Pakistan's Punjab govt will not accept foreign aid: Shahbaz Sharif

Pakistan's Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif today announced that his government will no longer accept foreign aid, an apparent reaction to the US raid against Osama bin Laden which Islamabad has described as a violation of the country's sovereignty.The decision was made to make Punjab province self-reliant, Sharif told reporters after a meeting of his cabinet.Sharif, the younger brother of former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, said his government wanted to "break the begging bowl and focus on trade"."We should not bank on foreign aid as it is depriving us of our honour," he said in the wake of the US operation in Abbottabad that killed Laden on May 2.He said the military operation in Abbottabad was spearheaded by a country that boasts of being a superpower and the extreme act had damaged Pakistan's sovereignty.US drone attacks have taken the lives of innocent people instead of eliminating terrorists, and they too are against the country's sovereignty, he said."We will not receive foreign aid. The rich will have to make sacrifices to rid the country of slavery of other countries... If we have to live an honourable life, we will have to get rid of foreign aid," Sharif said.Nawaz Sharif had targeted the Pakistan People's Party-led federal government since the US raid and demanded that the country should review its relations with the US.The chief minister's decision comes at a time when Punjab, the country's most populous province, is grappling with an overdraft of Rs100 billion.