Says Islamabad showed great progress in terror war under leadership of Nawaz
ISLAMABAD: US President Barack Obama has commended Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for staying back with his people at a difficult time instead of embarking on a foreign visit and said that under his leadership Pakistan has shown great progress in the war against terrorism.
The US president established telephonic contact with Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday evening in the wake of Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park suicide attack on Sunday that killed 74 people.
Well-placed sources in the PM House told The News that the US president offered heartfelt condolences on the killings in Lahore and condemned the incident. He extended condolences on behalf of the people of the United States on the Lahore tragedy and requested Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to convey his feelings to the affected families. “The people of the United States are with the government and the people of Pakistan in the tragic moments and we will extend every help to Pakistan to eliminate terror from its soil,” Obama maintained.
“Under your leadership Pakistan has shown great progress in the war against terrorism. We acknowledge and appreciate your leadership in the anti-terror efforts and believe that Pakistan will succeed in this war,” he said.
The prime minister reminded the US president that an invisible enemy was killing innocent people who are soft targets for them as the infrastructure of terrorists had been dismantled. “The resolve of my nation and my own is getting stronger day by day to Pakistani nation will win this war against this invisible enemy and extremist ideology,” the prime minister vowed.
The two leaders also discussed the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) currently underway in Washington for which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was invited by President Obama personally but Nawaz as an expression of solidarity with the victims of Lahore blast called off his programme to attend it and lead Pakistan’s delegation. President Obama appreciated Nawaz’s decision to stay back with his nation in the testing times by not attending the summit.
The PM House has said that President Obama told Nawaz Sharif, “We will meet in near future and I am eagerly waiting for this meeting.”
Sources hinted that President Obama has renewed his invitation to Nawaz for visiting the United States at an early and appropriate time. It would be worked out through diplomatic channels, the sources added. Obama spoke to Nawaz for about 25 minutes.
The Foreign Office sources said that the prime minister was set to be accorded rare distinction in the summit when it was planned that he will be sitting next to the US president while British Prime Minister David Cameron was allotted seat on the other side of the chair as Nawaz is viewed as one who converted Pakistan into a nuclear state. He was assigned to present key-note address in the summit.
Pakistan has the best record in nuclear security and Nawaz had to plead Pakistan’s case for acquiring civil nuclear cooperation from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), just like India had last year. Political observers are of the opinion that sit-in in Islamabad that concluded on Wednesday evening peacefully was also one of the two reasons for cancellation of the visit by the prime minister to Washington. APP adds: President of Maldives Abdullah Yameen phoned Nawaz Sharif and extended his deepest condolences on the loss of precious lives in Lahore terror attack.
Nawaz said terrorists were on the run and were hitting soft targets including children and women, a statement from the PM House said. “Terrorism has become a serious global threat. We are determined to wipe out terrorism from our soil,” the prime minister said.
