LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that without eliminating prejudices, intolerance and extremism from society, the country cannot be called Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Pakistan.

Addressing an intellectual session organised by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on Tuesday, Mr Shehbaz said: “We want to make the country in accordance with the vision of Quaid-i-Azam where every citizen has equal rights and every person could achieve a status on the basis of his abilities without discrimination of faith, colour and creed.”

Brant Jones, an anchor at BBC World, hosted the programme.

The chief minister condemned acts of terrorism in Paris and said that such acts of barbarism had shocked the entire world. Referring to Afghan war in the 80s, he said that Pakistan had turned into a frontline state in that war and when the Soviet Union withdrew its forces, Pakistan was left alone.

The chief minister said that as a result of that war, Pakistan gained nothing except Kalashnikov, heroin culture and terrorism.

“In addition, we had to give refuge to three million Afghans.”

He said that as a result of Zarb-i-Azb, terrorists had been weakened, but winning the war against terrorism was not easy and “we are fully aware of difficulties in this war, but our intention is good and the morale is high”.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2015