LAHORE, April 4: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Friday that Pakistan had become invincible and that the government would not compromise national security under any circumstances.

Talking to businessmen during a visit to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the minister said that Pakistan was the not the next US target, being among the latter’s friends and not enemies.

He said that President Musharraf evolved the right kind of Afghan policy on one hand and did not provide logistic support to the US for Iraq War on the other. “How could Pakistan prevail on the US when the latter had not heeded to the advice of 190 countries (in choosing to attack Iraq),” he asked. President Musharraf had refused to vote in favour of the US in the UN Security Council while countries like Russia, Germany had France took a u-turn on the issue for a share in the Iraqi oil.

He was of the view that Pakistan could benefit from the change in the attitude of Muslim World towards the West in the wake of Iraq war. Pakistan could avail of the opportunity and increase its exports to Islamic countries.

He said that China had played an important role in making possible the president’s visit to Russia.

He claimed that the Kashmir problem was expected to be resolved through a dialogue in near future, because the Indian strategy to cow down Pakistan by projecting the freedom struggle as terrorism, arranging attacks on parliament through RAW and deploying troops on the border after 9/11, had failed to produce the desired results. Indian armymen did not want to get posted in Kashmir, he added.

The minister said that the economy was strong and had survived the shocks of 9/11, drought and the Iraq War. He said that the foreign exchange reserves were increasing and the $15 billion mark was not far away.

He said that the increase in forex reserves had not been made possible by the business community and was the result of a change in the attitude of overseas Pakistanis who had started transmitting their savings through banks instead of Hawala and Hundi. He said that the increase in forex reserves had freed the country from all kinds of pressures and fear of restrictions. Foreign investment was now the only concern of the government for maintaining the economy in good shape.

He observed that foreign investment was directly linked to the image of the country abroad. He invited the chambers of commerce and industry to come forward and play their role in projection of Pakistan as a liberal and business-friendly state aboard for attracting foreign investment. He said that the government was ready to give the chambers of commerce and industry the permission to establish their own television station for projecting a positive image of Pakistan and attracting foreign investment.

He said that the government had worked hard to change the image of Pakistan from an extremely religious country into a liberal democratic state after 9/11, but the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal victory in the general elections created the impression that religious elements were getting stronger in the country. However, he added, the MMA leadership was not irresponsible, and it understood the importance of the economy. He said that the government was now trying to establish a working relationship with the MMA and the people would hear good news in this respect very soon.

Sheikh Rashid said that he was in favour of entrusting the government portfolios relating to business to businessmen, who understood the requirements of the economy better than bureaucrats. He said that the development of Gawadar Port was expected to play an important role in the future economic development of the country. He said that Afghanistan could be a good market for Pakistani products because the Afghans looked towards Pakistan for everything.

He said that the whole world was divided right from the European Union and the Non-Aligned Movement to the OIC on the issues of investment and share in markets. Pakistan could turn towards the OIC for the purpose. He said that Pakistan would emerge as an Islamic power in the region after the Iraq war. It would however be required to improve its economy for defeating India. The business community could do so by offering quality goods at prices lower than Indian companies.

He said that he had proposed to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to take with him on a visit to a country only the businessmen engaged in business with that country. He said that as a minister during the tenure of late Mohammad Khan Junejo and Mian Nawaz Sharif, he had observed that same people accompanied the prime ministers on all foreign tours.

Referring to complaints in respect of tax recoveries, the minister said that the battle with the business community over tax recovery procedures had been going on for the last 55 years and was likely to continue in future as well. No mastermind had so far come up with a procedure that could satisfy both the taxpayers and collectors. He said that the taxpayers were giving more in the form of bribe than they were paying in the form of tax. The government had not been able to devise a time-saving system for collection of utility bills. One person of every family was busy paying utility bills throughout the month.

He said that he would propose to the prime minister to utilise part of the forex reserves for advancing loans to the SMEs. He conceded that ample time was not being given to the business community on television, and said the government was ready to allocate half an hour for discussion on its problems every week.

He advised businessmen to improve the quality of their products on one hand and spare time for public-relationing during their visits to the foreign countries. He said that the business community should also improve its relations with the CBR.

He said that he was not satisfied with the performance of the external publicity wing, but 12 out of 17 press attaches in foreign missions and embassies did not have cars for moving around for public-relationing. The government had sanctioned Rs12 million for the purchase of cars for them recently.

He ruled out the possibility of allowing transmission of Indian television channels on the cable and said that launch of regional channels was being allowed by the government. He said that he also wanted to start a religious channel as well as an entertainment channel. “The government would start the entertainment channel. The private sector could take the religious channel.” He said that the government was also withdrawing the restriction that the print media should not operate television channels.

He offered to arrange a meeting between private sector housing developers and the prime minister. He stressed the need for improvement of engineering standards in the industry.

Earlier, while welcoming the minister, Chamber president Yawar Irfan Khan stressed the need for proper marketing of the state abroad by projecting a good image through the media. He said that the world had ignored the shortcomings of India because she had been able to project her good image successfully.