Don’t be part of war against any Islamic nation: Ayaz Latif Palejo The News .. LAHORE QAUMI Awami Tehreek Chairman and a renowned nationalist leader from Sindh, Ayaz Latif Palejo has said that Islamabad should avoid indulging in any warfare against an Islamic nation and adopt a sovereign foreign policy. Talking exclusively to The News, Ayaz Latif Palejo said there was nothing wrong with the aid received from Saudi Arabia, keeping in view the current economic state of Pakistan but ‘there should be no strings attached to it’. Palejo said if there were any conditions or plan to send troops to any foreign land to get involved in any action against an Islamic country Pakistan should avoid becoming a part of any such move. He said Pakistan should review its foreign policy at the earliest and should build ties with other nations on the basis of equality. He added that at the moment, Pakistan was fighting war on two fronts; one against those extremists and the followers of Abu Jahal school of thought who wanted to push Pakistan back to Stone Age and on the other front, Pakistan was fighting the wars of the world powers. He said Pakistan should plainly convey to Saudi Arabia and Iran that its land wouldn’t be used for the interests of these countries. Moreover, he said it was also necessary to develop strong relationship with Muslim countries of the world. Pakistan should also prioritise better relationship with neighbours like China, India, Afghanistan and Iran. Over Kashmir issue, he said this issue should be resolved as per the aspirations of the people of Kashmir as no solution without their say would be durable. Responding to a query about the ongoing dialogue process between government and Taliban, Palejo said the most important thing at the moment was the restoration of peace and security of human lives. He said if there was some flexibility from Taliban and they showed any will to stop bombing our cities and citizens, we support this process. However, Palejo said if Taliban agreed to stop targeting us on the condition that their specific kind of Shariah be enforced in the country this would not be acceptable to us. He went on to say that for more than six decades, areas like Afghanistan and FATA had been termed as the ‘strategic depths’ of Pakistan but in reality, the land of Sindh, which is a home to Sufis like Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, is the real strategic depth of the country. He said the message conveyed by the Sufis of Sindh through their poetry was the actual message and voice of the Pakistani people, who never endorsed any kind of violence. He said the people of Sindh joined Pakistan as per their will, as neither they were the ‘occupied territory’ of anyone like Taliban nor anyone forced them to support Pakistan. At the moment, the ongoing dialogue process with Taliban could only become result-oriented and have long-lasting effects if the PML-N government addressed the grievances of the people of the smaller provinces. He said it was high time that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should normalise relationship with smaller provinces and give them their due rights. He said without the support of smaller federation units, any bid to bring back the country on the track of progress couldn’t succeed. He stated this province produced nearly 71 percent gas of the country besides possessing the world’s sixth largest coal reserves. He said the province of Sindh also possessed two deep seaports, including Karachi and Keti Bunder. Unfortunately, he said justice wasn’t being done to it. He said the area of Thar, which is literally the richest part of the region in terms of natural resources, was turned into a land of sorrow and deaths. He said poor mothers in Sindh were out to sale their own children but nothing was done to address their problems. He said Sindh needed to get its water share. There was a need for the restoration of peace in Karachi; the citizens of the province, who lost their lives during their struggle to get rights, should be compensated.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 08:50:03 +0000
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