PR. No. 80
PRESS RELEASE
Islamabad 08, July 2010Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Tariq Majid called on the Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani here this morning at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
The Chairman apprised the Prime Minister of details of his recent visits to Qatar and Turkey.
Matters relating to security were also discussed in the meeting.
**PMMO/Ahmad**
PR. No. 81
PRESS RELEASE
Begum Naseem Akhtar Chaudhry, MNA calls on the Prime Minister
Islamabad 08, July 2010Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that the improvement of living standard of common man is directly linked with timely completion of the on-going development schemes.
The Prime Minister was talking to Begum Naseem Akhtar Chaudhry, MNA who called on him at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat today.
The Prime Minister said that development efforts are meant to improve facilities for the people at the door-step which brings about qualitative change in their life. It is therefore incumbent, he added, upon the executing agencies to follow the time line and also the elected representatives to monitor the progress.
The Prime Minister further said that he has instructed the Ministry of Finance for prompt release of the requisite funds to expedite the development process.
Begum Naseem Akhtar Chaudhry apprised the Prime Minister of the status of the development schemes in her constituency.
**PMMO/Ahmad**
PR. No. 82
PRESS RELEASE
MINISTER FOR FULL PREPARATIONS TO PASS FLOOD SEASON SAFELY
Islamabad 08, July 2010Federal Minister for Water & Power has stressed the need for close coordination among all the concerned organizations for flood fighting and mitigation arrangements so that the coming flood season is passed safely. He said that extra vigilance and round the clock monitoring and patrolling of all important structures are extremely important to prevent any untoward incident.
He made these directions while presiding over the 45th annual pre-flood meeting of Federal Flood Commission held here today in the Ministry of Water & Power to review the flood preparedness and flood fighting plans made by concerned departments of the Provinces / Federal Agencies for the coming flood season.
Mr. Ashraf appreciated the preparedness of Provincial Governments and Federal Line Agencies to face any eventuality during the coming flood season. He stated that Government will provide all resources for implementation of flood management measures on long term and permanent basis. Minister advised Pakistan Meteorological Department for assisting all the Irrigation Departments and federal departments through effective flood forecasts this year. He also directed that there should be complete preparedness to pass flood from Lai Nullah safely without any loss of live and property.
Earlier, representatives of Provincial Irrigation Departments and Federal Line Agencies informed the meeting about the progress on all emergent flood protection works, as well as the flood preparedness and flood fighting plans made for the coming flood season. Representative of Pakistan Meteorological Department informed that through up-gradation of weather radars at Lahore and Sialkot, besides installation of a new state of art weather radar system at Mangla to monitor the catchments of River Jhelum. These radars will be in operation during the coming flood season and will be provide improved flood forecasting. He also informed that the forecast for this year was expected to be “Normal”. Representative of WAPDA informed that they had also further improved flood telemetry system. Pakistan commissioner for Indus Waters informed the meeting that all necessary arrangements have been made for receipt of advance flood flow data from India for the eastern rivers. Representative of NDMA, Engineers Directorate of Pak Army also briefed the meeting about flood protection arrangements.
The meeting was attended by Secretary, Adviser, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Water and Power and representatives of the Provincial Irrigation & Power Departments and Federal Lines Agencies, Provincial Relief Commissioners, Planning & Development Division, WAPDA, Pakistan Meteorological Department, Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters, Engineers Directorate Pak Army, Pakistan Railways, NDMA, and WASA Rawalpindi.
**NJ/Ahmad**
PR. No. 83
PRESS RELEASE
Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER) builds disaster response capacity in Pakistan
Islamabad 08, July 2010The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), hosted a gathering of International organizations, Government Departments, Civil Society Organizations, NGOs, Emergency Services and other agencies working in Disaster Preparedness and Management at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Islamabad. This was an opportunity to share experience from Pakistan and plan for better management of future disasters.
The meeting was the launch event for a new phase in the Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER); an Asia-wide regional program, operational in nine countries and funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with supplemental support from American Red Cross (ARC).
