Govt will end S Punjab’s sense of deprivation, says prime minister

In his address to the nation on Pakistan’s 64th Independence Day on Sunday, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said President Asif Ali Zardari would soon visit southern Punjab to consult with all the stakeholders and prepare a strategy so the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government could end the sense of deprivation prevalent in the people of the area.
Gilani said he had requested the president to visit southern Punjab and during the visit, Zardari would meet the workers and office-bearers of the PPP, parliamentarians and members of other political parties to discuss measures to end the sense of deprivation of the people of southern Punjab. He also said democracy was the guarantor of peace and prosperity and the government would continue building consensus with all political parties to resolve the serious problems confronting the nation.
“Parliament is about to complete its fourth year and the political leadership of Pakistan agrees that it will succeed in stabilising democracy, which is the solution to all problems,” he said. On foreign relations, the prime minister said Pakistan’s policy was being taken ahead on the principles of peaceful co-existence and mutual harmony and understanding. “We want to promote relations with all countries on the basis of goodwill and equality,” he said.
“Pakistan wants to resolve issues with its neighbour India by dialogue so that both countries can get rid of the blights of poverty, illiteracy and backwardness,” he said. “Nobody can deny the reality that Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan and the international community has accepted the right of self-determination of Kashmiris,” he added. “Pakistan will continue to provide unhindered moral, diplomatic and political support to Kashmiris so that they can get their rights,” he said.
Terming relations with the United States vital for Pakistan, he said: “We are ever-ready for cooperation with our friends but we will not accept anyone’s hegemony.” He said Pakistan’s relations with China were of historic importance and friendship with the northern neighbour was an important pillar of the country’s foreign policy. “Sino-Pak friendship, in real terms, is higher than the Himalayan mountains and deeper than the sea,” he said.
He said Pakistan belonged to all its people and everybody had to think and act to make it a better place. “We should not ask what our country has given to us, but ask what we have given to our country,” Gilani said.