Pakistan had no option but to implement the UN Security Council decision to ban the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)or face being declared as a terrorist state, defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar said here on Friday.
“We can fight with our enemies but not with the entire world,” the minister said while talking to mediapersons at Islamabad airport, where he received the first batch of pilgrims returning by PIA after performing Haj.
He said refusal to implement the UNSC resolution would have led to political and diplomatic isolation and crippled the economy which Pakistan could ill afford.
Mukhtar praised the handling of the crisis by President Asif Zardari and noted that any escalation of tension with India was not in the interest of either country. The Pakistani forces are fully prepared to confront any aggression, he said adding that: “We are not afraid of anyone but want to live with peace.”
The defence minister said peace was the best solution to resolve conflicts as war brought only death and destructions. He said the country was still paying the price of wars of 1965, 1971 and the Afghan jihad.
He said the US officials, who recently visited Pakistan, had expressed satisfaction over the government’s efforts for maintaining peace in the region.
“War on terror is our own war and in the interest of the country,” Ahmed Mukhtar reiterated. He said any person or organisation found trying to de-stabilise the country would be tackled with iron hands.
Commenting on the performance of PIA during Haj flight operation, he said the operation of national flag carrier had been very successful.
“For the first time the entire fleet of PIA was utilised during the Haj flight operation,” he added.