The PEER Program has been operational in Pakistan since 2007, with NDMA support, providing trainings to enhance the capacity of professional disaster responders for Medical First Response and Collapsed Structure Search & Rescue, and Hospital Preparedness for Emergencies (HOPE). For this new phase of PEER, operational until 2014, in addition to the three on going courses a new training course will be rolled out, to supplement the significant capacity building and trainings already being implemented by the NDMA and other organizations in Pakistan.
The new course is the Community Action for Disaster Response (CADRE), which will consolidate and enhance community level response capabilities, so that communities are enabled to support themselves, and increase survival rates in the event of any disaster or hazard.
The PEER program in Pakistan received support and endorsement from Ministers, Officials and representatives from NDMA, and other keynote speakers.
While welcoming guests from USAID-OFDA, ADPC, NSET and other organizations, Lt. Gen. ® Nadeem Ahmed, Chairman NDMA said “The PEER program is of crucial importance to Pakistan. The NDMA is working proactively with programs like PEER to better prepare ourselves for any disaster. We still need to enhance all levels of preparedness, especially in communities. We also need to work on more collaboration amongst different Disaster Preparedness and Response agencies to make the Disaster Preparedness system more robust.”
Representatives from the two PEER implementing organizations – Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and National Society for Earthquake Technology, Nepal - working in partnership on PEER with the support of the NDMA – also introduced PEER. Mr. Amod Dixit, Director of NSET said: “We work to optimize the effect of PEER and promote collaboration, building a stronger and more sustainable PEER Program.” Mr. NMSE Arambepola, Director, ADPC, assured that the ADPC is committed to promoting disaster preparedness in Pakistan. He also commented that Pakistan had important experiences in disaster management to share with the Asia region.
Mr. William Berger, Senior Regional Advisor, USAID-OFDA stated that it was a privilege to work with valued partners in Pakistan by supporting the building of capacity in disaster response. PEER uses best practice learning methodologies, with the highest standards of training and instructor development. PEER fits well into the big picture of Disaster Management in Pakistan, built on the experience of disasters here, and the experience of other regional organizations under the umbrella of NDMA’s preparedness plan.
**AM/Ahmad**
PR. No. 84
PRESS RELEASE
Pakistan’s Ambassador Designate to Ukraine calls on the Prime Minister
Islamabad 08, July 2010Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has directed the Ambassador Designate to Ukraine that he should focus on promotion of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries during the tenure of his posting to the country of his accreditation. The Prime Minister while expressing his satisfaction on the on-going defence ties between the two countries underlined the need for concerted efforts by both sides to enhance the volume of trade particularly Pakistani exports to its true potential and find new avenues for bilateral cooperation in energy, railways, oil and gas, coal, mining and education sectors.
The Prime Minister was talking to Maj Gen (Retd) Ahmad Nawaz Saleem Mela who paid a farewell call on him at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat this afternoon.
The Prime Minister noted the progress made between the two countries during the political consultations held in Islamabad earlier this month which had provided a fresh impetus to the bilateral relations. He urged the Ambassador Designate to expedite the visits of Ukrainian delegations in energy, Railways and coal mining sectors. He also called for exploring the possibility of expanding the current defence cooperation between Pakistan and Ukraine in aviation, repairs and maintenance as well as building of cargo aircrafts, and in ship building.
The Prime Minister was of the view that high level visits particularly exchanges and establishment of linkages between the two people through visits of scholars, academicians, writers and sports teams need to be promoted to bring the two countries further closer. He assured the Ambassador Designate of his government’s full cooperation in discharge of his duties and to the new initiatives that he may take in this regard.
The Ambassador Designate thanked the Prime Minister for reposing his confidence in him and assured the Prime Minister that he would devote all his energies to build upon on the existing ties and expand them to multi faceted fields.
