ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: Acting President Mohammedmian Soomro has called for promoting better understanding and cooperation among major civilisations of the world to lay the foundations of a more harmonious world order.

He was talking to the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Japanese Communist Party, Kazuo Shii, who had called on him here on Wednesday.

PML Secretary General Mushahid Hussain, leader of the house in Senate Wasim Sajjad, chief whip of PML Parliamentary Party in Senate Kamil Ali Agha and several other parliamentarians were also present on the occasion along with the Japanese ambassador in Pakistan.

The acting president said humanity is like a family needing a healing touch for mitigation of pains and suffering.

“We must act together to remove friction and discord among nations to make the world a safer and better place to live in,” he remarked. Peace and tranquility, he said, should be pursued as the ultimate goals which could not be achieved in isolation, particularly without ensuring fair play and justice at individual and collective levels.

“Let us rise above politics and espouse these noble causes in unison,” he added.

“Pakistan is an anchor of peace and the stability in the region. We are committed to nuclear non-proliferation and would continue to play our role in the global war against terrorism,” said Mr Soomro.

Pakistan highly valued its relations with Japan, based on mutual respect, commonality of views and shared ideas, he said.

He thanked the government of Japan for providing economic assistance that accelerated the pace of socio-economic development in the country. He stressed the need to expand people-to-people contact between the two countries and more frequent exchanges of the parliamentary delegations.

The leader of the Japanese Communist Party opposed linking any religion to terrorism, saying: “Terrorism has no boundaries nor do terrorists have any creed or religion.”—APP