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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the Pathankot air base attack has dented the nascent dialogue process between Pakistan and India.
“Matters between India and Pakistan were heading in the right direction but the Pathankot incident has disturbed the peace process,” he told reporters in Model Town on Saturday. The premier was in Lahore to convey his condolences over the death of the father of former district nazim Mian Amir Mehmood, who is the chairman of Punjab Group of Colleges.
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Responding to queries of journalists about the ongoing investigations into the Pathankot attack, PM Nawaz said Pakistan will not let terrorists use its soil against any country. “We will go to the bottom [of the case] to find out what happened,” he added.
The brazen assault on the Indian Air Force base near Pakistan’s border on January 2 has derailed the recently resumed dialogue process between the two hyphenated neighbours. The foreign secretary-level talks initially scheduled for January 15 have been put off for now.
On a question about the Karachi operation, Nawaz said the security situation in the metropolis had visibly improved, and the paramilitary Rangers would stay there until complete peace was restored. He added the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb was also yielding positive results and terror attacks had gone down across the country. “Terrorists are now making isolated attacks in order to make their presence felt but they will be eliminated soon,” the premier, stressing the need to speed up some measures under the revised anti-terror plan.
PM Nawaz said Pakistan was heading in the right direction and its foreign exchange reserves were at the highest level in its history. “Inflation has been brought down by 2 per cent. Prices of daily-use items have been cut down. Electricity is being supplied and the wheel of industry is moving,” he said. “I am not [alone] in saying this, the world is acknowledging [the fact]. The economic indicators of the country are showing positive trends.”
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About the ongoing Saudi-Iran diplomatic row, the PM said Pakistan took the initiative of mediation on its own to reduce tensions and remove misunderstandings between the two Muslim countries.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2016.
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