Nuclear assets safe and secure, says PM
Enlightened Moderation key to end terrorism, extremism

KUALA LUMPUR—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Sunday said Pakistan was fully capable to safeguard its nuclear and strategic assets and ruled out any possibility of their falling into wrong hands. “We have strong Command and Control system in place to safeguard our strategic assets. “If we can develop the nuclear programme we can manage it at world class level,” he told a questioner after his address to the Islamic University of Malaysia.
The Prime Minister told the questioner not to underestimate Pakistan as the country knew how to take care of its nuclear arsenals. Giving rationale behind developing the nuclear programme in the wake of events in South Asia, the Prime Minister said that peace could only be achieved through strength and not weakness. “We have assured peace (in the region) through strength,” he added.
Responding to another question, the Prime Minister said that democracy was fully functional in Pakistan and the country did not need any lesson from outside in this regard. The Prime Minister said he was proud of being a part of the government under the leadership of President General Pervez Musharraf, which has transformed Pakistan in the last six years and was rebuilding the country that was prosperous and developed.
He recalled the events during the 1990s, which was the decade of a sad chapter in Pakistan’s history in terms of political instability and economic decline as the country, at that time, did not have money even to pay next month’s oil bill and salaries of the government employees. Prime Minister Aziz said after 1999, when President Musharraf took over, the government took several steps which have resulted in the political stability with economy running on sound footing.
“Today we are having high growth rate and we want to see Pakistan which is growing and developing,” he added. On the issue of Afghanistan, the Prime Minister said that Pakistan fully supports the Bonn process and the government of President Hamid Karzai and was contributing in its  efforts for reconstruction. A stable and peaceful Afghanistan was good for its people and for the region.
The Prime Minister, while responding to a question, said Pakistan was opposed to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. He said reasons of terrorism were rooted in poverty, injustices, hopelessness and sense of deprivation and it was the responsibility of the international community to address these causes to curb the twin menaces of terrorism and extremism.
Rector of the Islamic University, Dr. Kamal Hassan paid rich tributes to the Prime Minister for his thoughtful presentation that listed practical steps to take forward the Muslim Ummah. He particularly appreciated the Prime Minister for taking on some emotional questions in a very cool, moderate and rationale manner and asked the audience to give him a big hand of applause.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday said vision of “enlightened moderation” offers a permanent solution to terrorism and extremism and urged the international community to help resolve long-running disputes such as Palestine and Kashmir to uproot causes that spawned twin menaces. “Enlightened moderation stipulates a comprehensive and holistic approach.It is a way forward for the Muslim Ummah,” he said while addressing the International Islamic University of Malaysia.
The Prime Minister stressed that the Muslim Ummah need reforms, rethinking and Ijtehad to apply the enduring values of Islam. “The vision aims at promoting inter-faith and inter-civilization harmony. In a sense it proposes to win hearts and minds, breakdown the barriers of prejudice and reaching out through cooperation and promotion of peace, justice, moderation and compassion,” said the Prime Minister.
He recalled that President General Pervez Musharraf first presented the vision in response to multi-faceted challenges - both external and internal -that Muslim societies are facing at the advent of the 21st century. The 2004 OIC Summit in Malaysia greatly appreciated the vision and, subsequently, set up a Group of Eminent Persons to prepare wide-ranging recommendations including the Action Plan for implementation of enlightened moderation.
The vision of “enlightened moderation” offers two-pronged strategy under which the Muslims must remove poverty, illiteracy and develop economically, undertake social and political reforms, and ensure good governance in their societies. The second aspect urges the international community to facilitate solutions to long-standing disputes such as Palestine and Kashmir to remove the root causes that have spawned extremism in Muslim societies.
Prime Minister Aziz in his thought-provoking address, that drew wide applause from the distinguished audience of Islamic scholars, students and foreign envoys, highlighted the internal and external challenges facing the Muslim Ummah. He said along with disputes such as Palestine and Kashmir, equally important was the need to help Afghanistan and Iraq move towards stability, security and peace.
“These situations are causing deep anxiety among Muslims everywhere in the world,” he said while adding, these situations give rise to volatile mix of anger, frustration, deprivation and humiliations that erupts into violence. At the same time, the Prime Minister also underscored the need for countering sinister theories such as the clash of civilization between the West and Islam, saying, vested interests and prejudices have given currency to these fallacious ideas that defy historical experience and existing realties.
Prime Minister called for discouraging and countering hate campaigns that malign the noble religion of Islam. “Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, compassion and moderation. Our faith rejects violence and extremism. It rejects discrimination in every aspect and seeks harmony and co-existence with other faiths,” he added. The Prime Minister said Muslims must also recognize that first and foremost, the remedy for malaise lies within.
He regretted, however, that educated and enlightened people have abdicated the leadership role in the Muslim polity and the role has been usurped by a small minority of obscurantists and extremists, who have distorted the real meaning of Islam and tarnished its image. This, the Prime Minister added, has led others to bracket the vast majority of Muslims with those extremists.“All they (extremists) achieve is to equip our detractors with ammunition to malign Islam and the Muslims,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the institutions like the Islamic University of Malaysia, have heavy responsibility to prepare a generation of young men and women who can provide intellectual leadership and once again reorient and rethink in accordance with the message of Islam. It was consistent with the concept of enlightened moderation, he said, that his government has taken several steps both internally and externally to meet the challenges confronting the Muslim Ummah.
These include political and economic reforms, strengthening of political institutions, good governance and empowerment of people, emancipation of women and minorities and improved delivery and quality of healthcare. On the external front, the Prime Minister said Pakistan has taken several initiatives for bringing about a peaceful and harmonious environment in the region and promotion of understanding and cooperation internationally.
The Prime Minister, in this regard, informed the audience about the ongoing composite dialogue process with India to resolve all outstanding disputes, especially Kashmir in line with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. He said with a number of confidence building measures already in place and increasing people to people contact, the relations between the two countries were gradually improving.
“This provides a unique opportunity for the two countries to work for a settlement of the Kashmir issue,” acceptable to all stakeholders. The Prime Minister also reiterated Pakistan’s support to the government of President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and said the country fully stood by them in this hour of need.
He said the festering Palestine issue and now the Iraqi situation continue to cause deep distress among Muslims everywhere and the subsequent frustration has contributed to the rise of extremism that breed terrorism. The Prime Minister noted hopeful signs of peace in the Middle East that, he added, depended on the realization of a Palestinian state in their homeland with Al-Quds as its capital.
He said Pakistan has and will always support the legitimate Palestinian cause. He said it was for this reason that Pakistan welcomed the total vacation of Gaza last month by Israel, ending its nearly 40 years of occupation. The Prime Minister said, to encourage the process, Pakistan has made gesture to Israel, but made it clear that contacts with that country did not mean its recognition and was meant to help the peace process by impressing upon Israel that reasonableness on its part will draw positive response from the Islamic world.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister endorsed the philosophy of Islam Hadhari espoused by the Malaysian Prime Minister Ahmed Abdullah Badawi and expressed the confidence that together with the concept of enlightened moderation, it would contribute towards Islamic renaissance. “Pakistan and Malaysia are partners in this grand endeavor for peace and development and for defending the true values of our noble faith. I am confident that our joint efforts will inshahallh meet with success,” he added.—APP

