News
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Gilani welcomes Pak-UK national security talks* PM says military gains alone cannot win war
* Urges for solving Afghan problem
* UK national security adviser calls on PM
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, while welcoming discussions on national security issues between Pakistan and the UK, termed them “the most important part of an enhanced strategic dialogue likely to be launched during the forthcoming visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron to Pakistan next month”.
Gilani said Pakistan and Britain had a robust political, military and intelligence cooperation and the present discussions would provide further momentum and substance to these areas of bilateral cooperation.
The prime minister made these comments while talking to UK National Security Adviser Sir Peter Ricketts, who called on him at the PM’s House on Tuesday.
Gilani appreciated that UK had always stood by Pakistan in its hour of need and the fact that its government and people had generously helped Pakistan during post-earthquake rehabilitation and reconstruction, settlement of IDPs and the government’s flood-relief efforts last year. He also appreciated UK’s development assistance to Pakistan through the government channel and commended their contribution towards social sector development. Talking about the war on terrorism, the PM said that the countries have to work together and develop a common strategy in order to synergise their energies to fight the war against terrorism. Military gains alone would not be a solution for achieving a final
victory as they need to be complemented through socio-economic development of the cleared areas to retain the masses support, the PM said.
Similarly, the root causes of extremism and terrorism like poverty, illiteracy, lack of infrastructure and job opportunities in other under-developed areas need to be addressed on the same pattern, he added. Gilani welcomed the fact that Pakistan and the UK held identical view that there could be no military solution in Afghanistan, saying political process was essential to solidify gains for which both tracks had to be calibrated carefully.
Afghan society needed to re-establish its own balance and the peace process initiated by the Afghan government should remain Afghan-owned and Afghan-led, the PM said.
Gilani underlined the need to strengthen Afghan institutions and hoped that the allied forces would fulfil their commitment of building Afghan institutions to enable them to take full control of their own affairs. Sir Peter Ricketts agreed with Gilani that political support must follow military gains by way of economic development for addressing core issues like poverty and illiteracy in the militancy-affected areas of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan. He welcomed the genuine change for better in Pakistan-Afghanistan ties and appreciated that the leadership in both the countries was keenly pursuing better coordination for durable and friendly ties.
Ricketts added that the UK would like to have integrated dialogue with Pakistan on political, military as well as intelligence cooperation and hoped that his visit along with the British defence chief would be the beginning of a robust dialogue between the two sides.
He apprised the prime minister that the UK wanted a practical and pragmatic solution to the Afghan problem to ward off the possibility of resurgence of extremists and terrorist elements after the withdrawal of the coalition forces from that country.
He assured Gilani that the UK was ready to build the capacity of Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies through training as well as the supply of the needed equipment and building of infrastructure to strengthen their hands in the fight against terrorism.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk