LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid on Friday said that the government believed in pursuing politics of cooperation rather than confrontation on all national and international fronts.
Talking to the editors during a meeting of the Lahore Editors Club at a local hotel here, he said that nothing came out of the long-time politics of confrontation but Pakistan achieved its targets through politics of cooperation.
To a query regarding the US government, the Information Minister said the US administration wanted to sell planes to Pakistan but the US Congress was in disagreement, adding that the government would try to resolve the issue on diplomatic level.
"One difference of opinion cannot dent Pak-US relations. If we have one disagreement, Pakistan and the US governments are in complete accord on other matters," the Information Minister added.
Regarding the conditions on US assistance, he said Pakistan had busted the terrorism and terrorist networks more than anyone else, adding that Pakistan had rendered more sacrifices than its share in the war against terror although it was not Pakistan's obligation only.
Regarding the Parliament committee on Panama Papers, the Minister said the Parliament Committee was empowered to evolve a strategy to investigate the allegations. About the PTI, he said Imran Khan's party was fourth in the recently held by-polls of the Takhat-e-Peshawar.
To a question, he said Tajikistan had admitted its mistake on the publication of erroneous map, adding that all were aware of the fact.
Earlier, the Federal Information Minister said, "Pakistan was affected by the two wars in our neighborhood," adding that the first started with Russia's invasion of Afghanistan and the second started after the 9/11 attacks. He said, "The first war introduced heroine and Kalashnikov culture while the other war left us with terrorism."
He said in the past the political system in the country remained either suspended or a victim of political instability.
The Minister said the PML-N government, after coming into power in 2013, had faced the challenges of establishing political stability, strengthening the frontiers and internal security besides providing sound foundations to the economy of the country.
The Minister said it was the fruit of political stability in the country that the country had achieved the highest index of the foreign reserves in the history of the country, adding that no other government of the country had completed as many development projects in the entire history of the country as the PML-N government had completed, adding that even a list of PML-N's last 3 year's development projects may surpass all others.
He said the PML-N believed in the politics for the progress of the country, adding politics should be beyond personal and party interests. He said the government continued its journey of development despite the obstacles created by detractors.
He said had the Chinese President visited Pakistan six months ago and the 46 billion dollars in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor had been received six months before, Pakistan would have been more prosperous but the path of progress was halted through a sit-in.
The government had the challenges of providing employment, shelter, education and health facilities to the masses by improving the industrial and agricultural produce, he added.
Senator Pervaiz Rashid said the government had started multiple power projects which would produce upto 12,000 MW electricity to the national grid by the start of 2018 and the country would have 16,000 MW electricity by 2021, adding besides this the Lahore - Karachi Motorway and the Gawadar port had started operations today.
He said the TORs by the opposition were based on personal vendetta, adding that sit-in politics had harmed the interests of the country and Pakistan did not afford it in future.
Mujeeb ur Rehamn Shami, Zia Shahid, Bedar Bakhat, Asad ullah Ghalib, Shafqat Mehmood, Sarfraz Syed, Saeed Asi, Salman Ghani and other editors attended the meeting.
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