{"id":3041,"date":"2014-01-21T14:29:22","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T08:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanhc.lk\/?p=3041"},"modified":"2020-01-09T00:17:18","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T18:47:18","slug":"drone-strikes-must-stop-president-of-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/?p=3041","title":{"rendered":"Drone strikes must stop: President of Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n
\n<\/span><\/td>\n
\n<\/span><\/td>\n
\n<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Drone<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
President Mamnoon Hussain on Monday voiced his concern over drone strikes in Pakistan, which he said, must stop being counter-productive and against the counter-terrorism drive.Addressing a book launching ceremony attended by members of the defence and policy community, the President said \u201cLet me also stress that counter-terrorism measures that violate the sovereignty of Pakistan, only serve to compound the problem.\u201d \u201cTherefore, it is important that the drone strikes must not take place in Pakistan. These must stop as they are also counter-productive to the existing counter-terrorism drive in Pakistan,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/div>\n
He said Pakistan wanted to constructively contribute to the realization of peace, based on the principles of equality and partnership with the international, regional and national players.
\n\u201cWe hope that the international community would recognize Pakistan\u2019s positive contributions and the importance of working with Pakistan to meet the regional security challenges – as they were not just regional or Afghan problems but also impact on international security.\u201d
\nHe said Pakistan and the international community must work together if they were to succeed in joint endeavour to help Afghanistan reclaim its rightful position in the comity of nations.
\nPresident Mamnoon was speaking at the launching ceremony of book – \u201cAfghanistan 2014: Decision Point\u201d,\u00a0 written by Dr Maria Sultan, Director General South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI).
\nThe President said the year 2014 was indeed a crucial point in the history of Afghanistan and the region.
\nBeing the immediate neighbours sharing many issues and challenges, Pakistan\u2019s security was linked in multiple ways with security in Afghanistan.
\nHe said since 9\/11, Pakistan had incurred enormous human and material losses, while being a part of the international campaign against terrorism. Thousands of precious lives had been lost and the economic losses run over billions of dollars.
\n\u201cYet, Pakistan finds itself at the center of the global threat of trans-national terrorism and is also shouldering an unprecedented share of responsibility in countering this menace,\u201d he added.
\nThe President said sometimes Pakistan\u2019s commitment was questioned.
\n\u201cThe reality is that, leaving aside Afghanistan, there is no other country in the world than Pakistan that has paid a higher price. There is no parallel to the sacrifices made by the people of Pakistan and our security forces.\u201d
\nHe said Pakistan stood for a peaceful, stable, united and prosperous Afghanistan.
\n\u201cWe have consistently maintained that the solution of Afghanistan lies within Afghanistan, and that it must be achieved through an inclusive, Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process.\u201d
\nThe President said Pakistan had and would continue to support all initiatives that enable this process to move forward.
\n\u201cWe have also stressed that all segments of Afghan society must be a part of this process and reap the fruits of peace.\u201d
\nHe said sustainable peace and development would come with shared responsibility and collective solutions. While efforts were being made by the international community to help Afghanistan, it was necessary to support the country\u2019s efforts to address issues related to drugs production, illicit trafficking of small arms, and institutional capacity-building.
\nHe said it was equally important to help build a conducive environment in the country for the honourable return of Afghan refugees and their sustainable reintegration in Afghanistan.
\nThe President on the occasion also referred to a recent development of the grant of GSP Plus status to Pakistan.
\n\u201cI greatly appreciate European Commission and the member countries of European Union for their continued support to us in getting GSP Plus status.\u201d
\nHe said it would help Pakistan recover the huge economic loss that it had suffered due to war against terror. \u201cI believe it would help the war affected economies recover their losses and enable the governments to give better economic prospects to the people, especially those who are the worst sufferers of the conflict.\u201d
\nThe President expressed the hope that through the book, and similar other contributions, important gaps might be filled in the debate between what exists at the national levels and regional level, and what was aspired for at the international level.
\nHe also appreciated the salient contribution by SASSI in highlighting the most important aspects of regional and global peace through this endeavour.
\nHe expressed the hope that SASSI would continue to play this role and contribute to the policy debate.
\nFormer Senate Chairman Wasim Sajjad in his book review mentioned in detail the write-ups of different authors about the prevailing situation in Afghanistan, the impact of the US and NATO withdrawal on the war ravaged country and its neighbours and the policy recommendations.
\nHe said the writer believed that Pakistan had legitimate interests in peace in Afghanistan and unless a negotiated pull-out was reached, the situation might worsen.
\nMaria Sultan said the book gave Pakistan\u2019s perspective about situation in Afghanistan and its impact. She said stability in Afghanistan was pre-requisite for stability in Pakistan. She also termed the mistrust between different stakeholders a stumbling block that needed to be addressed.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
(APP)<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Mamnoon Hussain on Monday voiced his concern over drone strikes in Pakistan, which he said, must stop being counter-productive and against the counter-terrorism drive.Addressing a book launching ceremony attended by members of the defence and policy community, the President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8357,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3041\/revisions\/8357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanhc.lk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}