Govt pursuing peace policy with Delhi, Kabul, Senate told

ISLAMABAD - Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Wednesday told the Upper House of the Parliament that the government was pursuing a policy of peace with its neighbours, as the country couldn’t afford two active borders at a time.

While winding up discussion in the Senate over foreign affairs, the Foreign Minister said that diplomatic channels were being used to ease the situation emerged after the threats of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the skirmishes between the armed forces of India and Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC).

He said that Karzai used Pakistan as a scapegoat whenever his government came under severe criticism by the donor countries due to his poor governance.

Qureshi turned down allegations that the government had not duly responded to the threats issued by Afghan President and said that Karzai was informed through mature and measured diplomatic response that Pakistan was capable of defending its territorial limits.

Qureshi termed the Prime Minister’s visit to US as successful and said that issues related to counter-terrorism, military assistance, economic, and trade were discussed in detail with the US authorities. He said that the Premier and his delegation interacted with almost every important figure and body of the US democratic set-up including the future leadership.

He informed that a series of Pak-US dialogue over economy, strategic affairs and energy would be held in August, September and October, this year. He said that they demanded the US authorities to deal indiscriminately over the issue of civil nuclear energy during the visit.

The Foreign Minister said that US President Bush’s statement to respect sovereignty of Pakistan and announcement of $ 5 billions financial assistance for Pakistan were the outcome of the visit.