Islamabad
Pakistan’s role for curbing terrorism and sacrifices offered by armed forces of the country for the cause were eulogised generously by the participants of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly held here under the auspices of the Senate Secretariat.
Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq hosted sumptuous dinner in the honour of the delegates of the assembly Tuesday evening in a local hotel and it was also attended by Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, Leader of the House in Senate Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, Secretary Senate Amjad Pervez Malik, parliamentary leaders of various groups and envoys of different Asian countries.
The foreign delegates praised profusely the arrangements for the assembly and they were of the view that democracy had bright prospectus in Pakistan as the serious stakeholders were equally keen to see it flourished. The guests at the dinner had candid exchange of views regarding various trends prevailing in their respective countries about the systems working there. They were impressed about the progress being registered in Pakistan and developments in different sectors made here. They talk high of the government of Nawaz Sharif for the achievements.
Some guests, who were pleasantly surprised about the pace of recuperation of Prime Minister Nawaz in the wake of his cardiac surgery, were of the view that it was the strong will that helped prime minister to return to his work in such a short period with full vigour after major surgery. Some guests regretted about the gory incident of Karachi in the day where two personnel of Pakistan Army were martyred while on duty.
The members of the Parliament had frank exchange of views with the guests who had come from different countries of Asia.
Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong was the most sought after diplomat in the dinner who informally invited Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to undertake visit of China soon. Ambassador Sun reminded the fellow guests that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC) would be completed within stipulated time and urged for forging unity in the ranks of various divides in Pakistan.
Leaders of the Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah, Aitzaz Ahsan and PTI leaders were conspicuous with their absence from the feast.