Operation Will Continue Till Govt Writ Restored
August 22, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under Breaking News
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN: Extremists in Pakistan’s northwest have been defeated and scattered, but the military operation will continue until the writ of the government is fully established, said President Asif Ali Zardari in an interview.
In interview with the Chinese news agency, Zardari said, “We expect the military operation to continue until the writ of the government has been fully restored … democracy is always a format of dialogue. But nobody would be allowed to take the law into their hands and extremism would not be tolerated.”
He said that all Pakistanis were now of the opinion that extremism should not be tolerated. “And the message which the political forces of the day and the people of Pakistan want [to convey] is … [that] live with each other in harmony and peace.”
Zardari said that the social and administrative infrastructure had been restored in troubled areas, and normalcy was returning to Swat, Malakand and Buner.
“The process of development has been launched. Economic activity is picking up gradually,” he said, adding that schools and hospitals had also started functioning.
However, he said the army would remain in the area to assist the civil authorities and eliminate pockets of resistance.
The president also said that the Pakistani leadership, security forces and people were firmly resolved to fight militancy and eliminate extremism from all parts of the country. “It is a fight for survival … we must win it,” he said.
About the country’s economy, Zardari said that it had lost momentum significantly, and GDP grew by a modest two percent in 2008-09.
But he said that this modest growth seemed to be satisfactory when viewed in the backdrop of a domestic situation affected by the war on terror and the volatile security situation and the global financial crisis.
He said that the focus of the government’s policies was to revive economic growth in a stable environment.
Operation Will Continue Till Govt Writ Restored was first posted on August 22, 2009 at 10:54 am.
