Pakistan in pledge to end confrontation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan was committed to eliminating confrontation in South Asia, said Mohmammadmian Soomro, the acting president and Senate chairman on Thursday.

“Pakistan looks forward to a positive and meaningful resolution of all issues, including Kashmir. The new political environment reflects the vision, courage and statesmanship of respective leaderships,” said the acting president, while addressing the concluding ceremony of the 5th General Assembly of the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP).

He said Asian parliaments should cooperate to forge regional understanding. “Until a pan-Asian forum on trade issues is created, we should consider developing mechanisms of cooperation on trade issues among regional parliaments,” he said.

He also called on widening the definition of Asian security. “Asia remains host to major global conflicts and a vision for peace and development must include security for all. Asian parliaments must work towards ending regional political conflict which not only continue to obstruct prosperity but grow seeds of extremism and terrorism,” he added.

He said Asian parliaments needed to create an environment conducive to cooperation and agreement. “We must not let the spirit of collective action dissipate to unilateralism and must address emerging challenges and threats,” he said. He emphasised that present security challenges did not undermine the overriding objective of universal disarmament and security. In his address, Chaudhry Amir Hussain, the AAPP president and National Assembly spokesman, declared the proceedings of the 5th General Assembly as highly successful.

He said participant consensus on the proposal of a fully functional Asian Parliamentary Assembly within five years was a major achievement. He said experience had shown that integrated regions, as opposed to other world regions, were successful in trade. “Asian countries should therefore explore new avenues of continent-wide cooperation and create a win-win situation for Asia and its external partners,” he stressed.

He said the conference had made important decisions regarding the promotion of social development, conflict prevention and protecting human rights, in particular women and children. “Parliamentarians have pledged to use their powers of legislation and oversight to implement the decisions of the conference in their respective countries,” he added. staff report

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