Imran’s politics to encourage terrorists, discourage investors: Pervaiz Rashid

Lahore: Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid Saturday said that old notions would be replaced with new ones by promoting tolerance and
love through education.

The children needed to be imparted education which was free from intolerance, narrow-mindedness and extremism in order to defeat terrorism, he added.

The minister was addressing the closing ceremony of a two-day training workshop “Counter Terrorism: Strategic Communication and Media Engagement” under the auspices of Pakistan Peace Collective (PPC) during the 104th National Management Course (NMC) here at the National School of Public Policy (NSPP). He said it was necessary to teach that “we can be good Pakistanis despite having different religious beliefs, language, race and creed.”

He said a person could be a good Pakistani with different identity and religion and the worship places could not be destroyed for being of different belief.

Pervaiz Rashid said the worship-places of others could not be demolished on the basis of beliefs. The state did not discriminate among its citizens on the basis of dogmas and religious beliefs. “It is necessary to adopt same narrative on peace for others as we choose for ourselves rather than having different standards,” he said. “We, as a nation, must put as much effort for durable peace for others as we do for ourselves.” He said our social behaviours and cultural values did not have an iota of terrorism. “Terrorism flourished because we turned a deaf ear to it.”

About the importance of communication, the minister said democracies promoted communication and used it for better purposes while the dictatorships and autocracies were wary of it. The art of communication should be used for spreading truth. “It is not only drones that violate our sovereignty but nefarious acts of foreign terrorists are also a crime,” he said. The country had suffered due to the bad policies of the past regimes but “we must get rid of the same,” he added.

The minister said people learnt from failures and catastrophes. “We,as a nation, have learnt a lot from our past failures and tragedies while we are endeavoring that our next generations do not have
to face such failures.”

Pervaiz Rashid also gave away certificates to the participants of the training workshop. Dean, NSPP Naeem Aslam and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) PPC Bushra Taskeen were also present.

Meanwhile ; talking to newsmen after addressing “A Session on Peace Journalism”, arranged jointly by Bahawalpur Press Club (BPC), Lahore Press Club (LPC) and Peace Journalism Forum (PJF), Pervaiz Rashid Saturday said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was pursuing negative
politics, which would encourage terrorists and discourage investors in Pakistan.

The minister said terrorists were on the run due to effective and well-coordinated efforts at all levels by the incumbent government.Huge investment was now pouring into the country, which reflected
the confidence of local and foreign investors in the business-friendly policies of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.

But Imran Khan, he alleged, was attempting to grab power through politics of chaos, street protests and agitation, which would produce nothing good for Pakistan. It would rather encourage the
terrorists, who not only got wide coverage but also fulfilled their nefarious designs in the chaotic situation, besides discouraging investors and resulting in flight of capital abroad, he observed.

Pervaiz Rashid said,”You can term 2017 the year of campaign for the general election-2018; however, Imran Khan cannot even wait for six months till the start of 2017, and has been making attempts to
attain power through negative politics and street protests after foreseeing his party’s sheer defeat in the next general election.”

To a question, he said the PTI wanted to impose its own terms of reference (ToRs) for the judicial commission by all means that negated the objective for which the parliamentary committee was
constituted.

Replying to another question, he clarified that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had phoned to inquire after the health of his Pakistani counterpart. It was a phone call like he (Nawaz Sharif) received from heads of other states, he added.

Regarding the Indian admission and confession about non-involvement of Pakistan in the Pathankot attack, the minister said the credit for clean chit given by India must be given to Prime
Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, who was running the country’s foreign affairs with political sagacity and dynamic leadership.

To a query about dismal working and financial conditions of journalists, the minister assured that though the owners of media houses  had not still nominated their representative for the wage
board, the government would announce the next Wage Board Award.

Earlier addressing the workshop, the Information Minister underscored the need for initiating an ‘ideological Zarb-e-Azb’ to create harmony in the society and defeat the monsters of extremism
and terrorism. He said journalism was a mirror of a society, nation and government
as it reflected what was happening in a society and nation. He mentioned that the Afghan war had also affected Pakistan on social, political and economic fronts, which subsequently inflicted
huge losses in terms of lives and property , besides promoting hatred and extremism in society.

Pervaiz Rashid said Pakistan needed social peace for which all segments of the society would have to rise above their ideological differences by forging harmony, and promoting solidarity and peace. He asserted that the media had a very crucial role to steer the nation out of conflicts of sectarianism, race, region and language by changing the ideological mindset which breeded extremism and terrorism,and protecting the country’s economic and social fabric.

The minister also appreciated the organisers of the workshop on peace journalism. It would prove to be a milestone in bringing about a positive change in the society.