Pakistan government, ISI supported Aman ki Asha project

In response to allegations by former cricketer and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party chairman Imran Khan, Jang Group managing director Shahrukh Hassan has said that the PTI chairman himself has been in favour of the "Aman ki Asha" project, media reported Monday.

Aman ki Asha or Hope for Peace is a campaign jointly started by the two leading media houses -- The Jang Group in Pakistan and The Times of India in India. The campaign seeks to promote mutual peace and development and better people-to-people ties between the two nations. It was launched on Jan 1 2010.

Government officials were given prior briefing of the project and former Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Ahmed Shuja Pasha, civil society and political parties also supported the initiative, Geo News reported. PTI members Asad Umar and Shafqat Mehmood were also part of the Aman ki Asha project, Hassan said.

Imran Khan criticised the project saying that he was not against the initiative but Geo News, which was run by the Jang Group, was running "Jang ki Asha" or "Hope for War" on the western border of Pakistan and thereby showed its double standards.

Hassan has termed Khan's allegations as baseless and has said that he would take Khan to the Supreme Court.

Not only were the political parties supporting the project, it has also been backed by industrialists and traders which has helped improve Pakistan's relationship with India and bring economic growth to the region, he stated.

--Indo-asian News Service

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