Pakistan Concerned At Removal Of Mursi Gov’t

Islamabad, July 7, IRNA – Pakistan has expressed concerns at the removal of elected government of President Mohamed Mursi in Egypt and hoped that normalcy will return soon. “All over the world and particularly in Pakistan the people have watched with concern and anguish the way a democratically elected president has been removed through force and put under arrest,” Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said. The Minister expressed serious concerns on the development in Egypt. ˈThis surely is not the picture of Egypt that people of Pakistan would like to see in the 21st century,ˈ Khan told the media in Islamabad. The Minister said it is hoped that the people and the leadership of Egypt are able to address their difficulties through a process of conciliation and dialogue through the process of democracy and rule of law. He said that though whatever has happened in that country is an internal matter of Egypt, yet, ˈwe hope that normalcy will return soon and the people of Egypt have a democratic government of their choice in the near future.ˈ The Foreign Ministry said Friday that Pakistan is closely following the events in Egypt and hopes that the Egyptian nation is able to deal with its affairs in a manner that ensures democracy, political stability, and development of their country and prosperity and well being of its people. ˈPakistan pursues a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Being a democratic society, we do, however, stress that the values of democracy and aspirations of the people should be upheld,ˈ the spokesman said at weekly press briefing. Dozens of people have been killed and many more injured during clashes between opponents and supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi across the country, media quoted Health Ministry official as saying on Saturday. The nationwide turmoil was sparked by a statement by the Armed Forces ousting President Mursi on Wednesday in response to massive protests across the country demanding his removal. Supporters of Morsi rejected the ouster as ˈa military coupˈ and vowed to struggle for ˈMorsiˈs legitimacy.ˈ/end