Pakistan is now viewed as ‘part of solution’ over Afghan issue: FM

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (APP):Wishing an early conclusion of Afghan peace agreement, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Wednesday said Pakistan had played its due and sincere role in facilitating the Afghan peace talks, and now it was being regarded ‘as part of the solution and peace’.

Contrary to the country’s past image when it was branded as part of the problem, Pakistan today emerged as the major leader for peace and stability in the region, the foreign minister said during an interview with SAMAA Tv channel programme hosted by Nadeem Malik.

He said the peace process in Afghanistan should not be derailed as it would not be in the interest of Afghan people, who strongly deserved it.

Qureshi, to a question, replied that US President Donald Trump had openly expressed his desire to exclusively visit Pakistan after elections and not merely as a stopover, which had been a practice in the past.

To a query about the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir situation, the minister said United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during their recent visits, had reaffirmed their strong positions, besides the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also firmly reiterated its support to Pakistan over the issue.

Qureshi said Pakistan had successfully fulfilled the requirements and guidelines of Financial Action Task Force (FATF).The present government took sweeping steps to check terror financing and money laundering with effective legislation, he said, regretting that the previous regimes had failed to move on these issues.

He maintained the steps were also acknowledged during the recently concluded meetings of the FATF body. Pakistan took serious actions and implemented a plan of action.
India had miserably failed in its sinister designs to push Pakistan on the FATF black list, he added.

About another question, he said Pakistan had already demanded justice for the victim families of Samjhauta Express blasts.

It was the duty of the international community to exert pressure on India to act and bring the culprits to justice. There should be no dual standards when it came to India to fulfill its global obligations, he stressed.

The foreign minister said there were about 28,000 Pakistani students studying in China and the Government of Pakistan was making all-out efforts for their well-being.

To a query about the government’s ongoing reforms, he replied that institutions in the country had been degenerated because they were politicized with rampant nepotism, favouritism and violations of merit.

He said the country was passing through a transitional period and the reforms would take some time to bear fruition.

“When you introduce such reforms or take corrective measures against a rotten system, generally there has been resistance,” he said, adding the government was confronting all such things as for good governance there should be an efficient delivery system.
The foreign minister said the government had faced enormous and acute economic challenges as the country was heading towards a default.

If the government had not signed agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) where would have been the country now! he wondered.

Responding to a question, he said the government and the army were on the same page and they enjoyed intense coordination and support on the foreign policy, which was not a case in the past.