to give peace a chance and on the condition that the Taliban would lay down their arms.

Malik said the Islamic law was brought into force on the request of the NWFP Government to bring about peace and restore normalcy. However, the Interior Minister said despite giving commitment to the Government that they surrender their arms once the Nizam-e-Adl was promulgated , the Taliban went back on their promise forcing the authorities to swing into action and take lower Dir and Buner.

Altaf Hussain went on to say that in his discussion with the President, it was agreed on the importance of preserving democracy in Pakistan because the country’s salvation was tied to it. “We all agreed that political as well as religious parties even though they may have serious differences with the Government or the MQM must not taken any steps that would derail democracy.”

Answering a question of the drones attack, the MQM leader said the President has assured him that he would take up this question with the US leadership on his upcoming visit to America. Regarding the issues facing Karachi, Altaf Hussain said the President told him that on his return from the US tour, he would discuss the matter in detail with the Sindh Administration and taken decisions after consulting all the stakeholders.

He appealed to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif to support all the good decisions of the Government to strengthen democracy and stability in the country. Malik said the MQM leader also appreciated the role of President Zardari in making the Friends of Democratic Pakistan Group realise that the south Asian country was their important ally in war of terror and they must provide all support and assistance to his country. -APP

LONDON: President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in the British capital on Saturday evening from Libya en route to the United States for talks with the American President Barack Obama. The President was received at the Heathrow Airport by Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Wajid Shamsul Hasan and senior officials of the chancery. The officials said the President will leave for America on the morning of May 5.

President Asif Ali Zardari met Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain and discussed regional and bilateral issues during his visit to Britain. According to sources, the meeting took place in a hotel where federal minister for interior Rehman Malik and members of MQM Rabita Committee were present.

Reportedly, MQM conveyed its reservations regarding some police officers of Sindh following the Karachi violence during the meeting, while the CCPO Karachi Waseem Ahmed also arrived in London. Zardari is expected to meet British foreign secretary and other top government officials. After 48-hour stopover in London President Zardari will leave for Washington where he will meet his counterpart Barack Obama and the officials of the administration.

Input from Agencies

Pakistan in the past 5 decades has greatly benefited from the astronomical rise of China’s re-entry in the corridors of world power. China has proven to be Pakistan’s time-tested friend and the two countries’ enjoy time-tested brotherly relations. Pakistan and China must focus on developing their relations to the next logical level. Currently, Sino-Pakistani coordination is mostly limited to national security issues such as development of military applications at cost-effective prices and a sprinkle of Chinese investment in Pakistan’s private sector for the development Pakistani industry. Both countries have time and time again identified the need to make their close relations be reflected by increased commerce and trade however this has been limited due to several structural and stability issues on the Pakistani front. Pakistan should focus on ways to fasten regulation and increase incentives for enhanced Chinese investment in Pakistan’s national economy. Cooperation between China and our country – and the ability of Pakistan to take not just from China’s tangible wealth but also to learn how they produced this wealth and regained their greatness can serve the interests of the rising aspirations of the Pakistani people.

Deng Xiaopeng, chairman of the Communist Party of China remarked that it is ‘glorious to get wealthy’. His remark set in motion the events of 1978, when China took steps to de-regulate its command-style economy and the restructuring that resulted in the conversion of the sleepy town of Shenzhen with a population of 5000 people in 1978 to a major world city with a per capita gross domestic product within the city that would compete with Western standards. Shenzhen was the first site of the Chinese experiment with a new form of Chinese communism – one which took some of the tenets of Marxist-Lennism, blended it with Chairman Mao’s desire for self-efficiency, self-reliance and ‘collectivization’, recognized the basic attributes of 5000 years of Chinese culture and psychology, and gave birth to ‘Communism with Chinese characteristics’.

From 1978 onwards, China has liberated over a three hundred million people out of poverty in mainland China. A Chinese middle class has emerged which makes Western multinationals envy the depth of the Chinese consumer’s pocket. While China may have abandoned collective industrial units of Mao or the collective farming societies, China has created a new form of collectivization. Whether this is inadvertent or not is simply not known, but the Chinese Nation thinks with one heart beat when it comes to perceive dangers to Chinese national interest. For example, the typically holier-than-thou patronizing behaviour of the French towards China annoyed the people of China to such an extent that they collectively used the depth and strength of their pockets to ignore French products. This resulted in a downward spiral of profits which were previously being enjoyed by French multinationals in China. At one point, France used to be the #1 destination for Chinese tourists. After the debacle in Paris when the French hosted that imposter the Dalai Lama and dared to intervene in Chinese internal affairs, France’s popularity dropped dramatically amongst the Chinese. The Chinese stood up for their country. France this summer was holding the rotating presidency of the European Union. The Chinese premier rightfully snubbed Sarkozy by calling the E.U-China summit off. President Zardari was able to ‘snub’ Gordon Brown over the illegal Pakistani student arrest issue by refusing to have a joint press conference only to honour Brown’s presence in Islamabad by having our Prime Minister shake hands appear with Gordon Brown in the press conference and Mr.Brown showed neither remorse nor pain for the emotional horror he caused to the families of those ten innocent Pakistani students – a national disgrace for our pride.