**PMMO/Ahmad**
PR. No. 85
PRESS RELEASE
Shell Eco Marathon Flagged Off in Malaysia with Largest Pakistani Participation
Islamabad 08, July 2010Pakistan was the largest contingent with twenty (20) cars in the Shell Eco-Marathon Asia 2010 flagged off in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today. Malaysia and Thailand with 19 and 13 teams were the 2nd and 3rd largest contingent taking part in the race.
The Malaysian Minister for Energy, Green Technology and
Water Mr. Peter Chin Fah Kui during his inaugural speech acknowledged the largest participation from Pakistan and said that Shell Eco Marathon will certainly help in creating fuel efficient cars with minimum emissions to contribute in global efforts to preserve fast deteriorated earth environment.In all, twenty Pakistani players are competing with eleven Prototype cars and nine Urban Concept cars driven with Gasoline, capable of running a top speed of 30 to 35 km / hour with fuel efficiency of 250 to 330 kilometer per one litre of gasoline. There are 72 players from ten (10) countries, including China, Indonesia, India, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Philippine, Singapore and Thailand.
The participants from Pakistan included teams from JIK Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology, NED University of Engineering and Technology, College of Electrical and Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan Navy Engineering College, Air university and National University of Science and Technology.
Out of total of eighty two (82) competing vehicles, 77% were Prototype category and 23% were Urban Concept cars. They will be using seven (7) types of fuel including Ethanol, gasoline, hydrogen, liquefied petroleum gas, solar, fatty acid methyl ester and diesel.
Shell Eco-Marathon challenges the High School and College students from around the world to design, built and test energy efficient vehicles in various events held globally with Malaysia being the first country to host Asia series.
The three day event will conclude on 10th of July with prize giving ceremony among the winning teams.
**QB/Ahmad**
PR. No. 86
PRESS RELEASE
President Zardari meets Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman Political Conference
Unanimity of Views on issues, calls for enhancing strategic partnership
Islamabad 08, July 2010In separate meetings with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Chairman of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Jia Qinglin today President Asif Ali Zardari held wide ranging discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues with the two sides stressing unanimity of views on a host of regional and international issues and calling for further stepping up economic cooperation and enhancing people to people contacts between the two countries, says a press release received here today from Beijing, China.
Briefing journalists Presidential Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that the talks focused on joint economic projects, promoting regional connectivity, militancy and terrorism and modalities for enhancing people to people contacts as an essential component of the strategic relationship between the two countries.
President Zardari said that language was the most potent instrument for promoting people to people contacts and called for elaborate institutional arrangements for teaching Chinese and Urdu languages to the students, workers and people of Pakistan and China. In the long term this was a most effective way for giving boost to the existing relations, he said.
About connectivity the President said that the disruption in the Karakoram Highway recently due to landslide had demonstrated the need for establishing a railway line and also a pipe line from Gawadur to China to connect the two countries.
Farhatullah Babar said that the two sides agreed that a meeting of the Pak-China Joint Economic Forum would soon be held in Islamabad to adopt measures to take to new heights the economic cooperation between the two countries. The Joint Forum will take up issues including that of currency swap, opening of branches of Chinese banks in Pakistan and relocating industries in the special proposed industrial zones in Pakistan.
The Chinese Commerce Minister will lead his country’s delegation at the talks.
It was also agreed that the China National Energy Administration will hold discussions with Pakistani authorities on how best to tackle Pakistan’s energy needs. A day before President Zardari had impressed upon President Hu Jintao that Pakistan needed assistance in developing energy mix that included components of hydro, coal, thermal, wind and solar and nuclear power reactors to overcome the yawning gap between power supply and demand.
The two sides also decided to celebrate in a befitting manner the 60th anniversary of Pak-China diplomatic relations next year and agreed to set up special committees in both the countries to develop plans for this purpose.
Premier Wen Jiabao said that China deeply appreciated Pakistan’s policy of one China and assured President Zardari of his country’s continued support to Pakistan at the UN and at multilateral forums including SAARC and ECO. China has supported Pakistan’s full membership of the SCO.
