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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday lamented that former governments made foreign policies against their own people just for the sake of ‘dollars’ and described the war on terror as a ‘self-inflicted wound’ for Pakistan.

The prime minister was speaking to senior officers of the Foreign Office in which he also congratulated them for organising a successful 17th extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC last Sunday on a short notice.

Khan threw light on the ups and downs of the nations, saying that we should not blame any other country for “our country’s down cycle” and what had happened was just for receiving the foreign aid and dollars.

“We don’t need to blame others, but our own self. We let ourselves to be used. We sacrificed our country’s reputation for receiving aid and formed our foreign policy against the interests of our people just for the sake of money. The 20-year long war on terror was a self-inflicted wound for Pakistan,” he said, adding that he was very close to the decision makers at that time when the decision on joining the US war were taking place.

“I know what happened and what considerations were [for joining the war on terror], but I would say it with regrets that the consideration was not the people of Pakistan…unfortunately, the consideration was the dollars, as was in the 1980s when we joined the Afghan Jihad [against Russians],” the prime minister told a gathering of the senior officers of the Foreign Office.

Giving credit to his government, Prime Minister Khan maintained that Pakistan’s image has now significantly improved at the international level during the last three years.

OIC special moot: AJK PM congratulates civil, military leadership

“I’m very pleased to see and we don’t want to praise our own, but if you see the attitude of the world towards Pakistan is now different despite we faced the historic financial crunch and other problems such as Covid-19 challenges,” he maintained, adding that the OIC and international community acknowledge Pakistan’s narrative.

He said that the statements of the OIC member states, as well as by the European countries during the moot were “encouraging” and reflected an endorsement of Pakistan’s narrative on Afghanistan.

“Whether you like or dislike the Taliban government, it’s a matter of around 40 million people,” he said, adding, “the relation with Afghanistan is not because it is our neighbour, but the relationship is even closer, as most of Afghanistan was sometime part of the Untied India and Pakistan also remained part of Afghanistan many times.”

Lauding the nation’s mettle to face different testing times in the country’s history, the prime minister called for inculcation of self-belief to deal with the challenges. “When you instill self-belief in yourself as a nation, you can achieve marvels,” he added. “See New Zealand and Switzerland where there is nothing, but only cattle. But they are the most prosperous countries of the world, because there is rule of law [there],” he added.

He said that no country can put itself on the track of development without rule of law, adding that we have to make the system better by bringing meritocracy and discouraging the curtails and mafias.

He congratulated and appreciated the Foreign Office for hosting the OIC-CFM session on Afghanistan in an admirable manner, adding that the response to the moot showed that Pakistan’s image had improved globally.

Referring to the situation in Afghanistan, he said that it is a big atrocity on human level that a “man-made crisis is being created” in the war-ravaged country “even when it is known that unfreezing Afghanistan’s assets and liquidity into the country’s banking system will avert the crisis.”

He said that Pakistan would continue to provide assistance to Afghanistan in these difficult times, adding that timeis of the essence and “we must provide aid to Afghanistan expeditiously.”

About the economic challenges, he said that the current account deficit has increased pressure on Pakistani currency and the government has almost overcome the challenge, “but the increasing commodity prices at the global level proved as a choking point.”

However, he added that it was a temporary phase and the country would overcome it. “I strongly believe that Pakistan has a great future and the nation will become strong,” he added. He also advised the officers of the Foreign Office to focus on geo-economics by making efforts to bring foreign investment in the country.

The prime minister also agreed with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi that an ambassador should be a leader of the country’s foreign missions. Earlier, Foreign Minister Qureshi also addressed the gathering and appreciated the efforts of the Foreign Office for holding successful moot of the OIC-CFM. He said that Pakistan is also ready to host the annual OIC-CFM on 22-23 March 2022.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021

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