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LAHORE, Sept 5: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has criticized the opposition for practising “negative politics” and threatening a nationwide strike and has urged all lawmakers to use the floor of parliament to voice their grievances and express their viewpoints instead of giving such calls.
“Strikes do not benefit anyone. Such calls affect the poor the worst and hurt the economy. We need to work hard to take Pakistan forward. Strikes only hurt the economy and the poorer segments of society,” he told reporters at a ceremony marking expansion of the manufacturing capacity of Honda Atlas Cars and inauguration of a freight express train on Monday.
The prime minister called for an end to the era of “negative politics” and said that Pakistan stood to gain from such a move. “If you have political differences, you should use the forum of parliament to vent your dissent, and present your viewpoint. We should behave like a civilised society,” he said.
Both the major opposition political alliances, the ARD and the MMA, had called for a nationwide strike on Friday at the national leaders conference on Sunday. The strike was called the first step in the opposition’s campaign to end dictatorship and put the country back on the path of democracy in accordance with 1973 Constitution.
Mr Aziz called upon the opposition to keep the national interest supreme and urged it “not to score political points through strike”.
CONTACT WITH ISRAEL: Mr Aziz described the recent meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Israel as an engagement that would help resolve the Palestine issue.
“The meeting was not a step towards the recognition of Israel. So far the government has no intention to recognize Israel. There is no change in our stance over the Palestine issue which is very complex and the Ummah should play its role for its solution,” he said.
“We also want to resolve all outstanding issues with India through dialogue,” he said.
