Pakistan will not bow down before India - says Foreign Minister


MULTAN, Feb 07th: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Sunday vowed not to bow down before India and fight Pakistan’s case at international level without giving in to any pressure and said that Pakistan’s case was strong by the power of truth and reality be it Kashmir issue, water or terrorism. And that is why India failed in all its attempts to isolate Pakistan .Addressing a public meeting here at Seetal Mari (Multan) on Sunday evening , Shah Mehmood Qureshi said those who had been attempting to isolate Pakistan internationally have now expressed the desire to restore the bilateral relations.Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday that all issues would be discussed during the dialogue process with India. He said now the democracy will not be dented. Regarding Karachi blasts, he said the terrorists carried out the bombings in the metropolitan city in a bid to spread fear and panic. Pakistan People’s Party and its allies have made a commitment not to bowing before the terrorists and to putting up a strong fight against them.He also talked to newsmen briefly after addressing a public meeting and inaugurating Rs 95 million worth of development schemes,the Foreign Minister said Pakistan would put up its own problems and India would present their issues during the dialogue.When asked to comment on Indian accusations of cross-border infiltration, he said all issues would be discussed on the table and not through media.Earlier, FM inaugurated Rs 95.2 million worth of development schemes including Sui gas supply to Seetal Mari and Arazi Ghulam Hussain having a population of over 20,000. Other schemes included metal road girls model school Budhla road in UC-46 Shafi Wala, repair of metal road from Budhla road to Ammara Abad and construction of 2.8 kilometre metal road from Vehari road to Budhla road via Multan Cricket Stadium road. Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that a Rs 4.6 million grant had been received for soaling and drainage schemes while additional class rooms have been built at boys high school Moza Bheni. Ten more villages will also get electricity facility soon, he added.He said Pakistan would not tolerate any pressure and would protect the country’s interests.He said India had broken-off the composite dialogue process after Mumbai incident but now the neighbouring country itself offered to resume the dialogue process.Qureshi recalled that he was in New Delhi at that time and presented the point of view of Pakistan. “I still stand by the stance Pakistan had taken at that time,” he added.Our stance was principled and based on truth, FM said. Qureshi has said that neither he, nor the people of Pakistan have any knowledge about the proposal of Kashmir solution evolved by the previous government. The Minister said, the proposal was never debated in the country thus it is unknown to anyone. It was claimed by the foreign minister of the previous government that India and Pakistan had almost reached a solution and just the announcement of the same was remaining the Minister said adding but that announcement was never made. He said the proposal was a secret between selected individuals and there was no record of the same in foreign office. To a question Qureshi said that importance of back channel diplomacy notwithstanding, the disputes are finally solved through formal efforts. He said that four rounds of composite dialogue were completed during the tenure of previous government while one round was held during the sitting government. The Mumbai incident has of course affected the process and unfortunately India adopted a rigid position in this scenario. Now as the domestic pressure is growing on India for the resumption of composite dialogue, the authorities finding it hard to change their position, he said. To another question he said that Indian involvement in insurgency in certain areas of Pakistan was raised by the prime minister with his Indian counterpart which was mentioned in Sharm-el-Sheikh document. Qureshi said that India wanted to isolate Pakistan diplomatically but due to effective diplomatic efforts by the country, their designs failed. He said that Pakistan has certain outstanding issues with India which are being recognized by the world adding but it does not mean that the two countries cannot move forward. The Minister said there may be progress on the solution of Kashmir dispute but it cannot be said that it would get resolved during the tenure of present government. He said that it is in the interest of Pakistan to have good relations with the neighbors because the country has a number of economic challenges which need attention. To have normal relations with the neighbors is a key in this direction, he added. Responding yet to another question the Minister said that getting engaged with US is in Pakistan’s interest. He said that Pakistan’s relationship with US is neither of compliance nor of confrontation. Pakistan has raised the issue of drone attacks with US forcefully and they are now seriously thinking to transfer the drones’ technology to country, he said. The Americans wanted Pakistan to expand the circle of military operation but the country did not comply with their demand he said adding “We will keep our domestic conditions in view for making such decisions”.

0 comments

Leave a Reply

Copyright 2009 Simplex Celebs All rights reserved Designed by SimplexDesign