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Pakistan will not become part of any war: PM

By Sabah
January 23, 2020

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said Pakistan stands as a partner for peace and will not become part of any war.

In his keynote address at Special Session of World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, he said Pakistan was actively playing a responsible role in defusing tensions between the US and Iran. He said it was also playing a critical role in bringing peace in the neighbouring Afghanistan.

Referring to economic situation of the country, the Prime Minister said his government inherited fiscal and trade deficits at huge scale. In order to stabilise the economy the government took tough decisions resulting in upward trajectory of stock market stabilisation in value of rupee and increase in foreign reserves. He said in one year ease of doing business improved by 28 points as per World Bank estimates.

Khan said with the peace in Afghanistan Pakistan can tap the benefits of energy rich Central Asia, besides acting as a bridge between East and West Asia.

Referring to Pakistan’s relations with its neighbours, he said with the normalisation of relations with biggest neighbour India development and prosperity can be achieved.

He said the biggest challenge for his government was to bring reforms in state institutions to improve governance and work was being undertaken in this regard.

Referring to the steps taken by his government to cope with the challenge of climate change, the Prime Minister said after coming into power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2013 “we embarked on planting one billion trees in the province to stop the adverse impact of global warming and successfully did it”.

Khan said economy of Pakistan cannot grow unless there was peace and stability. Referring to Pakistan becoming part of the US war against Soviet Union in 1980s, he said Pakistan was left with militant groups as a byproduct of war. That became impediment in our growth. After 9/11 incident Pakistan faced the similar dilemma and 70,000 Pakistanis sacrificed their lives in terror war.

Replying to a question he said there is no terrorism in Pakistan and 2019 had been the safest year in the country since 9/11 incident. “We are taking steps to exploit the tourism potential of the country after restoration of peace,” he added.

Dilating upon the huge potential of tourism in the country, Khan said: “Apart from some of the most fascination mountains the country is dotted with religious sites of various faiths. We are inviting foreign investment in tourism sector of the country.”

Speaking at an event hosted by the International Media Council on the sidelines of World Economic Forum, Prime Minister Khan said Pakistan and the US were on the same page to resolve the Afghan issue through negotiations.

He said the situation in Afghanistan had always impacted Pakistan and only long term prosperity could come with peace in the war-torn country. Khan appreciated the policy of Trump administration to hold dialogue and talks with Taliban to come out of Afghan imbroglio.

Replying to a question, he said when his government came to power he immediately reached out towards India to improve bilateral relations between the two countries as he strongly believed that the only way forward was settlement of disputes through talks. He, however, regretted that India resorted to hostility towards Pakistan after the Pulwama incident.

On a question regarding probability of conflict between India and Pakistan, Khan ruled out any immediate clash between the two countries. “One should not even think about a conflict between two nuclear armed states owing to the devastation it would create across the world.” He, however, expressed worry that India could again launch a strike inside Pakistan on the pretext of any other Pulwama-like incident.

The Prime Minister urged the US and international community to take stock of the situation and play their role in resolving the Kashmir issue. He also impressed upon them to send international observers on fact finding mission in Kashmir as it was becoming a flash point between two nuclear armed neighbours.