Govt not to compromise on country’s defence, sovereignty, self-respect: PM
ISLAMABAD, Apr 18 (APP): Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday assured the National Assembly that the Government would not compromise on defence, sovereignty, stability and self-respect of the country. Speaking in the lower house of the Parliament, he said, the political leadership, Chief of the Army Staff and Director General Inter Services Intelligence’s (ISI) visit to Afghanistan proved that all are on the same page on sovereignty and defence of Pakistan.
He said that basic purpose of the visit was how to bring stability in the war torn Afghanistan and the region and resolve the Afghanistan issue through negotiation.
The Prime Minister said that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan was in the interest of Pakistan. He said that the leadership of Pakistan and Afghanistan have the realization that both the countries have suffered a lot.
He said that Pakistan was a part of the Afghan solution and not the problem. That was why Pakistan wanted an Afghan led and Afghan owned process of the issue and it would fully support it, he added.
The Prime Minister told the National Assembly that since 2008 the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan has witnessed improvement and added he could say with confidence that there was a visible change in the relationship between the two neighbours.
The Prime Minister said that since then the leadership of both the countries have visited each other’s countries. He said that the political leadership, army and intelligence chiefs of both the countries held wide range of talks during the recent visit. 
Being neighbours both Pakistan and Afghanistan have bilateral relations and have trilateral relations with Turkey and the United States.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have signed a new Pak-Afghan Transit Trade Agreement and wanted to expand its exports to Central Asian States, he said and added, Pakistan wanted to cooperate with Afghanistan in infrastructure and other sectors.
Prime Minster Gilani said that the Afghan issue should be resolved through talks as war and military operations cannot solve the problems.
He said that stability in Pakistan and Afghanistan would bring prosperity to the entire world.
About the Director General, ISI’s visit to the United States, the Prime Minister said that the Director General ISI went to the United States with the consent of the government while Foreign Secretary has also visited the United States.
He said that Pakistan had defence, intelligence and political cooperation with the United States since long.
Gilani said that intelligence agencies should not be seen with suspicion, as being state institutions they are working in the larger interest of the country and nation.
The Prime Minister said that he told Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, who called on him today that a single incident should not make hostage the relationships between the two countries.
He said they were told that there should be exchange of parliamentary delegations between the two countries and there should be people to people contacts between Pakistan and the United States.
About the drone attacks, the Prime Minister said that they were told that USA should pass on credible information to our intelligence agency and Pakistan would itself take action against the terrorists on its soil.
He said that drone attacks cannot resolve the issue and political support would have to be carried out for it. He said the United States would have to respect our political and military efforts in the war against terrorism.