Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that present government is determined to root out the scourge of terrorism and a policy is being evolved with consensus at national level for coping with this challenge.
The CM expressed these views during a meeting with a delegation of European Union-led by Ms Ana Gomes, on Wednesday. Ambassador of European Union Lars Gunnar Wigemark, other members of the delegation, Provincial Ministers Khalil Tahir Sindhu, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar and concerned secretaries were present on the occasion.
Talking to the delegation, the chief minister said the country could not progress without ridding of extremism. He said Pakistan had written history by sacrificing 40,000 lives in the war against terrorism. He said all possible steps had been taken to ensure protection to the rights of minorities in Punjab and the quota of minorities in government jobs had been increased to five per cent.
“Pak army officers, jawans, police officials, citizens and politicians have sacrificed their lives in this war. Pakistan has no option except to defeat extremism and terrorism and the government is committed to overcome this problem. That is why, government is increasing the capacity building of intelligence and law enforcement agencies,” the CM added.
Shahbaz said friendly countries including European Union should fully assist Pakistan in this regard. He lamented that some forces supported extremists in the past and the Jehadis of the past had become terrorists today. He said government had gathered all stakeholders at one platform for resolving this serious issue and a national policy was being formulated with consensus so that the menace of terrorism could be rooted out forever.
Mentioning the programmes launched for women, minorities and youth in Punjab, Shahbaz informed the delegation that the youth were being empowered for providing soft term loans under self-employment scheme so that they could not only become self-reliant but also earn livelihood for their families.
“The government is pursuing a solid strategy for providing quality education to the less-privileged and talented male and female students in the province. All segments of the society will have to play their effective role for defeating terrorism and extremism,” he added.
The chief minister said due to the access to European markets and giving the status of GSP Plus to Pakistan, not only poverty would be reduced but new job opportunities would also be created and Pakistan would become prosperous. He said exports of Pakistan would increase considerably and expressed his believe that all these steps would be very effective for elimination of trends of extremism and European Union should march forward speedily in this regard.
Members of the delegation of European Union said that Punjab had made remarkable progress under the leadership of Shahbaz Sharif. They said the big difference between Punjab and other provinces was the personality of Shahbaz Sharif.
Separately, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that the entire nation has to be united on one platform for facing the challenges confronted by the motherland. He said that the center and four provinces would have to evolve a joint strategy to overcome terrorism, energy crisis and other problems. He said that concrete steps would have to be taken for eradication of menace of corruption, poverty and unemployment.
He was talking to a delegation of Sindh Assembly Members visiting Punjab on Wednesday. The delegation comprises members of various political parties including Pakistan People’s Party, Muttahida Quami Movement, Tehrik-e-Insaaf, Pakistan Muslim League (F) and minorities. Provincial Ministers Rana Sanaullah Khan, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Atta Manika, Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Sher Ali Gorchani and President PILDAT Ahmed Bilal Mehboob were also present on the occasion.
When personality starts defining progress then we are lost. Do the respected members of the European union mean other leaders in Pakistan have no personality. Let us not breed cult politics in Pakistan. It is the media who creates cult and personalities in Pakistan. How do you define personality? defying a sitting president and breaking microphones. There is never going to be a consensus about fighting trerrorisim in pakistan.The people responsible for it are in the various political parties. Shabaz Shariff has been in the politics for a long time. He has a reactive personality rather than a proactive one. He loves exposure of the right type and ofcourse the media obliges.
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