Daily Times

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday said that Pakistan won’t be pressurised into attaining any other country’s foreign policy objectives.

Qureshi made the remarks at the 17th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Member States of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

When asked if Washington would pressurise Islamabad into attaining its set goals in Afghanistan, the foreign minister categorically denied it would succumb to US strong-arm tactics in any way.

“Pakistan welcomes important actors coming to the negotiating table,” he said while referring to the last week meeting of Afghan Taliban and US officials in Qatar.

Reaffirming the Pakistan’s stance, the foreign minister said that dialogue was the only way forward for peace in Afghanistan. He, however, said that this process must be spearheaded by Kabul through political means.

The foreign minister highlighted that Washington as well as other important stakeholders had come to the same conclusion after exploring possibilities of initiating a peace and reconciliation process.

The foreign minister said that Islamabad would extend its full support towards the peace efforts, adding, “It is among Pakistan’s top foreign policy objectives to witness peace in Afghanistan”.

To a question about the closure of the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman owing to differences between the two countries on border fencing, with reported exchanges of fire, he responded saying that the border was open.

Qureshi said Pakistan was building a border management infrastructure to stop the movement of terrorists, smugglers, while also facilitating bilateral trade.

Published in Daily Times, October 19^th 2018.