The judiciary should ensure implementation of the NRO verdict through the army; otherwise people will be forced to take to the streets for a bloody revolution, said Former Air Staff vice chief and Pakistani Aircraft JF-17 Thunder Founder air marshal (R) Shahid Lateef, during a seminar on “Pakistan’s Problems and Their Solutions” at the TECH Club.
Lateef said under the cover of security trainings, vital information regarding Pakistan’s nuclear assets had been provided to the US. “To take over Pakistan’s nuclear assets, incidents like the Abbotabad operation, and the attacks on General Headquarters (GHQ) and Mehran Base happened,” he added. The present democratic government had failed to deliver over four years, he said, adding that rather than waiting for miracles, sincere efforts needed to be made to safeguard the country.
He said the current elections structure was corrupt and if elections were held under the present system, corrupt governments would continue to prevail in Pakistan.
He said while America had coined the JF-17 Thunder aircraft project a “paper project,” they had successfully completed it within a record time of two and half years with a 15-member team, in contrast to India’s LCA project which was yet to be completed, despite having spent 15 years on it, with the help of 80 institutions.
Pakistan should strengthen relations with China instead of depending on the US, who have never been reliable, he said. Pakistan should portray the image of a peaceful nation, instead of a nation of militants, he added.
Lateef said Pakistan needed to adopt a strategy of reducing land forces and increasing its airpower capability, as was being practiced by other countries. Pakistan had already wasted hard-earned foreign reserves for the purchase of expensive nuts and bolts for military equipments bought under compulsion by the USA and western powers, on their terms and conditions, he said.
Earlier, TECH Club President Zubair Sheikh in his welcome note cited the American ambassador as saying that the Pakistani aircraft, JF-17 Thunder, were more dangerous than atomic bombs, adding that they had exercised their utmost efforts to rollback the project. Punjab University former Mass Communication Department dean Dr Mugheesuddin said Pakistan needed leaders who were a source of hope for Pakistan. He added that vigilance regarding the media was also required. Concluding, TECH Society President Dr Sadiq thanked the guest speakers and engineers, doctors and professors who had participated in the seminar.