Pakistan knows how to defend itself: president

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday said Pakistan had no aggressive intention against any country but it knew how to defend the motherland from any kind of misadventure.

Speaking at a conference on "Media and Conflict" here, the president said Pakistani nation had given great sacrifices to win the war against terrorism, adding that the peace was hard-earned and it had to be protected, sustained and passed on to the next generations.

The president said the valiant Pakistani armed forces combated and defeated the scourge of terrorism in a befitting manner. He said that the armed forces had a wide range experience to deal with the menace of terrorism and the entire world could learn from Pakistan to cope with the menace.

He said media had a great role in highlighting and resolving various conflicts, adding that the Indian media was provoking the situation arising out of the Pulwama attack. He said whenever any terror incident occurred in India it blamed Pakistan, adding that it was an irrational approach of the Indian government.

The president said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had given a clear message on the situation that Pakistan and its people wanted peace with India. He, however, categorically said that Pakistan armed forces were fully prepared to combat any kind of aggression.

The president said media role in the present situation had become very important, particularly, it should be neutral and objective in conflicts. Citing the example of Iraq war, the president said the conflict was created on the basis of wrong and baseless information and the western media played a negative role by not disseminating the facts.

Dr Arif Alvi said it was the prime responsibility of media to disseminate facts and maintain its credibility among the readers and viewers.

Earlier, the president inaugurated the two-day international conference on media and conflict 2019. The conference has been organised by Pakistan Peace Collective (PPC) a research and advocacy body of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.