Pakistan is not as weak as her civilian leaders make it seem. In the 1970’s, China was surrounded by hostile states. The U.S was considering the possibility of diplomatic relations with the Revolutionary Republic but it remained hostile to China. The Soviet Union and China were increasingly in an estranged relationship and there was a massive military mobilization on their mutual borders and as a consequence there was a genuine split between both countries. China and its neighbour Vietnam were having tensions, while China’s friction with Japan and South Korea remained hot due to both countries hosting American military bases and the conflict in the two Koreas. In between all of this, there was a recalcitrant India under the leadership of Indira Gandhi who had just defeated China’s principal ally Pakistan and she showed signs of wanting to pick a fight with China to avenge the 1962 national humiliation the Chinese delivered to their largest South Asian neighbour in a brief but bitter war. Yet no one could challenge China. China focused on internal development and decided to make itself internally strong.

What began in 1978 transformed the imagination of the Chinese people. In little over a decade, China marched straight to economic progress and technical recovery. By the turn of the millennium, China’s share in global trade took an increasingly upward trend. China averted a South East Asian recession in 2000 when the tech bubble burst in America caused American demand of products from Japan, South Korea, Philippines and Malaysia to decrease significantly. China however in less than 30 years had managed to build up the required capacity to consume those products and hence cushioned the effects of the tech bubble crisis spilling over to South East Asia. Trade and commerce are not just activities for generating employment but should also be used as instruments of foreign policy.

China’s grand stock of over $1.5 trillion in foreign reserves makes it one of the most powerful countries in the world today. While on news we read about Obama announcing stimulus packages, the Chinese are out there too announcing $600billion stimulus packages for their own national economy. While the principal pillar of growth in China since 1978 has been foreign direct investment, in the year 2008 domestic consumption overtook foreign direct investment in size and its totality.

Pakistan needs to learn from China. We cannot just go with a beggars bowl and ask for $500 million every now and then from Beijing. They are our friends and they care for us because they realize the importance Pakistan can play in the emerging world order. But we cannot be part of the new world order that is coming if we remain addicted to peanuts and crumbs because this is making our decadent political elite even more decadent while Pakistanis are unable to realize the Pakistan Ideal.

Pakistan must learn from China. We must focus on developing a holistic trade policy with China. Chinese investment in Pakistan is critical. The technicalities of what China should or should not invest in are a totally different topic, but the main areas need to be mentioned. The need for

• a fibre optic cable connecting Pakistan and China,
• building consumer and cargo railways along the Karakoram Highway,
• enhanced technical partnership,
• enhanced educational partnership,
• and enhanced energy,
• water security, and
• crop production coordination are the areas
• besides defence where China can play an instrumental role.

This will bold well for our national security and help connect Islamabad into a closer orbit with Beijing. The need to promote Mandarin in Pakistan is also needed. While China has instructed many of its institutions to dedicate a certain portion of their staff to learn Urdu (or any other language that would help China), Pakistan has failed to do this. Pakistani officials can sometimes be so insensitive to China that while the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan was gifting medals and presents to special Pakistani participants in the Special Peoples’ Olympics, Pakistani officials were busy asking Chinese journalists to sit in the back so that foreign (read European and American journalists) could sit in the front while Zardari would unleash the inimitable light he withholds within and which no one can sense or feel at a press conference few months ago. This is not just comical but it is also painful. Get over the hangover that the white man is the master. He is not. We are the masters of our own destiny, as China has demonstrated.

Pakistan is today surrounded by hostile states with the exception of China and the on-again, off-again double-mindedness of Iran. Even though most of us believe the current rounds of tensions with India began after the Mumbai tensions and allegations, this is not true – they merely came to the surface.

• Indo-Pak tensions have been building since 2004 when India unilaterally began constructing dams in Indian-occupied Kashmir, unilaterally violating the Indus Water Treaty and as a consequence severely cutting the water flow of Pakistani rivers and effecting our food security, energy security, and water security.
• Our tensions have also been rising because of Pakistani support to Sri Lanka’s War Agaisnt Terrorism. Our neighbour has been very unhappy of Pakistani assistance in training the Sri Lankan Air Force in precision guided aerial-bombing which has in fact been instrumental in the current success of Sri Lanka in stamping out the Tamil Tiger Threat.

