Pakistan committed to fight terrorism, ensure peace in region: Dr. Firdous

BEIJING: Federal Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that Pakistan is committed to fight terrorism and always supported steps to ensure peace and stability in the region.

China and Pakistan are working in close coordination, for peace in the region and both the countries have mechanism in place for intelligence sharing to stamp out scourge of terrorism and extremism, said Dr Awan in interviews with Chinese media upon her arrival here, after attending China-Eurasia Forum being held in Urumqi Sept 1-5.

Condemning the action of banned ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement) in Kashgar, the information minister said that the foreign ministries of both the countries have already issued statements in this regard.

"They (terrorists outfits) keep on changing their strategies and actions," Dr. Awan said. "So we must work in close collaboration and also change our actions, and that can only be done through close coordination and mutual understanding," she observed.

Dr. Awan said that with better coordinated efforts, we can curtail terrorism adding China is already helping us and has always supported our efforts to eliminate the menace.

She pointed out that peaceful atmosphere in Pakistan is prerequisite for the stability in the region.

As the present government was concentrating at strengthening the economy, there is need to create an ideal environment so that the people of both the countries could reap the benefit from progress and development.

To a question about Pakistan and American relations after recent episodes, Dr. Awan said "Some communication gap was created due to Bin Ladin's issue," adding "but with time those relations are moving forward and keeping in mind our national interests, and there is no deadlock between us."

She said the war on terror is not only in the interest of the US and other parts of the world; it is also in the interest of Pakistan. She said Pakistan wants to protect its people as well as the world, but "not at the cost of our own security."

"We have our own priorities" she said adding "we do not get dictations from other countries".

"The international community including the US must respect the sacrifices that Pakistan has made," Dr. Awan said. "We want recognition for those sacrifices."

"Islam has nothing to do with bloodshed. It is against extremism and terrorism," Dr. Awan said adding the media should help improve the image of Pakistan and dispel any misperception about it. The Information Minister said that strengthening of people to people contact between Pakistan and China is very important and media of both the sides can play a pivotal role in deepening the bond.

Dr. Awan said that we have taken various initiatives engaging media organizations of the two countries and in this regard, she added that a high-level official delegation from her country already visited China and held meetings with top Chinese officials for cooperation.

The minister pointed out that Pakistan and China are already exchanging media delegations on reciprocal basis and recently both sides sent their delegations to each other countries.

The Information Minister said that the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the official news agency of Pakistan was planning to formulate specific segment of news sharing in Chinese language adding similarly we are in talk to give landing rights to CCTV as given to international electronic media outlets.

The minister said that we are also examining how the Chinese language programmes in Pakistan vis-a-vis Pakistani programmes including drama, documentaries, arts and culture as well as youth programmes can be telecast in each other countries.

In similar way, she said that we want deep interaction between Radio Pakistan and China Radio International (CRI).

She said that most importantly, we are seeking the help of Chinese government in establishing Media University where we can impart trainings to media professionals in various fields as this would help better orientations for them.

This initiative will also help our media professionals to have better exposure to Chinese media as well.

Dr. Awan said she enjoyed the reception at Urumqi and was glad for the cordial feelings towards Pakistan. At the expo, she held meaningful exchanges with China and other delegates. She exchanged views on the ways "media can be one of the marketing tools to promote bilateral economic ties and create investment opportunities."

Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan is visiting China on invitation of her Chinese counterpart Mr. Wang Chen.

At the forum, it was informed that Xinjiang now has only one cross-border railway, the 460-km line that connects Urumqi to Kazakhstan's rail through the Alataw Pass. A second China-Kazakhstan rail line is being constructed to link Xinjiang's trading port Horgos to the inland rail network.

Pakistani officials have also proposed constructing a cross-border railway to link its northern border with Kashgar, an old Silk Road town and today's major city in southern Xinjiang.

Pakistan's Ambassador to China Masood Khan told Xinhua that a feasibility study of the railway had been conducted but there was still no time-table for starting the construction.

"By using this option, you can shorten China's trading routes from the Gulf to Shanghai by about 5,000 miles. It is very short," Khan said, adding that talks about a cross border pipeline that can carry oil and gas to China via inland Eurasia, have also begun.

"New opportunities have emerged for China and countries at the heart of Eurasia. The pace of regional economic integration is growing significantly," the Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said while addressing the first ever China-Eurasia Forum in Urumqi. Li stressed the need for efforts from other neighbouring countries to further boost regional trade and investment.

China's trade with central, south, and west Asian countries reached 270 billion US dollars last year.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011