Punjab Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif has said that today’s Pakistan is a progressive, tolerant and peaceful country.
He was addressing a gathering of diplomats from several countries in Islamabad on Saturday.
Pakistan is a peace-loving country. It needs leadership, which has the determination to serve the people and resolve their problems. The Pakistani political leadership needs to have consensus on the economic roadmap, said that chief minister, who also took pride in addressing more than 60 envoys.
The chief minister informed the gathering about the Pakistan’s pivotal role in the war against terrorism. “Pakistan has sacrificed more than 70,000 lives in the war on terror. Pakistan was a frontline ally in the war against terrorism, he said, adding: “The entire world is witness to our sacrifices and tremendous achievements in eradicating the menace.” He said that the Pakistani nation displayed determination and encourage in the war on terror, adding that the success in the war was the result of a consensus between military and political leadership. He said Pakistan Army had rendered great sacrifices in the war against terrorism started after the 9/11.
He continued: “Ensuring peace and having good relations is our top priority. Pakistan has a long history of relationship with Islamic countries while Pakistan also has strong and consistent relationship with western countries. We are proceeding forward while getting benefits after experiments of friendly countries and are thankful for the economic cooperation of these countries.”
To a question, the chief minister said: “Our foreign policy will be based on peace, development and economic cooperation so that countries of the region can benefit from resources. We have wasted a lot of precious time and now it is the time to compensate the loss. Our foreign policy is a policy of durable peace and stability.”
Referring to Afghanistan issue, the chief minister said: “Peace in Pakistan is directly linked to peace and stability in Afghanistan.”
He said the government of PML-N had taken concrete measures to strengthen the economy the courtesy of which the GDP had reached 5.8 percent, highest in the last 13 years.
Similarly the ratio of agriculture progress remained 3.8%. We “are facing the challenges of deficit and we will have to resolve it by promoting trade and not by taking loans.
The chief minister went on to say that China had made investment worth billions of dollars under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)-related projects. “We are working on the vision to make Pakistan a moderate, consolidated and developing country.”
Published in Daily Times, May 13th 2018.
