Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday said Pak-US relations were multi-dimensional and important and the country’s national interests would determine ties between the two countries.
“We are trying to have an open, transparent, and mutually beneficial relationship with the US based on our national interests,” Gilani said in his address at the Quetta Command and Staff College.
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani and Commandant Staff College Major General Sohail Ahmed Khan were also present.
Minister Gilani said a thriving, prosperous, transparent, and peaceful Afghanistan was in the interest of Pakistan.
“We have improved our relations with all our neighbors including Afghanistan, India and Iran,” he said, adding that “we want to play our role in the stability and peace in Afghanistan”. Gilani said Pakistan was paying special attention to making its neighborhood peaceful, stable, and prosperous.
He, however, made it clear that Pakistan had an important role to play in the region and it should be taken on board in the decision-making process about the future of Afghanistan. He said Pakistan was facing many challenges including terrorism and security which were the country’s most important issues. “The ongoing spate of terror has caused billions of dollars of losses to Pakistan,” he said and mentioned that over 30,000 soldiers and law enforcement personnel laid down their lives besides 5,000 civilians in the fight against terrorism.
“I have a firm belief that these sacrifices will lead us to a future where our children and the generations that follow will lead a peaceful and productive life.”
He said economic growth, national security, and democratic pluralism were the government’s top priority.
Referring to the rise in POL prices in the country, he said economic development and national stability were correlative and pointed that prices of petroleum products,
like other countries, had also affected Pakistan.
The PM said the country faced long periods of non-democratic governments and a look at the balance sheet of political history showed that only democratically-elected governments provided constitutional, political, economic, and security solutions that stood the test of time. He said nations prospered under democracies and thrived in the strength of their democratic institutions.
“Parliament, executive, and judiciary, all have to work well within their given domains for the people’s will,” he said. He said the floods of 2010 caused losses of around $10 billion, but despite all difficulties the economic indicators had shown improvement since his government came to office.
Gilani said the GDP witnessed growth while the Karachi Stock Exchange also increased to $13 billion.
To a question on maintenance of peace and resolution of grievances of the people of Balochistan, he said the incumbent government attached great importance to Balochistan and considered it the heart of the country.
“On the demand of the Balochistan government, we increased their share in the 7th NFC Award to Rs 120 billion from Rs 40 billion; gave provincial autonomy under the 18th Amendment in the constitution, initiated Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan through which thousands of jobless youth of Balochistan were given jobs and took practical steps for empowering the people of Balochistan on their resources.” He said he had instructed to chief secretary to select 35,000 graduates of Balochistan who would be given jobs by the government, adding that 1,500 jobs of Federal Levies Force had already been provided to Balochistan.
The prime minister said efforts were afoot to utilise solar energy for tube wells in Balochistan and the government would give a generous subsidy for the project.“The successful installation of solar energy system in Balochistan would help save energy for the national grid,” he added.
He said to boost the agriculture sector in Balochistan, the federal government was already extending 50 percent subsidy on tube wells.
Gilani said under the BISP, Rs 5 billion had been distributed among the families in Balochistan so far, while Rs 10 billion were in the pipeline.
About 65,000 families in Balochistan are getting financial support under the BISP, he noted.
This crime minister, the drug lord of the gillani family, has no clue about the national interests of Pakistan. If he did, he would have realized that his suicide would serve the national interest more than anything else. People will pay money to be able to pee on his grave once he dies. zardari would sell them tickets for the previlidge 🙂
Comments are closed.