The former prime minister warns India against any adventure

Lahore : The former premier Syed Yosaf Raza Gilani has said that whatever form of democracy exists in the country is the outcome of Charter of Democracy signed by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

War on Terror has caused awful and beyond compensation loss of precious lives and infrastructure but even then, we have kept our spirit of fighting against terrorism in our country where most of our efforts mean to bringing peace and prosperity in the entire region.

He was addressing a seminar held at University of Management and Technology (UMT) .

Mr. Gilani said that in order to keep peace and stability in the country, sacrifices of agencies such as Levi, FC and ISI are matchless. “They’ve sacrificed today to make our tomorrow secure”, he said.

Warning India against any adventure, the former premier said that today, Pakistan’s defense is in safer hands because its military is one of the world’s best militaries fully capable of paying the enemy in the same coin.

He said Pakistanis are peace-loving nation who are adhering to principles of peace and harmony with their neighbors but in case of any aggression, they are fully prepared and no force can terrify them. He said that war between India and Pakistan is not the solution of problems. Both the nations are nuclear so the war will only bring destruction and diseases for both sides of the border.

He said that Indian government’s bombasts to wage surgical war on Pakistani soil are based on white lie and now even the opposition in Indian parliament is questioning the credibility of the government and their military for making such false claims.

Mr. Gilani termed Indian Intelligence as failure regarding blaming Pakistan for incidents happening there. Commenting on current plight in Occupied Valley, the former premier said that without the solution to Kashmir dispute, peace and stability could never take its roots in the region.

He criticized the so-called human rights activists who are silent over blood and murder in Kashmir. He said when peace is accomplished in Kabul, the entire world would reap its fruits.  PPP Government during his tenure maintained good relations with India, Iran and Russia but now tensions seem to be occurring with these neighbors.

He recalled his convincing of the then Indian premier Manmohan Singh that war was not solution for both the countries as there were severe economic and social and economic problems like poverty, hunger, diseases and terrorism experienced by the two nations.

He said that his government offered unconditional talks to India on Mumbai incident and ensured full collaboration to find out the culprits. “We convinced Congress Government to engage in composite dialogue for resolving all issues including Kashmir, Siachen and interference in Balochistan”.

He said the Constitution’s clause 58 2b was aimed at empowering dictators and it was the reason why his government abolished it but Iftikhar Chaudhary exercised the power of 58 2b and disqualified him for five years alleging that he had caused contempt of the court.

Talking about US-Pak relations, Mr. Gilani said that Pakistan has great respect for United States and wants to improve relations based on equality and mutual interest but US has no right to repeat its so-called demand of “Do More”.

He said Pakistan is bearing a burden of 35 lakh Afghan refugees right after the collapse of Soviet Union but nobody including to that of US is talking about this.

Rector UMT Dr. Hasan Sohaib Murad briefed Mr. Ghilani about future projects, newly established institute in Dubai, bureau office in Turkey and UMT’s international linkages with US, British, Australian, Canadian and German universities.

Later on, Rector UMT conferred a souvenir upon the former premier.