Daily Times

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Tuesday said Pakistan would welcome the third-party facilitation by Saudi Arabia or any other country for resumption of talks with India.

“Pakistan is ready for third-party facilitation. It is India that has always shied away from it,” he said at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Saudi Arabia is a friend of Pakistan and it also has business ties with India, which is a big importer of Saudi oil. If Saudi Arabia wants to play a role (in facilitating talks), we will welcome,” he said, and recalled that the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India was welcomed by the world, including Saudi Arabia.

The foreign minister confirmed that there were ‘no formal talks’ going on at the moment with India, however, he added that if India wants it to make it happen, it ‘must take one step forward’. “If India wants a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan, it has to review its policy on Kashmir and undo the revocation of their special status,” he said.

He called upon India to give relief to the Kashmiri people, who are suffering the 19-month-long military siege and the search and cordon operations, and thus “pave way for a conducive environment for talks”.

To a question regarding his recent statement on Article-370 of the Indian constitution, he said Pakistan is firm on its stance that Kashmir is not an internal matter of India. “Pakistan has not taken any U-turn and will never do so. The dispute, which is at the agenda of United Nations Security Council with several resolutions on it, cannot be an internal matter of India,” he categorically said. “There is no ambiguity and Pakistan will continue highlighting the plight of Kashmiris at all international fora,” he added.

On Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, the foreign minister said it led to development of a ‘positive understanding’ at both sides that promoting their mutual relationship was need of the hour. He said besides agreement on investments, bilateral trade and creation of job opportunities, the extraordinary development was putting in place for the first time an institutionalized mechanism with three pillars – security, economic and cultural and soft image, and chalking out who would be leading the respective areas. “This Saudi visit was different in a sense that it defeated the designs of the elements that were trying to create a wedge between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Now, it is a win-win cooperation,” he said.

Qureshi said under the Vision 2030 of Crown Prince, around 10 million workforce is required in next few years and the leadership wants to allocate a big chuck for Pakistanis. “In addition to blue-collar jobs, we have to prepare our workforce for the white-collar jobs through their capacity-building at professional sides,” he said.

He said the $500 million Saudi fund would help Pakistan meet its energy needs through development of hydropower projects.

He said Saudi Arabia has a special place in Muslim community which looked towards it for a leadership role, saying that Pakistan welcomed initiation of talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran to ease tension. Asked if the Saudi assistance to Pakistan would lead to favours in return, he said, “Pakistan is not paying a price. It knows its own interests.”