CANBERRA: Pakistan today [June 27] urged members of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) to do their utmost to end the continuing war in Asia and turn away from a collision course.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia, Dr A.M. Malik, told the opening session of the SEATO Council meeting here that Pakistan was gravely concerned over the continuing war in Asia and its immediate threat to world peace.

“It is for all of us, here assembled, to take counsel of one another, and to bring to bear all the collective wisdom and compassion for humanity and to turn away from a collision course, so as to avert the immeasurable tragedy which threatens to engulf the world,” he declared.

Dr Malik, head of Pakistan’s delegation to the meeting, said his country was ready to make “its humble contribution towards the achievement of this end, should it find itself in a position to do so”.

Dr Malik stressed that it was vital in the interests of peace and economic development, particularly in the developing nations of South-East Asia, that all countries remove causes of international conflict by honouring their international commitments and respecting the right of peoples to self-determination.

[Meanwhile, as reported by our Correspondent from Larkana,] Mr Z.A. Bhutto, Central Minster on leave, was received by the district officers when he arrived here by his car from Arain Road airstrip this noon at 14.25 hours for a four-day stay. He had reached the Arain Road airstrip from Karachi by a special plane.

At the airstrip near Sukkur he was accorded a warm reception by the people who had gathered there in thousands to greet him despite the blazing sun.

As Mr Bhutto alighted from the plane his admirers shouted slogans of “Zulfiqar-i-Qaum Zindabad”, “Independent foreign policy needed”, “We don’t want American aid”, “Pakistan-China Friendship Zindabad”, etc.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2016