ISLAMABAD: Influential US Senator Lindsey Graham met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on Monday to discuss bilateral ties and regional issues, including peace efforts in Afghanistan.
“Prime Minister said that broad-based and enduring partnership between Pakistan and the US was important for peace, prosperity, and development in the region,” the premier’s office said in a statement.
Senator Graham chairs the US Senate’s Judiciary Committee and is a senior member of the Armed Services, Appropriations and Budget Committees of the Senate.
Khan urged Graham to continue to play his role in transforming Pakistan-US relations by intensifying bilateral economic cooperation.
This is Graham’s second visit to Pakistan in 2019.
He thanked the premier for consistent support in the Afghan peace process and reiterated his desire for a broader bilateral relationship with a particular focus on economic cooperation, enhanced market access, and increased investments.
“He appreciated Pakistan’s achievements in mainstreaming the tribal areas through development work. He also commended Pakistan on border fencing initiative,” the statement read.
PM Khan said “Pakistan would continue to play its facilitating role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process,” the statement read.
In the meeting, Khan also apprised the senator of “continuing atrocities” in Indian-administered Kashmir, as well as the Indian government’s “discriminatory policies against minorities,” as he called for the US “to prevent further deterioration of peace and stability in the region.”
Graham also met with Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and, according to the army’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), discussed “regional security, including Afghan Reconciliation Process,” ISPR said in a statement on Twitter, adding that the senator also “acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts toward regional peace and stability.”
Analyst and political commentator Zahid Hussain told Arab News that “Lindsay Graham is very close to President Trump and has played an important role in improving relations between Pakistan and the US.”
According to Hussain, Graham’s “visit is significant as Washington and Taliban are back to the negotiating table,” and “Pakistan’s role will be very important in any peace agreement.”
Pakistan’s former foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, said the senator is a friend of Pakistan and is in US President Donald Trump’s close circle, who has been advocating deeper cooperative ties with Pakistan and is involved in “finding a political solution to issues related to Afghanistan.”
“His conversations with Pakistani leadership are particularly important for renewing bilateral relations and stabilizing regional peace,” Bashir said
Senator Graham in Pakistan to discuss broader economic ties, regional peace
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Senator Graham in Pakistan to discuss broader economic ties, regional peace
- Senator Lindsey Graham acknowledges Pakistan’s efforts toward regional stability
- Graham is considered a friend of Pakistan, wants more economic cooperation
Pakistan moves to expand autism care with new center in Islamabad
- Pakistan has around 350,000 children with autism spectrum disaster, a non-profit says
- PM Sharif says the Center of Excellence for Autism in Islamabad will be built in a year
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday performed the groundbreaking of Center of Excellence for Autism at the Rehabilitation Center for Children with Development Disorders in Islamabad, promising to mobilize all resources to benefit children with specialized needs.
According to the non-profit Autism Society of Pakistan (ASP), around 350,000 children in the country have autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn and behave, though there is no reliable official data to corroborate this figure.
Autism spectrum disorders range from Asperger syndrome, a relatively mild communication disorder, to severe autism in which patients communicate little or not at all with others and may display severely debilitating behaviors such as rocking or banging their heads. About 40 percent of children with autism do not speak at all.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, the prime minister said this Center of Excellence for Autism would be established in one year, adding that it is the collective responsibility all Pakistanis to support children with autism.
“It is the duty of the government to mobilize all available resources for the nation’s special children and enable them to stand on their own feet as productive members of society,” Sharif said.
“We will establish the best vocational centers, skill-development programs, trained teachers, and provide modern instruments, advanced equipment and modern technology to equip these boys and girls.”
Autism is usually diagnosed between the ages of 3 and 5. There is no cure and no one knows the causes, but doctors are eager to identify autism as early as possible because therapeutic intervention can reduce its effects at an early age.
The prime minister announced the Center of Excellence for Autism in Islamabad would also be provided 15 buses for the transportation of children.
“It is our responsibility and whatever we do for these children will still be too little,” he added.
