ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that the anti-state elements threatening Pakistan were out to threaten not only the lives but also the very fabric of Pakistani nation but the Pakistanis had irrevocably stood up to the challenge and resolved never to give in.
“Pakistan is resolved to redeem its pledge given to its founding fathers that it will protect the homeland. We are also committed to preserve and ensure freedom, equality and social justice as core values of our polity as desired by our enlightened forbears,” said the Prime Minister in his message to the nation on Pakistan Day being celebrated annually on March 23.
He said three quarters of a century had elapsed since the Muslims of subcontinent irreversibly resolved to seek their own independent Muslim state. Their revered Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared that Muslims of South Asia were an independent nation by any definition. He led them to wage a struggle for a state based on principles of social justice, self-determination andequality.
The Prime Minister said the independence struggle witnessed countless vicissitudes but the Quaid never flinched from his avowed objective.
He said the firm commitment of the Quaid wholeheartedly backed by the Muslim nation ultimately succeeded in carving out an independent homeland. The Quaid bequeathed to his people the promised land with the exhortation to preserve and protect it for future generations.
He said the three quarters of a century later, Quaid’s Pakistan was groping to overcome unprecedented threats and challenges.
The peace loving people of Pakistan are unwittingly exposed to threats posed by extremism and terrorism and Pakistan had been subjected to an existential threat that it has no option but to confront, the premier said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he was a steadfast believer in permanence of morality based representative plurality envisaged by the Quaid.
He also greatly valued the equality principle and consider it vital for national preservation.
“I am a formidable opponent of anachronistic notions of obscurantism and consider it harmful to our national existence. I am confident that with the valued assistance of our valiant armed forces, unconditionally supported by the entire array of political opinion, we will surely overpower threatening forces,” he observed.
He expressed his confidence that Pakistan had turned a new leaf in its existence and would soon be able to overcome all odds. “My government has embarked upon a vast portfolio of institutional and development ventures that will bear fruit in near future,” he said.
The Prime Minister expressed his resolve to the nation that under his watch, no effort would be spared to bring tolerance and harmony in Pakistan. =DNA