Daily Times

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Monday asked India not to delay the opening of Kartarpur Corridor and settle all differences through bilateral talks.

Addressing a press conference along with Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar here at the Governor House, he said despite tensions with India in the wake of Pulwama incident, Pakistan participated in talks on Kartarpur Corridor. Pakistan wants to move forward and improve its relations with India, he said. “India should not shy away from Kartarpur Corridor talks scheduled for April 2 (today). Pakistan is more than willing to address all reservations expressed by India,” he added.

The minister said Pakistan has adopted a principled stance that Kartarpur Corridor should be opened for the Sikh community residing all over the world. Pakistan desires to open more border crossings for pilgrims from India, he added.

Qureshi said the new visa policy is part of the government’s efforts to attract foreign tourists to the country. People from 50 countries will be provided visa on arrival, while those from 172 countries will have e-visa facility. The government wants to remove barriers and promote tourism, he added.

About the FATF sanctions, the minister said the country was placed in the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government. However, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is taking initiatives to avert the country being put in its blacklist, he said. “Being in FATF’s grey list has caused a loss of $10 billion to the country, while the cost of being included in the blacklist will be even higher,” he added.

Regarding increase in prices of petroleum products, the minister said, “The common man is sensible enough and does not hold the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government and Prime Minister Imran Khan responsible for it as well as economic degradation in the country.” Pakistan, he said, faced 6.6 per cent economic deficit when the PTI government took over. “Everybody knows that the claims of stability of dollar, made by former finance minister Ishaq Dar, were cosmetic and untenable. The PNL-N government did nothing to control line losses of Water and Power Development Authority and rectify the infrastructure faults,” he added.

The foreign minister said Finance Minister Asad Umar will succeed in making the economy stable soon. The country was on the verge of bankruptcy when Prime Minister Imran Khan took over the office and now the national economy is recovering due to timely financial assistance received from the friendly and brotherly countries, he added.

Qureshi said Asad Umar has managed to get concessions from the International Monetray Fund (IMF), which was putting up tough conditions earlier.

To a question, the minister dispelled the impression that the 18th Amendment is being done away with. The federal government has asked the provinces to reconsider their financial needs, he said, and clarified that with abolishing of the concurrent list under the 18th Amendment, all economic resources have been handed over to the provinces, leaving the Centre with almost no resources at its disposal. The prime minister wants the provinces to give viable financial resources to the Centre in the 7th National Finance Commission Award, he added.