Bilawal supports Imran’s Russia visit

FM lobbies for ‘broad-based’ ties with US

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday extended support to the visit of former prime minister Imran Khan to Russia, adding it was in line with Pakistan’s foreign policy.

“I defend former prime minister Imran Khan’s visit to Russia,” FM the foreign minister said while addressing a news conference in New York. “Imran Khan had visited Russia as per Pakistan’s foreign policy.”

“It will be wrong to blame Pakistan over Russia’s visit. We are tired of facing back-to-back wars. Our children and women have been martyred and now we think that war is not the solution to any issue,” said Bilawal.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday emphasised the importance of a broad-based and sustained engagement between Pakistan and the US in his telephone call with Senator Lindsey Graham on Thursday.

Senator Graham is an influential Republican and was a close aide of former President Donald Trump. He played a key role in establishing direct contact between Trump and Imran.

It was because of his efforts that Trump invited Imran at the White House in July 2019, though the American establishment was not in favour of honouring the PTI leader before ensuring a safe exit of the US-led foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Senator Graham was critical of President Joe Biden’s policy of ignoring Pakistan and not even calling former prime minister Imran Khan.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office said Senator Graham invited Foreign Minister Bilawal to visit Washington DC for detailed interaction with members of the Senate leadership which the foreign minister accepted.

Exchanging views on various aspects of Pakistan-US relations, the foreign minister highlighted Pakistan’s immense potential for US investors, especially in tech, energy and agriculture sectors.

Senator Graham endorsed the long-standing bilateral relationship between both countries and assured the foreign minister of his continued support for enhancing the partnership, especially in the economic realm.

Senator Graham is the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and serves on Senate Appropriations, Judiciary, and Environment and Public Works Committees.

In his conversation with Congressman Ami Bera, Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Asia and the Pacific, the foreign minister said that sustained engagement with the US Congress was essential for giving support to Pakistan-US ties, which had stood the test of time.

Congressman Ami Bera appreciated the foreign minister's proactive outreach to enhance Pakistan-US relations and thanked Pakistan for facilitating evacuations from Afghanistan.

CNN interview

In an interview with CNN’s Christiana Amanpour, the foreign minister said that Pakistan was looking to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to play its role in discouraging the increase of terrorist activity on the two countries’ borders.

Bilawal said that Pakistan was continuing not only to monitor the situation but also working on its side to tackle the threat of terrorism. He hoped that the Afghan regime would live up to its international commitment not to allow use of its soil for terrorism”.

When asked if Islamabad had engaged with the Afghan Taliban on how Muslim countries could give rights to women, Foreign Minister Bilawal replied that the issue was not of the West.

“I see women’s rights or women’s rights to education as rights granted to us in Islam. We’ll be emphasising that the Taliban keep their international commitments and ensure rights to the women of Afghanistan,” he said.

When Amanpour remarked that the US believed Pakistan had played a “very dangerous role” in supporting the Afghan Taliban over the decades, Bilawal said that Pakistan had consistently engaged with Afghanistan regardless of who was in power.

“We have always been advocates of the fact that alongside action against terrorist activity, the resolution of the dispute was in dialogue and diplomacy and ultimately, despite Pakistan being at the receiving end of criticism for maintaining and sustaining this position, the international community went down that route while resolving the conflict and issues in Afghanistan.”

The government’s immediate priority is to address serious economic challenges, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told a gathering of ambassadors from friendly countries in New York on Wednesday.

(WITH INPUT FROM our correspondent in Islamabad)