President Zardari said that Pakistan wanted international help to help itself and that was why it was stressing trade and not aid. He said that access to international markets would help promote industrial activity in the country that would generate employment and help in turning away the unemployed youth from militancy.
President Zardari reiterated that trade relations between the two countries fell short of the potential and needed to be stepped up. He also said that strengthening strategic and economic cooperation was a key element guiding Pakistan’s foreign policy towards China.
The President also briefed the Chinese leaders on Pakistan’s fight against militancy and the political support for it in the country. Premier Wen said that China deeply appreciated Pakistan’s fight against extremism and pledged his country’s unflinching support in it.
The Spokesperson said that connectivity projects including the 500 million dollars KKH up gradation project and the National Trade Corridor (NTC) also came under discussion. The over 800 km long KKH provides a trade and strategic link between Pak and China and to Central Asia. .China is assisting Pakistan for the improvement of 335 km long Khunjrab-Raikot section of the KKH that is expected to be completed in 2012. Pakistan is also implementing a NTC Program to modernize the trade, transportation and logistics system in the country and to provide improved regional connectivity, he said.
The meeting with the Chairman CPPCC Jia Qinglin took place in the Great Hall of the People while that with Premier Wen Jiabao was held in his office in Zhongnanhai. The meeting with Wen Jiabao was followed by separate meetings with Chen Lei Minister for water Resources and Han Changfu Minister for Agriculture in the state guest house.
Earlier in the day the President inaugurated photo exhibition at the Tsinghua University in Beijing which he described as an important element of soft power. Addressing the students and faculty on the occasion the President said that Moenjodaro was the cradle of human civilization that was known as the Manhattan of the Bronze Age. He said that the Moenjodaro ruins revealed man’s wisdom and fortitude and also the power of that civilization. The need for wisdom and struggle was never so great as it was today, he further said.
**FU/Ahmad**
PR. No. 87
PRESS RELEASE
President’s meeting with Chinese Ministers for Water Resources & Agriculture
Islamabad 08, July 2010Minister of Water Resources of People’s Republic of China Mr. Chen Lei and Minister for Agriculture Mr. Han Changfu, separately, called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the State Guest House Beijing today.
Matters related to mutual cooperation in the field of water conservation, water resource management, hybrid seed technologies, drip & sprinkling irrigation system and latest technologies adopted by China for maximization of the agricultural products were discussed during the meeting.
The President while talking to the Chinese Ministers appreciated the progress made by China in water resource management and agriculture sectors. He said that the latest technologies adopted by the Chinese need to be emulated by Pakistan for taking maximum advantage in the agricultural sector.
The President said that the Government of Pakistan is undertaking construction of twelve small and medium dams not only for conservation of precious water resources but also for their effective and judicious use besides generation of power. He said that Pakistan welcomes Chinese assistance in construction of these dams.
He said that during all of his visits to China, he has especially focused on agriculture sector as there was a lot for Pakistan to learn from the expertise of China in this area. He said that the Government was taking measures to persuade the farmers for early adoption of latest technologies in the agriculture sector such as hybrid seed and drip and sprinkle irrigation system for maximization of agricultural products, on one hand, and to conserve water resources, on the other, says a press release received here today from Beijing, China.
**FU/Ahmad**
PR. No. 88
PRESS RELEASE
PM chairs meeting on social sector cooperation with USA
Islamabad 08, July 2010Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that the government is focused on and considers social sector development as its top priority. It is a significant area requiring concerted efforts and appropriate allocations both through our own sources as well as assistance from friendly countries.
The Prime Minister, while chairing a meeting on the social sector cooperation with USA under the Kerry-Lugar Act, emphasized that the relevant Ministries and organizations should not loose sight of the welfare and benefits to the people at large.
The National Education Policy, the Prime Minister said, comprehensively covers various aspects, which would help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The Health Policy and Women Empowerment initiatives, he stressed, also have to be holistic to meet the growing needs of the society. The preventive health measures and expansion of primary health facilities, he said, could greatly help in reducing the financial burden in this sector. Similarly he underlined the importance of population planning as the growth rate is directly affecting the supply and demand gap in all the sectors.
