Islamabad: The interim Afghan government has been urged to take action against the TTP and other terrorist groups that operate out of Afghanistan and engage in terrorism inside Pakistan by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. In Islamabad on Tuesday, he was replying to a query at the launch of the Digitised System under FM’s Change Management Initiative. According to the foreign minister, Pakistan shouldn’t be forced to choose this course of action. He asserted, citing international law, that the Afghan interim government must adhere to its pledges made as part of the Doha Agreement not to permit anyone to exploit its territory for terrorist actions against any nation.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, however, said Pakistan should be ready to extend all necessary assistance and cooperation to Afghanistan for the capacity building of Afghan security agencies to fight terrorism.
Answering another question, the Foreign Minister said unfortunately, NATO’s leftover supplies, after the fall of Kabul, have gone in the hands of terrorists and criminal gangs.
Replying to a question, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Pakistan does not want to become part of any bloc politics on the world stage.
Talking about Pakistan’s policy to deal with the scourge of terrorism, the Foreign Minister said we do not want any appeasement with terrorists and we are committed to bring peace to our country and establish writ of the state.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that through extensive engagement with the international community, Pakistan achieved substantially on the diplomatic front during the past fifteen months.
It was also an appropriate response to those who were touting about Pakistan being isolated at the global level, he added.
The foreign minister said that due to consistent global engagements under his stewardship, and with the countries in the Middle East, the United States, China, and other members of the United Nations, they had increased Pakistan’s outreach and viewpoint on different issues, leading to success at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) after the country was removed from the grey list and climate change issue.
He said during the floods last year and afterward, in the post-flood scenario, the international community came to support Pakistan in the relief and rehabilitation efforts.
The UN General Assembly members focused on Pakistan during the relief efforts and subsequently, they successfully arranged the Climate Resilient Pakistan summit in Geneva receiving ‘a substantive and qualitative response’.
Foreign Minister Bilawal, to a media query, reiterated that Pakistan was not keen to join the ‘blocs policy’ and would take decisions in the larger national interests.
Pakistan had stressed upon resolution of all world issues through dialogue and diplomacy, he added.
Responding to another question regarding terrorist organizations, he maintained that writ of the state would be established at all costs and the government would not take steps to appease the militant or terrorists outfits.
He said that he had suggested to the prime minister to convene an Apex Committee meeting to address the issue of terrorist and criminal incidents in the country.
The foreign minister, to another question, said that the Pakistan Peoples Party believed that decisions regarding the interim set-up and elections should be taken to strengthen the civilian institutions and the democratic system in the country.
They believed that all issues confronted by the country could be addressed through a democratic dispensation which would ensure the political and economic stability, he said, adding the general polls should be held on time so that the people could exercise their right.
About reforms introduced in his ministry, the foreign minister said that different initiatives under the key four components were launched which would improve functioning of the ministry by making it more agile, nimble and efficient to face the new emerging challenges.
He said a total of 51 initiatives were taken at different work streams among which 19 were completed, three were partially implemented while 29 were in on the track to completion.
The ceremony was also attended by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khan, diplomats, officials, and Pakistan’s ambassadors abroad through video link.
Later, the foreign minister also inaugurated solarization of the ministry.
