Archives

Pakistan with Lanka 'all the way'- Musharraf

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday said that his country was cementing ties with Sri Lanka by enhancing economic ties while standing by this country to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The visiting President who held talks yesterday with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said "Pakistan is with Sri Lanka all the way" when he met media personnel in Colombo.

The Pakistani President expressed admiration for Sri Lanka for maintaining its economy through two decades of war and complimented Sri Lanka's Armed Forces "for sustaining this operation for 20 years in such a brave and honourable manner."

He also said that Pakistan supports the peace process adding that Pakistanis "hope and pray that the talks that have been initiated between the government and the LTTE will lead to peace".

The President said that cementing of ties in the 21st century is through economic and trade ties. "So we came here to explore fresh avenues of increasing economic and trade ties between Pakistan and Sri Lanka."

Sri Lanka and Pakistan signed three Memoranda of Understanding yesterday covering Tourism and Archaeology, Science and Technology and a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries (see separate story).

"This is the agreement that will give commercial and economic benefits to both countries," the Pakistani President said.

The public sector, he said, can facilitate the links but it has to be the private sector "which will have to be the driving force, the main engine of enhancing commercial ties".

Pakistan denied that it would use the FTA with Sri Lanka to penetrate the Indian market as Sri Lanka already has a similar deal with India. "Instead we are worried that the Indians will try to penetrate our market via Sri Lanka," Pakistani Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood who accompanied Musharraf said.

Ten Pakistani businessmen accompanied the President on his visit and Musharraf said he hopes Sri Lankan businessmen will reciprocate so that a healthy interaction would result.

On regional politics Musharraf expressed the hope that the next South Asian Regional Summit would take place in Pakistan, which is due to host the event. He said SAARC nations must decide among themselves that no single member should be allowed to scuttle the summit.

"If any single member does not want to attend, bad luck, the summit must be held," he said. He later denied that he was seeking reassurances from either Bangladesh or Sri Lanka that they would not scuttle the meeting.

"There is tension in our region between Pakistan and India and that is why the full potential of our meeting is not being realized. At this moment Pakistan and India have troops confronting each other across the borders. From Pakistan's point of view we do not want war, we will not initiate war and having said that will say that we have our honour and dignity to guard and we will guard it very jealously. Avoidance of war will not be at the cost of our honour and dignity."

He also called on world powers to facilitate a settlement of the Kashmir dispute so that there would be peace in the region.

President Musharraf also said that the democratization process in Pakistan is continuing, with elections due in October. Musharraf says he will not step down as President but will hand over executive powers to an elected Prime Minister but in consultation with the National Security Council reserve the power to dissolve Parliament.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager