Naek for handling situations in Middle East with care

Pakistan Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek called on the Iranian President Mehmood Ahmadinejad, says a press release received here on Friday. The Iranian President said that he always believed that our civilisation links were deep rooted based on common culture and religion. No negative spot could be found in the history of our bilateral relations.
Our region was rich in human and natural resources and the most of our needs could be fulfilled through mutual co-operation. The Chairman Senate Naek said there was need to handle the crisis situations in the Middle East and the Gulf Region with extreme care and with the sense of unity in the Ummah, otherwise it could even threaten the very existence of the Islamic States.
The Chairman added that peace in the Afghanistan was linked with Pakistan and vice versa. It had no military solution. It could only be resolved through dialogue among the major regional players including Iran as well as comprehensive development in Afghanistan.
In the meeting with the Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi the Chairman Senate reiterated that Pakistan was against terrorism in its all forms and manifestation and would not allow its soil to be used for spread of terrorism in other countries. Pakistan believed in the policy of non-interference and non-intervention. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of every state ought to be protected for establishment of permanent peace in the region, he added.
Salehi offered Pakistan to join the recently concluded transit route agreement among five regional countries namely Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Oman. He also offered to sell electricity to Pakistan to overcome the current power shortfall. Both sides expressed satisfaction on the progress achieved in the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.
While appreciating the proposal the Chairman Senate said that bilateral efforts should be made to ensure the regular running of the goods trains from Pakistan to Turkey through Iran under the ECO auspicious. Both sides agreed to enhance the frequency of bilateral visits to promote trade and commercial relations.
The Foreign Minister said that he was looking forward to his visit to Islamabad as leader of the Iranian side in Joint Economic Commission meeting where he would like to finalise the road map for increasing the volume of bilateral trade from the current level of 1.2 billion dollars to over 5 billion dollars.
The Senate Chairman during his meeting with Iranian Speaker Ali Larijani while reiterating the significance of Pakistan-Iran relations said that the Government and the President of Pakistan have emphasised a special priority towards further strengthening bilateral ties. "We deeply value our relations with Iran and want to enhance them in all fields." He also extended an invitation to Iranian Speaker to visit Pakistan.
The Iranian Speaker in his remarks said that the visit of Pakistan Senate delegation provides a good opportunity to enhance bilateral economic co-operation. The Senate Chairman also met with Aladdin Boroujerdi, head of the foreign policy and Security Council commission of the Iranian Majlis, during which he said that strengthening relation between Pakistan and Iran can lead to the unity of the Muslim Ummah.
Referring to the campaign against terrorism, he said both Pakistan and Iran have suffered from terrorism and therefore, they should enhance their co-operation to fight against the common threat. He also underscored the significance of Pakistan-Iran co-operation in establishing peace and security in Afghanistan.
The Senate Chairman proposed the establishment of bilateral and trilateral commissions to deal with the security issues confronting Iran-Pakistan and Afghanistan during his meeting with the secretary, Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili.
He said Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan are important countries and tri-lateral co-ordination was essential to establish peace and security in the region. The Senate Chairman also touched upon the Kashmir issue particularly the human rights violations in the Indian held Kashmir and called for support for the oppressed Kashmiri people. Jalili welcomed the proposal adding that Iran would review it favourably.
The Chairman also met with Ali Akbar Aghale, head of Pakistan-Iran Parliamentary Association and discussed matters of mutual interest. Earlier, in the morning, the Senate Chairman laid wreath on the tomb of Imam Khomeini, the founder of Islamic Republic of Iran. He will also visit the holy cities of Qom and Mashhad before leaving for Pakistan.-PR