Daily Times

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said India and Pakistan cannot stay aloof as neighbours, and reiterated the need for dialogue to resolve issues pending between the two countries.

“India is geographically linked with Pakistan through a common border, weather conditions, culture, language and rivers,” the foreign minister said while addressing a ceremony here. He said India and Pakistan can coexist peacefully as good neighbours and move forward to resolve all their issues including Kashmir, Siachin, Sir Creek, water, trade and terrorism. He said war always brings destruction and cannot be considered as an option, particularly when both countries have nuclear weapons.

He recalled that Britain and Germany fought and inflicted destruction on each other in the World War-II. “But today, we see them connected and united under the European Union umbrella with economic interest as main point of convergence,” he added.

The minister said Kashmir is burning and India is trying to suppress the voice of the Kashmiri people through presence of 700,000 soldiers and its black laws. However, he added, the voice of Kashmiris cannot be suppressed in this modern era.

Qureshi said even Kashmiri leaders, who have been forming governments in the occupied valley including Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, have advocated dialogue between the two countries and are speaking against repeal of articles 370 and 35-A.

He said Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has admitted that the strike at Balakot did not kill anybody in Pakistan. He said the statement proved Pakistan’s stance and has exposed Indian lies before the world. He condemned terrorism incidents in Balochistan and added that he will not level any allegations without investigations. “This is the difference between responsible and irresponsible behaviors,” he remarked.

The minister said that Indian media created war hype after Pulwama attack in an irresponsible manner while Pakistani media responded maturely. He said peace is the top priority of Pakistan and dialogue is the way forward to achieve it.

About the recent federal cabinet reshuffle, he said it is a prerogative of Prime Minister Imran Khan to choose his team, adding it happens in democracies.

He said the economic challenge the PTI government had to face after takeover was the severest in the last over seven decades. He said he will not like to comment on the gravity or depth of the economic trouble, adding that everybody knows what happened during the last 10 years.

He said the PTI government took steps to stabilize and improve economy and Pakistan’s macroeconomic indicators are now showing continuity. He said it will be the sixteenth IMF package that Pakistan will avail, only the first by the PTI government. He said governments approach the IMF upon facing balance of payment problems and for economic stability. He said the previous government of PML-N left an economic black hole of $19 billion, adding that huge loans have made debt servicing as the biggest item of the national budget.