We must not waiver in our conviction that we have the sovereign right to manage our relations bilaterally with who ever we chose to do so and however we choose to do so. We also must have the conviction in ourselves that we have the right to choose how we wish to perceive any 2nd country and for that matter President Obama should kindly focus on the appalling failure of the U.S in Afghanistan and not focus in Pakistan bashing.

However, the emerging dente in America is to de-hyphenate the Western World’s relationship with India and disregard Pakistani and Kashmiri sensitivity with regard to the ongoing occupation in Indian-occupied Kashmir. This emerging dente is the most dramatic change in the South Asia power equation since decades. The only other changes which occurred were the dismemberment of East Pakistan in 1971 and the creation of a Pakistani atomic weapon which had such a profound implication on the regional security of Pakistan. Who does Washington think it is to firstly decide for the entire Western World and also to stab Pakistan in the back once again? Washington is strong in international affairs, but not as strong as it used to be. This creates a creative dynamic in the corridors of world power and Pakistan can manoeuvre smartly if we took the right steps.

What does Pakistan do in the face of a rising pro-India sentiment in Washington? When in doubt, look to Beijing. While we look to Beijing, we should not expect that the Chinese will always be there. Hence we must introspect. While we introspect, we should take Chinese ideas on the sort of actionable change they were able to bring and then we would make the defence of Pakistan impregnable. For now, Pakistan must deeply search its soul and we must all collectively ask ourselves why our parliamentary democracy has failed in living up to the expectations and zeal of the Pakistan Movement. The answer to this is the ‘FM’ word, and feudalism is bad. But the feudal mentality of Pakistan’s decadent political elite reeks of backwardness and is not going anywhere soon. They would rather meet foreign politicians, foreign leaders, and foreign envoys while compete against other feudal-minded personalities’ on how much they are willing to sell our dignity and our sovereignty for a wink (read chance) to sit in the seat of power in Islamabad and the four provinces. Pakistan is in need of a Pakistani Deng Xiaopeng. A man or woman who will display the courage, the audacity, the credentials, and the eloquence needed to march Pakistan to the path of technical capacity, economic prosperity, and intellectual wealth. This will also ensure that a strong sovereign Pakistan emerges which is capable of standing up for its strategic interests externally in this region and beyond. If Pakistan could banish forever the corruption of the feudal mentality, provide some semblance of stability, and adopt ‘Deng Xiaopeng Thought’, then we could really ensure that rooti, kapra, makan would be more than just rhetoric and make it a reality. We could then also aspire for Gari, tahleem, and an avaaz. This voice would be strong and would reflect the imagination of the Pakistani people. Even the moon would be within our reach – as China has demonstrated.

President Asif Ali Zardari said that the Pakistan Peoples Party government will ensure that the working class gets its due rights and are freed from all types of exploitation. In a message on May day, the President said the government will continue to get inspiration and guidance in ameliorating the workers by pursuing the principles laid down in the manifesto by the Shaheed leaders.

The President pointed that a disenchanted labour was one of the causes of low productivity and industrial unrest. All the political forces should join hands in national interest in improving the lot of the working classes and protecting them from exploitation. He assured that the government will not abandon the labour, the peasants, the fisher folk and the wage earners in their struggle for emancipation and freeing themselves from the shackles of exploitation.

The President said both Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto believed that the PPP derived its strength from the working classes of Pakistan and they always fought for their rights and well being.

The President said the government has taken several steps for the workers that include restoration in service of sacked workers through legislation, replacement of the anti labour legislation the IRO 2002 with a pro?labour law, restoration of trade union activities. He said the government also plans to build 80,000 housing units for the labour, enhancing the minimum wage to 6,000 rupees per month, increasing workers’ share in profit and increasing and universalizing marriage grants to all workers.

President Zardari said never before perhaps so much was done for the labour in such a short span of time as has been done by the present government. President Zardari said;

“These measures are a manifestation of conscious efforts by the present government to restore to the labour and the working classes their dignity and their rights. These will always be remembered, I also pay tributes to the Chicago martyrs for their struggle against oppressive socio-economic system a century ago,”

While Prime Minister is his message Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani urged workers and employers of the country to come forward and play their role in making Pakistan a truly progressive, moderate and an enlightened country in step with the modern world. In a message on the occasion of May Day, the Prime Minister said,

“We are celebrating May Day in a new economically challenging global environment this year with the ambition to reaffirm our commitment to uphold and enhance the dignity of labour. Celebration of this day is a tribute to the working class all over the world that reminds us of the historic struggle of the Chicago workers who laid their lives for achieving a just working environment and for securing their rights,”

Gilani said the role of labour in the economic development of the country cannot be but over emphasized.

