Daily Times

BETTER-LAW-ENFORCEMENT-IS-MUST-TO-MAKE-COUNTRY-FREE-OF-CORRUPTION-SHAH-MEHMOOD-QURESHIRejecting the ultimatum given by Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) as ‘unconstitutional and undemocratic’, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday emphatically stated that neither Prime Minister Imran Khan will step down nor the assemblies will be dissolved.

“I want to clearly tell the PDM that we reject your ultimatum for the resignation of prime minister by January 31. The system of country will not be run on your wishes,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is also the Vice Chairman of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI), told a news conference here. He said if the opposition parties were really serious in resolving the issues of national and public importance such as inflation, provincial autonomy, National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, the government and opposition could hold dialogue with political reasoning.

Qureshi, however, made it clear that the government will not hold talks on personal cases or any NRO [National Reconciliation Ordinance]. “For personal cases or NRO, there is a clear cut no from PTI side,” he remarked.

The foreign minister advised the opposition parties to learn lesson from the history, saying such conduct of PDM could harm democracy in the country. He described the PDM’s public meeting in Lahore on December 13 as a complete flop and said even people of Lahore, where Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won all assembly seats except three, demonstrated political wisdom and rejected their narrative.

To a question, the foreign minister said that the ‘third force’ in the country did not want to get them involved in politics at all and were performing their professional responsibilities. “Be it coronavirus, locust attack or urban flooding in Karachi, they always fulfill their responsibilities for which we are thankful,” he remarked.

The foreign minister said that the opposition parties are pushing themselves to a blind alley, adding the saner elements in PDM parties should advise their leadership that their demands were not only unconstitutional but also against the interest of the country, in view of the current regional situation.

Qureshi said that PDM did not talk about any new thing in the December 13 public meeting and repeated the same what they had said in Gujranwala, Quetta, Peshawar and Multan public meetings. He claimed PDM was not united on the issue of resignations from assemblies and according to inside information, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) did not yet have clarity of view on this issue.

To a question on the media reports about return of Saudi Arabia ‘s remaining US $ 2 billion, he said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy excellent relations. “We had excellent relations in the past, have the same at present and will continue to enjoy these relations in future as well,” he added.

He said that Saudi Arabia always stood by Pakistan and supported it in difficult times including the deposit of US $ 3 billion in State Bank of Pakistan to help address the country’s balance of payment issue. The foreign minister, however, mentioned that as Saudi Arabia like many other countries in the world, was also facing financial issues due to Covid-19 situation, it is the responsibility of Pakistan to pay back the amount.

About Pak-UAE relations, the Foreign Minister said that he would soon be meeting with his UAE counterpart.