FM Dar seeks good neighbourly ties with all

Dar said Pakistan could not change its neighbours; therefore, it would be better to improve relations with neighbours.

ISLAMABAD:

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, and stressed the need for improving Pakistan’s relations with the neighbouring countries.

In the first meeting of the newly-constituted committee, Dar briefed the members on the basic aspects, contours and priorities of Pakistan’s foreign policy in the context of high level engagements with strategic, traditional and regional partners as well as multilateral organisations.

Dar said that Pakistan could not change its neighbours; therefore, it would be better to improve relations with neighbours. “Pakistan seeks positive relations with Afghanistan," he said, but acknowledged that attacks on Chinese workers originated from there.

“The attack on the Chinese was not just a terrorist attack…it was an attempt to damage Pakistan-China relations. Two incidents [attacks] have damaged Pakistan. TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan] was involved in both incidents. This is our demand to Afghanistan: expel the TTP,” he added.

Dar said that polio was eradicated from Pakistan in 2018 but because of movement from across the Afghanistan border, polio cases were coming to the fore again in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

On the occasion Foreign Secretary Cyrus Sajjad Qazi told the committee that Pakistan had missions in 120 countries around the world. He said the late Iranian president visited Pakistan of his own accord, adding that the visit further improved relations between the two countries.

He told the committee that the fifth round of strategic dialogue between Pakistan and China was held, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also visited China in June. During the visit to China, he added, 23 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed in various fields.