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Summary
President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said the government was focussing on a policy of reconciliation and tolerance and would never let the country be taken hostage by non-state actors and forced going into a war. Addressing participants of a Security Course at the National Defence University (NDU) here, the President called for building up capability of the defence forces of the country to meet any eventuality. He said Pakistan desired peaceful co-existence with all its neighbours and added the country and the nation will remain vigilant and prepared for any eventuality. President Zardari said under the present circumstances, there would be no cut in the defence expenditure as the country was fighting a war for its survival.We cannot afford to cut down allocations for the armed forces, he said and added that a cut has been placed on other sectors. He said wars were never a solution to resolve issues. War is not part of a democratic mindset, the President said. He said the best scenario for terrorists was to be able to operate freely in a no-state environment; where their structure overpowers the state structure. However he said that we should not allow a few to take us to a war, or make us hostage to implement their agendas. At a Q & A session President Zardari said the government had taken up the water issue with India. About the situation in Balochistan, the President pointed to the steps that had been taken to win the trust of people. He said a road network was being completed to fully operationalise the Gwadar Port. Regarding the energy crisis, President Zardari said plans were afoot for meeting energy needs through RPPs and other energy projects besides building 12 small and medium dams in the country. President Zardari also announced an allocation of Rs 50 million for a new faculty of Contemporary Sciences at the National Defence University in the current financial year and said the government will meet the total requirements of Rs 247 million for the project.
