Pakistan committed for sustainable peace in Afghanistan: FM Qureshi

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi said on Saturday that Pakistan was committed to sustainable peace in Afghanistan and would continue to facilitate Afghan peace process.

During an interaction with journalists here , he said that peaceful political settlement in Afghanistan was not only in favour of Pakistan but also for the whole region.

The foreign minister said that Pakistan had played a role of facilitator to bring both parties on the table for dialogue and added that these efforts would continue in future.

He stated that he had a telephonic conversation with United State Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken last Friday during which he congratulated Mr. Blinken on assuming charge of his office.

Qureshi said that different issues were discussed during the conversation, adding that he informed U.S Secretary of State of priorities of the PTI led government.

The foreign minister said that he told Mr. Blinken that Prime Minister Imran Khan had a vision that placed premium on forging economic partnership, building a peaceful neighborhood and enhancing regional connectivity.

U.S Secretary of State had also been informed about sacrifices of Pakistan in war against terrorism, he added.

Qureshi maintained that Prime Minister Imran Khan and US President Joe Biden had similarities in their priorities as both of them were committed to work on corruption eradication, money laundering, climate change and other issues.

He said that it had been decided during telephonic conversation to remain engaged and work together on advancing the two countries’ bilateral agenda and promoting common interests in the region and beyond.

To a question, Qureshi said that representatives of United States and other countries had been informed about India’s activities against Pakistan, adding that a dossier had already been provided to the world in that regard.

He said that eradication of corruption was one the top priority of the incumbent government as economical stability was not possible without it.

He said that the government had retrieved state land and other properties from grabbers during the last few weeks.

Replying to yet another question, Qureshi said that it would be the decision of Pakistan People’s Party if they nominate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani as candidate of Chairman Senate adding that PPP had not required numbers to elect him as senator from Punjab.

He said that either he would let him contest from Sindh or they would prefer horse trading to elect Gilani as senator.

Qureshi, responding to another question, said that everyone knew that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would not resign from assemblies as PPP was not interested to leave government in Sindh.

He said that opposition was confused about their action plan. He added that Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) both had completed their five year tenures and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would also complete its constitutional term.

He stated that farmers' protest for their rights in India was becoming more powerful day by day as farmers from other states had also started participating in the protest.

He said that Dehli Government had tortured and killed protestors but farmers stood committed with their demands.

He said that the BJP government wanted to stop protest with use of force.

Recalling PTI’s efforts to resolve issues of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the foreign minister said that the incumbent government took up the matter effectively and in an unprecedented way under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said that due to PTI-led government's strategy, the issue had been discussed thrice at united nations security council after 55 years. However, the issue had also been raised in the UK House of Commons, he added.

He said that it was important and in the mutual interest of United States and Pakistan that justice was served through legal means in Daniel Pearl case.

Qureshi said the government was striving hard to facilitate masses through controlling inflation. He said that artificial control on dollar prices by the previous government, huge amount of debt left by the previous governments and coronavirus were major reasons behind inflation.

He however, maintained that government was utilizing all resources in that context and would overcome it soon.

The foreign minister stated that Pakistan was in the grey list of FATF when PTI came into power. However, he added, Pakistan took various steps to meet FATF guidelines on all important matters. He said that the government had made significant progress on maximum items of action to control terror financing and money laundering.

FM Qureshi also congratulated Pakistan Cricket Team over victory against South Africa by seven wickets in the first test match played in Pakistan.