“It has always been the labour community which contributed significantly towards maximizing production and productivity. We cannot compete in the international market without provision of a respectable status and dignity to our labour as per ILO standards,” he added.

The Prime Minister said, “We are taking various steps to review the existing labour laws in order to bring them in conformity with the international standards to keep pace with the global trends and ensure dignity of labour. The government is taking all possible measures to protect the welfare and rights of workers. The government has repealed the Industrial Relations Order (IR)?2002) and revived banned trade unions, he added.

The Prime Minister said formulation of a labour policy in the light of the former Prime Ministers, late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed’s vision is also under consideration and will soon be announced.

“Workers and employers are partners in the production process and their coordination and cooperation is paramount for industrial peace and harmony to ensure maximum utilization of their inputs for the socio?economic development of our country. May Allah Almighty be with us in our endeavours. Ameen.”

Acting President Farooq H. Naek said Pakistan is fully alive to the welfare of workers and accelerate steps aimed at creation of better working conditions at farms and factories. The Acting President said this in a message issued in connection with Labour Day.

“Pakistan joins the world community today in observing the May Day which reinvigorates the spirit of respect for the rights of workers and reaffirms our commitment to uphold these in letter and spirit,”

Naek said Islam places great emphasis on dignity of labour and enjoins its followers to give workers their rightful place in society.
“It is my belief that unless we have cadres of well?trained, satisfied and contended workforce, the country cannot take rapid strides on road to development,” he said. The Acting President said it is with this end in view that the Government is striving to improve the lot of workers all over the country. “It is indeed satisfying to note that various schemes are being implemented in this regard,” he said.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira has said the present Government is the people’s government and Pakistan People’s Party has always supported the cause of labour right from its inception. In his message on the International Labour Day falling on May 1,the minister felicitated the labour community saying that this historic day reminds us the valiant and heroic struggle of the Chicago workers who had laid their lives for the collective rights.He also said that

“we also honour the labour struggles of the past as well as those who in recent times have risked their lives and stood up to powerful forces unwilling to listen to the organized voice of work.”

The minister said that these sacrifices were so great and momentous that they have left an indelible mark on the history of mankind and these still continue to be a source of inspiration for the downtrodden and oppressed workers.

“This is the day to revisit the struggles of the working class and commemorate its achievements,this day is celebrated in commemoration of the martyrs of 1886 in Chicago which paved the way for social and economic achievements of the working class and labour movement. The minister said that the day provided an impetus to the struggle for rights of workers and thus ensured that the iniquitous system of their exploitation will no more exist.

input from Agencies

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemning the violence in Karachi, which caused loss of precious human lives, said Wednesday that it is time to exhibit national unity. Spokesperson former Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the President who is traveling on foreign visit to Libya has called upon the provincial chief minister to call a meeting of all stakeholders at the earliest to hammer out a solution and prevent the violence from spreading.

The President said that the nation could ill afford violence in Karachi at a time when it was already dealing with the militants in northern parts of the country. President Zardari said that the on-going fight against militants called for a national consensus and for all political parties to join hands. The violence as witnessed in Karachi on Wednesday would only give space to the militants and distract from the national effort aimed at defeating the extremists.

“We will foil the designs of those who want to exploit the situation by creating and promoting political and ethnic differences”.

Time has come for all and sundry to set aside political differences for a while and to give full support to the efforts underway to fight extremists and militants and to restore peace and normalcy in different parts of the country, the President said.

The President said that it was this underlying desire for arriving at national unity that the Party meetings held on Tuesday in Islamabad had deferred the decision to pullout of Punjab government and also called upon the PML-N to rejoin the federal government. National unity at this hour is the best way to demonstrate our will to keep Pakistan as moderate, modern and democratic state where the rights of all citizens are protected, the President said. The President also condoled with the families of all those killed and injured in the violence.

Political and religious leaders, expressing concerns over Karachi situation, strongly condemned the violent incidents that killed more than 20 people on Wednesday. Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif expressed grave concerns and profound grief over incidents of violence and unrest in Karachi. He called for immediate arrest of the culprits responsible for creating lawlessness in the city.

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan said that the government should take urgent measures for arrest of miscreant elements and bring them to the court of law. Jamaat-e-Islami leader Professor Ghafoor Ahmed also demanded immediate action against the persons involved in violent incidents.
Input from Agencies