Thursday, April 16, 2009
Vows to tackle challenges facing country
News Desk
TOKYO: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday said the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, not Sharia, had been enforced in the Malakand Division.
Addressing the Pakistani community here, President Zardari said the government could reconsider the regulation if peace was not restored. He urged the international community to extend an emergency financial assistance to Pakistan.
Terrorists could become powerful if urgent aid was not provided to Pakistan, he noted. The president said the Friends of Pakistan was the best forum to bring improvement to the countryís fragile economy.
Agencies add: President Zardari vowed to retrieve the country from various challenges, including economic and security, through home-grown strategies and by following the policy of reconciliation and dialogue.
He said whenever the PPP came into power, it had to confront with different problems, but the party always faced the situation with great courage and took the country on the right path by converting the weaknesses into strength. The president said the present PPP government, despite the economic crisis it inherited from the previous regime, conceived and implemented a home-grown strategy to save the country from the massive impact of global
recession.
He said the PPP government also engaged the world community to get them realise the problems faced by Pakistan, a front-line state in the fight against terrorism, and help the country. The president said the concept of the FODP initiative, launched by him in New York in September, was also part of this engagement which was aimed at helping Pakistan and the region, facing the menace of terrorism and militancy, which could affect the peace of the whole world. “As today’s world has turned into a globe, no country can avoid the impact of any happening in any part,” he added.
The president said there was a growing sense of realisation in the world about the problems being faced by the Muslim world, adding whereas the Muslim countries were also alive to the situation and were striving to present the true image of Islam before the world contrary to what was being portrayed by the extremist elements. He said as Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, brotherhood and harmony, the forces, which are portraying Islam in a wrong way by following the path of aggression, will face defeat.
The president said with this approach the present government was talking to the world, telling them that the majority of people in Pakistan, including in the tribal areas, were moderate and peace-loving.
“If the people in Wana vote for PPP candidates, it gives a message that if they cannot fight (with the militants) they can express their opinion by giving vote to moderate elements,” he said.
He said the Nizam-e-Adl regulation was aimed at providing speedy justice to the people of the Malakand division, who had their own views and opinion about resolving the problems faced by the people in that area.
The president, however, added that now with this regulation in place, the people with whom the provincial government had reached the agreement were responsible for the establishment of peace in Malakand.
He said this agreement should not be taken as a weakness of the government or the state, rather is meant to resolve the issues through the policy of dialogue and reconciliation, which is a hallmark of the PPP.
“We talk about dialogue in Balochistan, in Wana and in the whole of Pakistan, as Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto also talked of reconciliation in her last book.” The president said the PPP government wanted to get the world realise that the issues can be resolved through dialogue and in this way defeating those elements who want clash of civilisations.
He referred to the PPP government’s engagement with the world community to resolve the issues amicably and said it was always democratic dispensation which believes in dialogue and development for the benefit of people and country instead of individual benefits by the dictators.
The president said the PPP government wanted strengthening of institutions, poverty alleviation, as well as tackling all other challenges, adding, the FODP ministerial meeting was expected to come up with effective support from the international community for the democratic Pakistan. He also referred to the appointment of special envoys for Pakistan by the major countries and said it was a positive development and would help Pakistan get much needed assistance and support for development and progress.
Earlier, President Zardari arrived here on Wednesday on a three-day official visit to attend the meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan and donors’ conference being hosted by Japan. The president was received at the Haneda Airport by senior officials of the Japan’s Ministry of External Affairs, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Japan Noor Muhammad and Japan’s envoy to Islamabad Chihiro Atsumi. Besides presiding over the FODP ministerial meeting and participating in the donors’ conference, President Zardari will also hold a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. The president will also meet the Emperor of Japan. The FODP meeting will consider proposals to extend support and assistance to Pakistan, a frontline state in the war against terrorism, through a long-term and sustainable engagement.
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