The Prime Minister said that women who form the half of our population, have to be engaged in all spheres of national activity to help speed up the process of development. Although the government is making all-out efforts for social, economic and political empowerment of women, he invited the attention of the civil society and media to further facilitate the strengthening of these endeavours.
Earlier Begum Shehnaz Wazir Ali, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Sector, briefed the Prime Minister on the dialogue with the US officials for assistance in the social sector development. She mentioned that the talks focused on three broad areas i.e. Education, Women Empowerment and Health & Population Planning. The discussions, she remarked, were in-depth and constructive. The cooperation in social sector like other sectors, she said, is inclusive of long term relations between the two friendly countries.
The Secretaries of the Ministries of Health, Education, Population Welfare and Women Development also apprised the Prime Minister of their interaction with US officials in their respective fields. They also briefed the meeting on various projects and programmes in their relevant areas of responsibilities. It was specifically highlighted that all the stakeholders including the provincial governments were and are being taken on board while preparing the National Policies in the social sector.
The meeting was also attended by Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali, Minister for Education, Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Minister for Population Welfare, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Finance, Mrs. Yasmeen Rehman, MNA, Secretary Finance, Secretary, Economic Affairs Division and Additional Secretary Foreign Affairs.
**PMMO/Ahmad**
PR. No. 89
PRESS RELEASE
Islamabad 08, July 2010The Developmental Projects of the ministry would extend its services to Gilgit Baltistan on priority basis. Special focus will be on value addition and cold storage for the fruits produced in G.B. Nazar M. Gondal
Federal Minister for Food & Agriculture, Nazar M. Gondal has said that the newly formed democratic government of Gilgit Baltistan would be helped in all the possible ways to move ahead in the right direction. He said that all the developmental projects must include G.B for their operations and issued instructions in this regard to help G.B achieve sustainable growth in agriculture.
The minister was holding a meeting with a delegation led by Mr. Muhammad Jaffer minister for Food & Agriculture, Gilgit Baltistan.
“What I suggest is that your ministry must focus on apricot, cherries and fisheries instead of going for less productive crops. Value addition and cold chain can greatly increase the returns for your organic fruits. We would help in the food processing and setting up dehydration plants”, Mr. Gondal said to the visiting minister.
Mr. Muhammad Jaffer said that since G.B is recently empowered to look after their affair that is why it would need the support of the federal government to enhance institutional arrangements for the well-being of agriculture. He said that there is no shortage of water in G.B, but they need to work on improving and constructing water channels.
Mr. Gondal asked the visiting delegation to come back with concrete proposals so that immediate work must be started on building irrigation channels and other falsities and GB.
The meeting was attended by the senior official of the ministry and G.B Government.
**MS/Ahmad**
PR. No. 90
PRESS RELEASE
FEDERAL MINISTER FOR SAFRON CALLS ON PRIME MINISTER
Islamabad 08, July 2010Prime Minister has reiterated the resolve of his government to implement the FATA reforms to bring those areas at par with the settled areas of the country.
The Prime Minister was talking to Mr. Najmuddin Khan, Minister for SAFRON who called on him at Prime Minister’s Secretariat this afternoon.
The Prime Minister observed that our government is committed to improve the living standards of the poor people who can be easily exploited by the miscreants due to their poor economic conditions. Despite our meager resources, he said, the government is allocating big amount for the economic development of FATA.
The Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction over the pace of the development projects taken up by the government to generate employment and alleviate poverty in the frontier regions. He urged the Minister to monitor the projects and asked the relevant ministries to coordinate with the administration of frontier regions for timely completion of the projects. It would help improve the security and law and order situation in the country, he added.
Mr. Najmuddin apprised the Prime Minister of the performance of his Ministry and also discussed with him the progress on new initiatives of the government. Mrs. Asma Arbab Alamgir, MNA was also present in the meeting.
