Πρωθυπουργός του Πακιστάν και ελληνική υπηκοότητα

Gilani appreciates Greek legislation for citizenship to Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD, Jan 12 (APP): Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Tuesday welcomed acceptance of Pakistan’s demand by Greece for legislation to grant citizenship and voting rights to Pakistani immigrants.Talking to Dimitiros Dollis, Ambassador at Large and personal envoy of the Greek Prime Minister here at the PM House, Gilani hoped that the visit of Prime Minister of Greece to Pakistan later this year would reinvigorate bilateral relations between the two countries .Gilani called for scheduling of bilateral political consultations and meeting of Joint Economic Commission before the visit to prepare ground for making the visit a success. The Prime Minister assured the personal envoy of the Greek Prime Minister that his government will continue to undertake every possible effort to seek the safe release of a Greek national Athanasios Lerounis, who was kidnapped from Kalash Valley in September 2009 and immediately shifted to Nooristan Province of Afghanistan.

Gilani said his government, in accordance with the local traditions of the area, had so far arranged five jirgas to negotiate the release of the captor and the next jirga was scheduled to visit Afghanistan this week.
He however underlined the difficulties being faced by the Pakistan side because of NATO operations against the militants in the region where the Greek hostage is believed to be kept.
Gilani said Pakistan had taken up this issue at the highest level with NATO and Afghan forces and urged Greece also to seek help of the Afghan and NATO forces for assuring safety of Lerounis to facilitate his early release.
The Greek envoy appreciated efforts of Pakistan for his release and expressed complete satisfaction over the endeavours undertaken so far.
He assured the Prime Minister that in the process of negotiations with the captors, the Greece government was totally depending on the government of Pakistan’s channels and assured the Prime Minister that his side will not encourage any direct contact by the friends and relatives of Lerounis with the captors or the captor himself to facilitate smooth and early release.
Dimitiros Dollis commended Pakistan’s role in the war against terror as a front-line state and acknowledged the great sacrifices being made by Pakistan’s security forces to root out the threat of militancy and terrorism.
He agreed with Prime Minister Gilani that Pakistan urgently needed the support of international community to build capacity of its law enforcement agencies and bring development to the affected areas to address the root causes of terrorism.
Dimitiros said Greece believes that a stable and democratic Pakistan was essential for development and stability of the whole region. Greece as a member of EU would make efforts to help strengthen relations with Pakistan and promote its economic growth.
Ambassador of Greece to Pakistan Petros Mavroidis and Secretary Foreign affairs were also present in the meeting.

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