FO rules out Shehbaz, Modi meeting at SCO

Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan on Friday said that as a matter of principle Pakistan does not comment on bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

"As a matter of principle, we do not comment on bilateral relations between other countries," the spokesperson replied while responding to the apparent reset in relations between China and India at his weekly news briefing.

"Second, the Pakistan-China relationship stands on its own. There is decades of history, trust, and all-encompassing cooperation between the two countries. The most important point is that the relationship lives in the hearts of the people of two countries. And we do not think our initiatives for regional cooperation involving China, our bilateral relationship with China, our growing economic relations, and our strategic cooperation with China can be affected by anything," the spokesperson told reporters.

"Pakistan-China relationship is a very sustainable, long standing, and robust relationship. With regards to your first question, what I can say is Pakistan's diplomacy fundamentally centers on the principles of the UN Charter and international law. We pursue good relations with all countries. If people are paying accolades to Pakistan's success and diplomacy, we welcome that," he added.

To a question, the spokesperson said there was no discussion or plan for potential meeting between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India later this month on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China.

Responding to a question on the recent statement by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, he said that Pakistan rejects the baseless insinuations outright, terming them yet another example of New Delhi's "chronic tendency to distort facts and twist statements out of context".

"The Indian narrative of so-called nuclear blackmail is a self-serving construct, misleading in nature, and aimed at maligning Pakistan," the spokesperson said.