PR. No. 91
PRESS RELEASE
Islamabad 08, July 2010Federal Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi chaired a meeting of the Climate Change Core Group regarding 16th Session of Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Cancun, Mexico from 29th November to 10th December, 2010, here today.
During the meeting preparatory issues regarding CoP-16 were discussed in detail. It was decided that a multi-stakeholder delegation comprising climate Change experts, parliamentarians etc. will be invited for the CoP-16 session who are directly involved with the environmental issues. On this occasion, a Sub Group was formulated comprising of Director General (Environment), Director UN-II, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and representative of Lead Pakistan. The Core Group members and representatives of relevant Ministries and provinces will submit their proposals related to the issues of Ministry of Environment to the Sub Group with in 10 days. It was also decided that thereafter, the members of Core Group will visit these Ministries and take presentations on the related issues for inclusion in the position paper for CoP-16.
During the meeting, detailed discussion on the administrative and financial issues was held. A Sub Group consisting of three members was constituted who will work out the administrative and financial requirements as well as allocation of funds.
Federal Minister for Environment urged that the basic purpose of this preparatory meeting is to take concrete measures and prepare a comprehensive roadmap for the projection of Pakistan’s real position about environment in a strong and meaningful way in CoP-16.
Meeting was attended by representatives of UNDP, Metrological Department, Planning Commission, ENERCON, LEAD Pakistan, IUCN, Foreign Office, PIDE and NDMA. Federal Secretary Environment Muhammad Javed Malik, Addl. Secretary Kamran Ali Qureshi, Director General (Environment) and other high officials of Ministry of Environment were present in the meeting.
PR. No. 92
PRESS RELEASE
ITALY AGREES TO PROVIDE, 20 MILLION EURO’S TO STRENGTHEN AND PROMOTE TRAINING SECTOR IN PAKISTAN
Islamabad 08, July 2010Italian Government will provide funds to the tune of 20 million Euros to Pakistan to strengthen and promote (Technical Vocational Education and Training) (TVET) sector in the country.
This was stated by Mr. Francesco Zazo Head of Central Technical Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy, who was heading a 6-member official delegation of Italy, during his meeting with Chairman, National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC), Mr. Adnan A. Khawaja held at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat here today. Executive Director, NAVTEC, Mr. Aziz Ahmed Bilour and Mr. Aamir Mansoor, Member Board of Director were also present on the occasion.
In this connection, the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in marble sector, with Italian assistance, in the Marble City (Risalpur) and upgradation of various other technical institutes in various fields in Khyber Pukhtoon Khawa Province came under discussion. The launch of this programme would provide employment to 20 thousand youth in marble sector. Chairman, NAVTEC, said that Pakistan wants to take advantage of the Italy’s long and rich experience in marble sector and, therefore, it’s technical & financial help to establish Centre of Excellence and upgradation of institutes will be greatly appreciated.
Giving an overview of the objectives of the NAVTEC’s creation, the delegation was informed that it is an apex body having mandate to provide policy direction and create an enabling environment for skill development in Pakistan and also to provide guidance to the provinces in utilizing the public sector training facilities to the fullest. In this connection, NAVTEC, is promoting the concept of “Centres of Excellence” in Technical institutes in all the four provinces. In coordination with international partners, 21 such institutions have been identified for their conversion into the Centres of the Excellence. NAVTEC has already signed Memorandum of Understanding with British Council under which seven Pakistani technical institutes have been twined with UK’s leading institutes. They will share best international practices, staff training, develop industry- led curricula and training materials and assure quality standards.
The delegation was further informed that with a sole purpose of strengthening TVET sector and making it responsive to the present day industrial needs, NAVTEC has adopted demand-driven strategy. It’s a paradigm shift from curricula based to competency based technical and vocational education and training. In this regard, the NAVTEC has come up with a 5-year National Skill Strategy 2009-13, developed after studying international best practices in the TVET systems and after a long consultation process with all the stakeholders including the provinces, chambers, leaders of the industry etc.
