June 23, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 22,1424

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PESHAWAR, June 22: Speakers here have urged social welfare organizations  and peace-loving people to strive  for  the elimination of weapons and removal of social and economic injustices from the society.

This was the crux of the views expressed by speakers at a debate arranged by NWFP chapter of Pakistan Social Forum (PSF) here on Sunday.

Globalization has left the Third World countries far behind in the sphere  of  economic  and social development,  as  a  few multinationals were exploiting the resources of poor countries, they said. The heavy and  large-scale industrialization of the developed countries had not  only deprived the people of the poor countries of jobs opportunities, but had also caused immense environmental pollution, they added.

A great responsibility rests with the US and other rich countries to make investment in developing countries on friendly terms to provide jobs and provide commodities on the competitive rates.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union the situation had drastically changed in favour of the US, which was the sole power to motivate global economics, political and social policies which suited its own interests, they pointed out. The US, they said, first destroyed Afghanistan and  Iraq economically and then invaded them for no fault of their people.

The speakers said it was also responsible for proliferation of weapons of all kinds, which promoted a culture of disdain and hatred among most of the countries. In the past the presence of USSR balanced the US  mis-adventurism, but after its disintegration, there was no country in the world to stop the vendetta unleashed by the US against the weak countries.

They stressed that there was an urgent need on the part of Pakistan and India to destroy their nuclear weapons and divert their natural resources towards education and health sectors to end the sufferings of their people.

The wave of privatization had played havoc with the people of the developing countries where the workers were being exploited by the foreign investment giants.

The World Bank, IMF and WTO are exploiting poor countries creating more miseries. This has given birth to anger, fundamentalism and violence, the said.