LAHORE: (Thursday, March 08, 2012): Punjab University Department of Political Science in collaboration with Centre for South Asian Studies on Thursday organized national political conference on “Pakistan’s Internal and External Security: Challenges and Options”. Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, Iranian Consulate General Mohammad Hussain Bani Asadi, Vice Chancellor Bahauddin Zikarya University Prof Dr Khawaja Alqama, Vice Chancellor Gomal University Prof Dr Mansoor Akbar Kundi, Chairperson Department of Political Science Prof Dr Umbreen Javed, renowned intellectuals, defense analysts and a large number of students participated in the moot.

Addressing the conference, Dr Mujahid Kamran said that the fundamental problem of the world was not terrorism but the drive of those who control USA to set up a new world order, a one world government under the control of the wealthiest families on the planet. He said that terrorism was a strategic ploy to create a pretext for sending US forces worldwide and at the same time transforming US into a police state through legislation. He said that protests against US policies were not being reflected in the US media as 95 percent of the media organizations were owned by six corporations. He said that the US wanted to be in Central Asia because it believed that any threat to its hegemony could come only from the Eurasian Continent. He said that America wanted to carry out Balkanization of this region and it would Balkanize any Muslim country which had the potential, who had the potential to become militarily and economically strong He said Iraq and Sodan had the potential but they had been destroyed and defragmented. He said Iran had the potential and the US wanted to capture oil and gas resources of the world in other countries so that it could reserve them exclusively for its own use and by denying oil and gas to its adversaries to cripple them. He said that in order to rule the world dictatorship at home was a corner stone of the policy of those who control USA and therefore the middle class of America was being systematically destroyed. He said 8 million home were foreclosed since 2007 and 30 thousand homes were being foreclosed per month. He said that it was a part their strategy to widen and deepen ethnic, sectarian, provincial rivalry and to fan and stoke terrorism to achieve its objectives therefore Pakistan must pay attention to educating its people and the government must apportion 4 percent of GDP for education and that we must become tolerant and respect each other. He said Iran was prepared but Pakistan was not for the coming conflict. Iranian Consulate General Muhammad Hussain Bani Asadi said that Pakistan and Iran did not manage the situation of Afghanistan after the expulsion of Russian forces and we had to learn a lesson from it. He said that the US intervention in the region had created problems and we should see what the designs of the US were. He said that US must not pressurize us and intervene on gas pipeline project. He said that security of Pakistan and Iran was interlinked and both the countries should promote economic, cultural, social and academic relations. He said that we should take confidence building measures and Pakistan and Iran could help establish peace in the region.

Prof Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi said that Pakistan was facing problems since its inception but now the security situation was more complex. He said that Pakistan had attracted more foreign attention as transition was taking place in the region. He said that internal problems were more important than external threats. He said that intolerance, extremism and militancy were big challenges being faced by the country. He said that the country should resolve its internal problems with an emotionless approach. He said that Pakistan was needed to expand its foreign relations and should increase ties with Russia. He said that there was a need of expanding economic relations in the region. Pakistan will have to improve her image in this regard, he added.

Vice Chancellor Bahauddin Zikarya University Prof Dr Khawaja Alqma seconded the thoughts of Prof Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi and said that Pakistan should work on image building for better foreign relations. Vice Chancellor Gomal University Prof Dr Mansoor Akbar Kundi said that three vice chancellors were facing life threats in Balochistan while one was shot and one was kidnapped. He said that internal threats were more dangerous than external threats. He said that we must reduce our dependency on the United States as it could not see any Muslim country to grow stronger. He lauded Prof Dr Umbreen Javed for organization national political conference and termed Political Science department the best department among Pakistani universities.

In her inaugural speech, Chairperson Department of Political Science Prof Dr Umbreen Javed threw light on national affairs and thanked the guests for taking part in the conference.

NOTE: The details of the address of Dr Rasool Bakhsh Raees, Altaf Hassan Qureshi and other analysts will be released tomorrow as the conference is concluding in the evening.