ISLAMABAD – Pakistan on Thursday said it would not bow down to pressure bythe United States or any other country against its national interest.“There is no question of any country put pressure on Pakistan on matterswhich we believe are in our national interest,” Foreign Office SpokesmanMuhammad Faisal said in response to a question that the United States hadrenewed its demands on Pakistan to “do more” in efforts against militancy.
The Spokesman said Pakistan’s foreign policy was based on principle ofpeace within and peace without.
“In all our domestic and international pronouncements, we are guided onlyby Pakistan’s national interest and its prosperity,” he said.Muhammad Faisal said Pakistan and the United States were currently engagedalong with other regional stakeholders to pursue a political settlement inAfghanistan, which is Afghan-owned and Afghan-led.
He mentioned that in the same context, the US Special Representative onAfghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad visited the region including Pakistan coupleof weeks ago.
“Pakistan’s cooperation with the United States and the internationalcommunity to bring about lasting peace in Afghanistan is our firm belieffor elimination of terrorism in Pakistan and in region,” he said.
On the recently-held parliamentary election in Afghanistan, the Spokesmantermed it a positive development and hoped the process would continuetowards restoration of peace.To a question about Pakistan’s mandate to mediate between Saudi Arabia andYemen as announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address to nation,the Spokesman said the country would continue to pursue its practice ofimproving relations among the Muslim states.“Pakistan as a matter of policy has always worked for the best of relationsbetween our brotherly Muslim countries and we shall continue,” theSpokesman said without giving further details about the modalities ofmediatory process.
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On reports of Pakistan renewing its proposal to India for bilateralarrangements on nuclear test ban, the Spokesman said Pakistan in August2016 had announced to consider translating its unilateral moratorium into abilateral arrangement on nuclear non-testing.He said the proposal was on the table and was reflection of Pakistan’spolicy on nuclear restraint in South Asia.
On update on the matter of abduction of 12 Iranian border guards, theSpokesman said there was an active cooperation with Iranian local commanderlevel and the two DGMOs had also spoken.
The Spokesman said Prime Minister Imran Khan would pay an official visit toChina on November 2-5 and would be accompanied by a high-level delegationincluding the Foreign Minister. He said during his stay in Beijing, thePrime Minister would hold wide-ranging meetings with the Chinese leadershipand would also be among the keynote speakers at the first China-PakistanExpo to be held in Shanghai.
The Foreign Minister highlighted the atrocities of Indian occupation forcesin Jammu and Kashmir that killed 20 people including a Ph.D scholar DrSabzar Ahmed Sofi. He said Pakistan mourned with its brothers and sistersin Indian Occupied Kashmir on the unabated killings and saluted theircourage and steadfastness for demanding their right to self-determination.- APP
