Pakistan wants good ties with Biden admin, neighbours: Qureshi

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan wants to establish friendly relations with its neighbours as per its foreign policy, adding Islamabad wants good ties with the new US administration.
Talking to the media persons on Sunday, the foreign minister said that the world and region have changed in these four years and a lot of changes have also occurred in Pakistan. He said there is a harmony between Joe Boden and Pakistan government’s policies as they are similar to each other.
The foreign minister said the Joe Biden government wants reduction in violence in Afghanistan while Pakistan also fully supports democracy in Afghanistan. Qureshi expressed the hope that Pakistan’s relations with the new US administration will flourish in the days to come. He said that Pakistan performed an amicable role amid difficult circumstances for the peace process in Afghanistan. He wished that the new US administration would continue to push forward the developments on Afghan peace process.
He said the new US administration will soon realise that India has changed under its Prime Minister Narendra Modi now and it is no more a democratic country. He said that voices are also being raised in this regard even inside India. Qureshi said that Kashmiris are facing Indian brutalities in the illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir while minorities are finding themselves unsafe in India.
He said Pakistan’s stance regarding the Palestine issue is clear as Pakistan will not recognise Israel until a peaceful solution of Palestine issue. He questioned the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) anti-Israel rallies and said that since Islamabad has made it clear it would not recognise Tel Aviv until the Palestine conflict is resolved, there is no point in holding those demonstrations. “They are misleading the nation,” he said.
Commenting on the internal political situation, Qureshi said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has recognised Prime Minister Imran Khan as ‘elected’ premier by proposing a no-confidence motion against him. “He should now start calling Imran Khan an elected PM and not selected,” he further said.
He said the PTI government and its allies will defeat a no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly through a constitutional way. He said the alliance of the opposition parties is a caravan without any destination as earlier it was talking about resigning from assemblies, then holding a long march and now they are discussing a no-confidence movement against an elected prime minister.
Qureshi said that no foreign minister was deputed in the country during the previous regime which caused weakening Pakistan on diplomatic fronts. However, he said, the incumbent government is fighting Pakistan’s case effectively at every international forum and after a long time, the country’s foreign policy has been evolved as per the wishes of the masses.
Qureshi said the PTI government played no part in the agreement signed between Broadsheet LLC and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). “The Prime Minister has said the issue should be investigated. Justice (retd) Azmat Saeed has a reputation for his honesty. If the opposition is so certain it did nothing wrong, then why the panic?” he questioned.
The foreign minister said the federal government has allowed the import of wheat and sugar to mitigate the food crisis. But for the gas crisis, he blamed the previous government of PML-N. “We are bound by the agreements they signed,” he added. – TLTP