Pak, Malaysian trade to grow, says Badawi

KUALA LUMPUR—Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawai Sunday said Pakistan and Malaysia were working closely to boost their economic ties and predicted a rapid increase in the two-way trade volume in future.
“The two countries would continue their initiative for the enhancement of their bilateral trade,” he said while inaugurating single country exhibit “Pakistan Expo” alongwith Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Prime Minister Badawi said he was very pleased to see the Pakistan products which were already being exported to many countries across the world.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said by participating in the exhibition, the exporters have demonstrated Pakistan could produce high-quality products and compete in any market.
Pakistan, he added, was going high up in the areas of textile, surgical goods, sports and the engineering sector with an immense export potential was growing rapidly.
Prime Minister noted that the Early Harvest Programme, the two countries signed on Saturday which will give incentives to their exporters to increase trade and do more business with each other.
“The government’s role is to create an enabling environment in which the private sectors and traders could build linkages that also help to open up more doors for increasing bilateral ties,” he added. He expressed the hope that the exhibition would augur well for the relations between the two countries.
Prime Minister Aziz said Pakistan was a free trade country and was open to imports from Malaysia. Prime Minister Badawi said he and Prime Minister Aziz were hoping and planning increased bilateral trade between the two countries. “We are optimistic that in future the trade volume between the two Muslim countries would increase very rapidly,” he added.
He said Pakistan and Malaysia were cooperating for capacity building in the Muslim countries which had the resources but were not involved in trading as their produces were only restricted to agriculture.
“We are approaching these countries together to help the Islamic countries for enhancement and improvement of their capacity building. The Malaysian leader said he was proud to see Pakistani products in Malaysia and said increasing interaction at the government level was helping in bringing the businessmen and entrepreneurs of the two countries together which will result in more trade between the two countries.
The two Prime Ministers, earlier, cut the ribbon to inaugurate the three-day exhibition, organized by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) in which 76 companies representing almost the entire Pakistan’s economic sectors are participating.
They later took round of the stalls to see the products on display and also talked to the prospective exporters about their business prospects in Malaysia.—Agencies