PR. No. 93
PRESS RELEASE
PRIME MINISTER MEETING WITH MINISTER FOR RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS
Islamabad 08, July 2010Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that government is committed to eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country. For this purpose, he added, all segments of society including ulemas and mashaikh have to play their role to bolster the government’s campaign for elimination of terrorists and their ideology.
The Prime Minister was talking to Syed Hamid Saeed Kazmi, Minister for Religious Affairs who called on him at Prime Minister’s Secretariat this afternoon.
The Prime Minister asked the Minister for Religious Affairs to make efforts in dissemination of the message of love and peace which was propagated and practiced by the great Sufis, among the masses as it can prove an effective mean to confront the challenge of militancy. For this purpose, he underlined, the significance of Sufi Council which can play an important role.
Talking about the significance of coordination and constant inter-connection among all the religious sections, the Prime Minister observed that it is high to forge unity and provide guidance to the masses in combating the menace of terrorism. He expressed gratitude to all the religious segments for their support to the government in its campaign against the militancy.
The Prime Minister observed, in wake of recent blasts on Data Darbar and places of worships of minorities, the role of Ulema and religious leaders has increased. They should come forward and expose these extremists who are trying spoil the message of religion of Islam and bent upon creating religious and sectarian rift among the people.
The Minister for Religious Affairs informed the Prime Minister that efforts are being made to take all the religious quarter on board by calling a national religious conference as it has become a necessity in the aftermath of the Data Darbar carnage. He briefed the Prime Minister about the Ministry’s working and the initiatives taken for the welfare of Hujaj during the forthcoming Haj. He also apprised about the status of acquisition of land for the Haji Camps in Lahore and Multan.
PR. No. 94
PRESS RELEASE
PRIME MINISTER MEETING WITH MINISTER FOR MINORITIES AFFAIRS
Islamabad 08, July 2010Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has expressed satisfaction over the implementation of his directive for setting up of Hot Line for the Minorities living in the country at the Ministry of Minorities Affairs. He expressed confidence that with the establishment of the Hot Line, the government would be better positioned to act in case of any grievance relating to the Minorities.
The Prime Minister expressed these views in a meeting with Federal Minister for Minorities Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti who called on him at PM’s Sectt: here this afternoon.
The Prime Minister also directed all the Ministries/Department for strict adherence to observance of 5% special quota for the Minorities.
The Prime Minister called for religious harmony and interfaith dialogue to remove misunderstanding created by demagogues. He said that interfaith harmony would not only help in better understanding of each other beliefs but also contribute to the overall development of the country. He said that the government is embarked upon the vision envisaged by the father of nation for creating equal opportunities for all citizens of Pakistan irrespective of their cast and religion.
The Prime Minister asked Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti to further enhance his coordination with all the Minorities living in the country to better understand their problems so that timely action can be taken. He also asked him to prioritize projects which are of important nature for the welfare of Minorities.
The Minister said that all the Minorities of Pakistan have conveyed their strong condemnation of the recent attacks on the Shrine of Data Ganj Baksh in Lahore. He informed that the Ministry has enhanced its efforts for effective coordination with religious minorities in the country. He said that the interfaith harmony has been achieved to a great extent due to the government’s policy of taking all stakeholder on board on all issues of important nature. He said that all the minorities are united and extend their full support to the government in it efforts to eradicate the scourge of terrorism and militancy from the country.
PR. No. 95
PRESS RELEASE
Islamabad 08, July 2010Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has expressed deep sense of grief and sorrow over the sad demise of Ghulam Muhammad, the elder brother of Principle Information Officer (PIO) Rasheed Ahmed, who breathed his last on Thursday.
The prime minister in a message conveyed his condolences to Rasheed Ahmad and other members of the bereaved family.
He also prayed to Almighty Allah to shower His blessings on the departed soul and grant courage to bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss with fortitude.