Pakistan not to enter arms race in S. Asia: NA Speaker

islamabad — National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has said Pakistan does not want to be a part of arms race in South Asia but cannot remain oblivious to the threats to its national security.

He was addressing the inaugural session of two-day Standing Committee Meeting of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) on ‘Economic and Sustainable Development’ which kicked off here at a local hotel on Tuesday.

The speaker said, “Pakistan is a responsible atomic country and its nuclear assets are in safe hands. The country strictly follows the policy of nuclear non-proliferation”.

He also urged the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to stop discriminatory attitude towards various countries.

He said, “Pakistan is facing the challenge of terrorism for the last two decades and has sacrificed 65,000 lives in war on terror”.

The country, he added, has achieved enormous success in its fight against terrorism through military operation ‘Zarb-i-Azb’.

“Pakistani government and the nation are committed to root out the menace of terrorism and sectarianism from the country”, Ayaz Sadiq said.

He said a peaceful Asia will remain a dream without ensuring peace in Indian-administered Kashmir, Palestine and Myanmar.

Ayaz Sadiq said strong democracy and economy are vital for the country to defeat the menace of terrorism and sectarianism.

He said Asian countries are faced with the challenges related to health, education, poverty, economy, energy, water and human rights and the role of APA is vital to cope with such challenges.

The NA speaker said exchange of parliamentary delegations must be a regular activity for enhancing people-to-people contacts.

He also emphasised the need to give facilities to the traders for promoting business activity in the Asian region and taking steps for ensuring economic equality.

Addressing on the occasion, Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said the success of APA meeting would help achieve targets of development in Asian countries. The resolutions of the meeting reflecting Asian vision will hopefully prove helpful for poverty eradication from the Asian countries.

Rabbani said Western economy in this era is on the decline while Arab countries are also facing the threat of instability.

“Asian countries are striving to bring economic stability and peace which can only be achieved through unity,” he said.

“What I believe is that the future of Asia lies within Asia and we have to stop depending on the West”, he said. The sufferings and dreams of Asian countries are common and interlinked. “Asian dream is sinking and sailing together so we have to become strength of each other”, he said.

Condemning the human rights violation in Indian-administered Kashmir and Palestine, he said “champions of human rights must not remain silent over the human rights violation in the world especially in Kashmir and Palestine”. He said “it is a matter for privilege for Pakistan to host the APA meeting”. —