Economic fundamentals still strong, need to address downtrend: President Musharraf

ISLAMABAD : President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said the country’s economic fundamentals were strong and hoped the government would address the current downtrend. The President was addressing the participants at the National Defence University following the presentation of a National Strategy Paper on Governance of Specially Administered Areas (FATA and NAs), and their impact on national security.
The event was attended by Governor NWFP Owais Ghani, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majeed, Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Air Chief Marshal Tanveer Mahmood.
To a question about the prevailing economic situation, President Musharraf said it was certainly recoverable.
“I hope the government moves forward politically for the salvation and putting back on track the de-railed situation. It is doable and achievable,” the President added.
The President said the issues of economy and terrorism must not be politicised as these might harm the national interests.
About country’s economic fundamentals, the President said “Alhamdolillah, these are right and have been endorsed by international institutions.”
“We have to solve the problem and Pakistan has to move forward.
We must make sure that this nation rises,” the President said.
He pointed at the recent slump of stock exchange where billions were lost and the exchange rate after staying stagnant for the past eight years to around Rs 60, touched Rs 70 per dollar. The country loses Rs 28 billion with the increase of single rupee, he added.
He expressed the confidence that “if correct and bold measures are taken then all issues that confront us, are solvable - whether political or in economic field and all the issues of energy, water and food.”
The President said the three-pronged strategy of addressing military, political and socio-economic aspects was the way forward for addressing the situation in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
“Military is certainly and is never the solution, as it only creates an environment, the solution is always through political measures,” the President added.
He said apart from the peace deal done two years back, the current deals had been done from a position of strength, particularly in Swat and South Waziristan.
He said an important aspect would be to ensure that there was no linkage with al-Qaeda or foreign elements and there must not be cross border activity.
The President said it was important that the vast majority of the moderate people are weaned away from the extremists. He said there should be no politics involved while dealing with terrorism and the region be brought to mainstream by providing socio-economic development to the area.
Similarly, he said, there was a need to integrate the Northern Areas both within and with the rest of the country, through roads and communications.
The President said the recent measures taken to bring more development and improvement to the area will have a deep impact and the people will have a greater sense of contentment.
To a question, the President said Pakistan’s relations with the United States were extremely important. He said ties between the two countries need to be broadbased and not focused merely on extremism and terrorism. The relations, he said need to encompass social, economic and other ties.
He said terrorism and extremism need to be defeated and said Pakistan has been affected by terrorism since the time Soviet forces entered Afghanistan.
He said it was vital for the stability of the region that Afghanistan was stabilised.
President Musharraf said coalition forces in Afghanistan were trying to stabilise the situation.
The President said he would not agree that the problems facing Afghanistan could be resolved with the pulling back of coalition forces from Afghanistan.
“I don’t think so,” the President said and added it could destabilise Afghanistan and also Pakistan.
He said Afghanistan is a tribal society and can end up fighting each other as it did with the withdrawal of the Soviet forces.
He said it was important that other issues like Iraq and Palestine are resolved as they do have an impact on the situation in Afghanistan and need to be addressed.
The President when asked about the need for long term water management said it was vital to have large water reservoirs to ensure water and energy security for the country.
He said politicising developmental issues of the country could impact economic growth.
The President stressed pursuing all projects to generate electricity and preserve water to meet the growing irrigation needs.
To a question he said Pakistan was pursuing a long term strategy to address poverty, unemployment, extremism through rationalisation of education system across the country.
About the food crisis, the President favoured giving higher price to the farmers, to match the international prices to curb smuggling. He said it will also bring prosperity to the rural areas, however added that the poor segments of the society need to be protected.
Earlier, the President was given a presentation on the national strategy on greater integration of FATA and Northern Areas and the security dimension.
It dwelt at length on the various aspects of the two regions, the vulnerabilities of the specially administered regions and the need for bringing these into the mainstream for further strengthening the country.