- President Mamnoon points out external forces trying to create rift between Pakistan, Afghanistan
President Mamnoon Hussain on Saturday said that Pakistan desired peace and friendship with India but the latter should not endanger stability and development of region by creating tension.
He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the “Made in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” exhibition, organised by the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Pak-China Friendship Centre here. President Mamnoon said that Afghans were brethren of Pakistanis who desired friendship and amity with them with an open heart.
“Pakistan is working sincerely for peace and development in Afghanistan and peace in Afghanistan is in our own interest,” he said, and pointed out that some external forces tried to create rift in Pak-Afghan relations but Afghanistan should understand Pakistan’s sincerity. He emphasised that Pakistan was desirous of peace and security in the region and was keen to have friendly relations with all its neighbours.
He said that relations with Iran have improved and hoped that it would also improve with other neighbours in future. President Mamnoon stressed that Pakistan was destined for progress and prosperity and called upon the nation to support the government in timely completion of the development projects and reject the elements creating hindrance.
He said that there was no loadshedding of electricity for industrial sector in the tenure of the incumbent government. He said that small dams would also be built in Balochistan for power generation. He said that sound economic policies of the government had started producing positive results. He appreciated that there had been no incident of corruption during the past few years.
Mamnoon hoped that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would change the fate of the region and Pakistan would emerge as the most important country. He underlined that there had been no change in the route of the corridor and people making it controversial were trying to mislead the people.
The president underscored the need for forging harmony on national affairs at political and non-political level for sustainable progress and cautioned that any rift would waste efforts being made for economic stability and prosperity of the people. He lauded the traders and industrialists of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for standing as bulwark against terrorism and emphasised that forces spreading lawlessness and terrorism would be crushed.
He said that people had suffered a lot at the hands of misguided elements as a result of which thousands of innocent people have been martyred, educational institutions, trade and commerce infrastructure were destroyed. But the traders and the industrialists did not lose heart and bravely faced the negative forces and kept the wheel of industry going which have produced positive results, he said.
He expressed confidence that the industry and commerce of the province would continue to flourish for prosperity of the people of the province. He said that valiant people had made the region safe for domestic and foreign investment by defeating negative forces. He stated that today’s exhibition had proved that in coming days domestic and foreign investors would look towards this region and invest in various areas including electricity generation and minerals which would not only benefit KPK but also the entire country.
President Mamnoon said that media should not let such an impression grow that might create fear among the people particularly the investors and assured of his cooperation in resolving issues of industrialists and entrepreneurs of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On the occasion, leader of Businessman Forum Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Sarhad Chamber President Muhammad Afzal and exhibition convener Zulfiqar Ali Khan also addressed the ceremony.
