On Sunday, the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a press conference in Multan to address US-Pakistan foreign relations and the political situation within the country.
Addressing the new Biden administration in the US, the Foreign Minister stated that the US must recognise that the world and South Asia have changed. The US policy for the region must take these changes into account and develop relations with India and Pakistan accordingly. “In four years the world has changed, the region has changed and Pakistan has changed and you have to engage with this new Pakistan,” said Qureshi, further adding, “India has changed. Is it the same shining and secular India today? No.”
While commenting on the internal development in India, the minister said that it is “a new face of Hindutva, a new practical demonstration of the thinking of the RSS. Minorities in India are finding themselves to be insecure.” Saying such developments call for a new approach towards the region. “I understand that there is a lot of similarities [between] the United States’ current thinking and our policies,” said Qureshi.
He informed the media that he had written a letter to the incoming US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, informing him about Pakistan’s efforts in the region and policy trajectory. “We have made a very big shift, from a geostrategic position to a geo-economic position,” said the foreign minister.
Domestic Politics
Shah Mehmood Qureshi also commented on the domestic political situation in Pakistan while addressing the press conference. He commented on the recent development within the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) over the issue of long march and vote of no-confidence. The Pakistan People’s Party has suggested that it would move a vote of no-confidence against the incumbent government as it is the only constitutional way to dismiss a government, in contrast to the PDM’s publicly announced policy of a long march to Islamabad.
The Minister said that the PTI government and its allies were confident that they are “in a position to confront and defeat it in a constitutional and parliamentary manner.”
“Now it is clear from this, Bilawal when you say you will bring a no-confidence motion, it means you have constitutionally accepted Imran Khan as prime minister,” said the foreign minister.
