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Pakistan requested to be arbitrator in Afghan, Yemen crises: Zartaj Gul
Pakistan requested to be arbitrator in Afghan, Yemen crises: Zartaj Gul


LAHORE: (Friday, December 7, 2018): State Minister for Climate Change Ms Zartaj Gul has said that Pakistan has said no more to proxy war and it has been requested to play role of arbitrator to resolve crises in Afghanistan and Yemen. She said Pakistan had paid the highest cost of life and property after World War II in proxy war and now the government had decided not to be part of other’s war. She was addressing the opening seminar of ‘Agents of Peace’ jointly organized by Punjab University College of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Centre for Health and Gender Equality (CHANGE) at Al-Raazi Hall. PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad Akhter, intellectual Shakeel Jazib, columnist Salman Abid, faculty members and a large number of students were present on the occasion.

Addressing the participants, Zartaj Gul said that more than 70,000 Pakistanis had sacrificed their lives and the country’s economy had suffered serious setbacks in war on terror. She said that the incident happened in the New York for which neither the soil nor any resource of Pakistan was used but Pakistan paid the highest cost to fight terrorism. She said that the cowardly attack on the children of Army Public School was the worst example of terrorism. She said that there was need to find reasons behind terrorism in order to curb the menace. She said that the government believed in dialogue to resolve Kashmir dispute. She said that because of Imran Khan’s policies, green passport was being respected in the world. She said that we need to eliminate culture of intolerance through debate and argument so that we could establish peace in society. She said that now the narrative had changed and we must not impose our ideology on others. She said that we must value our culture and give respect to others. She said that the young people of Pakistan were peace makers and they should come forward with new ideas for promotion of peace in society. She said that all the academic institutions of Pakistan must join hands with Punjab University in the mission to establish peace in the country. She told the students that their parents, teachers and the government were spending their energies and resources on their development because they were the future of Pakistan. She said that global warming was badly affecting our country. She said the government was planting trees under a long term policy to cope with bad effects of climate change. She said that every Pakistani must plant tree, avoid wastage of water and keep their environment clean. Addressing the seminar, PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad said that Pakistan Army and people of Pakistan had sacrificed their lives for establishing peace in Pakistan. He said that it was responsibility of higher education institutions to produce civilized citizens and resolve issues the society was facing through inventions and innovations. He said that now Pakistan was out of crises and youth must come forward to play role in development of the country. He said that we must resolve all issues related to governance and education. He said that extremism did not exist at universities level. He said that we must ensure merit and honesty to promote peace in society. Salman Abid said that the academic institutions played important role in establishing any narrative and we must make efforts to eliminate difference by agreeing on differences. He said the culture of tolerance would help promote harmony in our society and remove misconceptions about others. Dr Sajid Rashid said that PU was ambassador of peace and our students were making efforts to create awareness among people regarding importance of peace and tolerance. He said that various platforms were being provided to the youth through co-curricular activities so that our young generation could polish their talent and utilize their energies in positive activities. He said that positive image of Pakistan was being projected as we were peaceful nation and wanted peace in the world. He said that a comprehensive program had been designed for the next six months to encourage student societies for making peace efforts through co-curricular activities. Mr Shakeel Jazib said that extremism could be eliminated only through joint efforts of the government and the society. He said that we needed to connect with our civilization and we must take measures that could correct our faults. Later, souvenirs were presented to distinguished guests.