US Senators call on PM Gilani

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said Pakistan accords high priority to its close, cooperative and strategic relationship with the United States that covers, diplomatic, political, economic, defence, security and social fields. This relationship would be further strengthened with the induction of the popularly elected civilian government in the country, he said.
The Prime Minister was talking to Senator Carl Levin, Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee and Senator Robert P. Casey who called on him here this evening. US Ambassador in Pakistan, Ms. Anne Patterson also attended the meeting.
Welcoming the US Senators, the Prime Minister thanked them for their support in restoring democracy in Pakistan.
Pakistan, he said would be keen to have more congressional delegations to visit Pakistan in order to impart more depth to the relationship between the two countries.
He said there is a need to establish more people to people contacts between the two countries to promote better understanding and dispel misperception about each other.
The Prime Minister said that moderate and mainstream political forces emerged victorious in the February 18 elections all over the country including the NWFP and tribal areas.
He said that the elected government is committed to providing a democracy dividend to the people in terms of poverty alleviation and socio-economic development.
The Prime Minister said that international community especially the US should help us in providing greater market access for our products in the US in the development of our human resource and cooperation in science and technology, technical skills and social sectors.
He said after the restoration of democracy in Pakistan the conditionalities on assistance to Pakistan by the US should also be removed.
The Prime Minister said that terrorism and extremism are a major threat to world peace and Pakistan is fully committed to combating the scourge of extremism and terrorism.
“We are pursuing a holistic counter-terrorism strategy combining political, socio-economic and security track”, he said and added this will enable Pakistan to engage those elements who desire peace, lay down arms and join the mainstream political activities and isolate militants and terrorist.
He said that Pakistan will never compromise and negotiate with terrorists.
The Prime Minister said it is not correct that Pakistan has withdrawn its troops from the bordering areas. He said that security forces will remain deployed to meet any threat posed by terrorists.
The Prime Minister emphasized the need to address the root causes of terrorism which is often caused by a sense of deprivation, injustice and hopelessness.
He said that Reconstruction Opportunities Zones (ROZs) can be of great help in creating economic opportunities in the border areas and weaning people away from extremism. He urged early approval of the draft ROZs legislation.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan is keen to prevent cross border movement on our borders on Afghanistan and has offered to fence the border and is awaiting Afghanistan’s response to fence the border and install biometric system.
He said Pakistan has deployed over 100,000 troops along the borders and Afghanistan needs to increase troops on its side of the border to prevent cross border movement.
The Prime Minister said a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan is clearly in Pakistan’s interest as without peace in the region the vast potential for economic cooperation between South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia will stay untapped.
He said Pakistan is of the view that the international community needs to do more to expedite the process of socio-economic development in Afghanistan in order to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.