Australian Ambassador Neil Hawkins & First Secretary Michael Kortfik meet with Emir JI Pakistan Hafiz Naeemur Rehman

ISLAMABAD, July 04 (SABAH): Australian Ambassador Neil Hawkins and First Secretary Michael Courtef met with Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman in Islamabad in which various issues and matters of mutual interest were discussed.

Jamaat-e-Islami Foreign Affairs Director Asif Luqman Qazi and Deputy Secretary General Farast Ali Shah were also present on the occasion.  Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that there is a need to promote relations between Australia and Pakistan in education, health, agriculture, trade and other sectors.

He said that we want the development of the economy according to our national priorities, the IMF has its own priorities. He told the ambassador of Jamaat-e-Islami Banu Kabil Program. He said thousands of youths have been trained under this program in Karachi and Sindh, now it is being expanded across the country. He said that governance and intelligence must be made effective to control terrorism, adding military operations are not the solution to problems.

Issues with Afghanistan should be resolved through dialogue, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said and added they want peace, stability, prosperity of the people in the region. He said they are against all kinds of terrorism. Emir Jamaat-e-Islami briefed the Australian ambassador about the program and objectives of the July 12 Islamabad sit-in and said that Jamaat-e-Islami’s protest would be completely peaceful. The ambassador said that cooperation will continue with Pakistan in agriculture, minerals and projects of natural resources. He praised the democracy within Jamaat-e-Islami.