Pakistan hopeful of better ties with neighbours: Kh Asif
Pakistan hopeful of better ties with neighbours: Kh Asif
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that today Pakistan is striving for peace in the region while confronted with terrorism on eastern and western borders, however, hopeful of better relationships with our neighbouring countries but to achieve it we have to put our house in order.
He was speaking at the dinner plenary of 20th Sustainable Development Conference organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Tuesday.
He said Pakistan’s foreign policy was guided by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who advocated for peace within and peace without and our government is strictly committed to that policy.
He said Pakistan twice fought a needless war in Afghanistan in 80s and after 9/11 which brought large-scale sufferings to the people of Pakistan. “Our foreign policy was directed and influenced by personal interests of military rulers of that time,” he said, adding that in my humble view these were the two major foreign policy failures in the 70 years history of Pakistan and what came out the debris was radicalism and terrorism.
He said peace in Afghanistan was more important not only for Pakistan but also for the whole region and improved relationship based on peace was the priority of the government.
Talking about Pakistan’s present state of relations with the US, he said “the US needs to see our position through the prism of bilateral relations and not through the prism of Afghanistan.”
The biggest stakeholder of peace in the region after Afghanistan is Pakistan. To achieve this goal, Pakistan needs an independent foreign policy, robust economy and better relationship with all its neighbours, he said.
Khawaja Asif said Pakistan enjoys good relations with Iran, Turkey, Qatar and other Arab countries and soon they will have good relations with India though the response from other side of the borders is not very encouraging. He said Kashmir is a stumbling block between India and Pakistan.
Article source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/252900-pakistan-hopeful-of-better-ties-with-neighbours-kh-asif