Daily Times

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on the success of his party in the July 25 election in a telephone conversation on Tuesday, said the PTI media cell.

Erdogan is among the Middle Eastern leaders close to the Sharif family. During former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the two countries started several bilateral interest projects, with Turkish investment flowing into waste management and public transport sectors, particularly in the Punjab province where Shehbaz Sharif was the chief minister.

According to the PTI statement, Erdogan extended his ‘good wishes for Imran Khan and his future government, at which the PTI chief thanked the Turkish president’.

Earlier in the day, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al Zaabi called on Imran Khan at his Bani Gala residence. The UAE Ambassador congratulated him on his party’s victory in the general election.

On Monday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had telephoned Imran Khan to congratulate him on the election win. The press release issued by the PTI cited Modi as saying that India was ready to enter a new era of relations with Pakistan. It said that both countries should adopt a joint strategy for progress in bilateral ties.

A statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs from New Delhi quoted Modi as having expressed the hope that democracy would take deeper roots in Pakistan with the latest elections. During the previous government’s tenure, the PTI had taken a hawkish position over the Sharifs’ efforts to revive bilaterial ties with the eastern neighbour.

Published in Daily Times, August 1^st 2018.