ISLAMABAD, June 17: Minister for Information and Media Development Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that Pakistan will not recognize Israel.

Talking to reporters at the Parliament House on Tuesday, he said that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had given a clear statement about it.

When his attention was drawn towards the statement of President Gen Pervez Musharraf on the subject, the information minister said that he had referred to the “Middle East peace roadmap” according to which Palestine should be made a state.

He made it clear that Kashmir and continuity of the nuclear programme were of prime importance, so there would be no bargaining on them.

In light of the geo-political situation, he said it was the need of the hour that the opposition should quit the politics of “egoism and rigidity” and come back to the Senate and National Assembly in accordance with the democratic norms.

“We are ready to talk to them on all the matters,” he said.

In a rejoinder to opposition’s statement that budget has no legal importance, he said, as it had been passed by the National Assembly it had all the validity and implementation.

He pointed out that despite the aggressive posture of the opposition the stock market had registered a record ascend.—APP