Some external powers want to destabilize Pakistan: FM Qureshi

HYDERABAD, Mar 05 (DNA): Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on
Saturday said some external powers wanted to destabilize Pakistan by
arming and funding the terrorist elements involved in the attacks like
the suicide blast in a Peshawar mosque.

Talking to media in Tandojam area here, Qureshi said the foreign
investment had begun to grow in Pakistan and that the country’s exports
were also being increased.

“They back such elements by giving them arms and funds so that they can
keep the western borders of Pakistan hot,” he maintained.

He noted that the situation was worsening in the Indian Illegally
Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and the powers in question wanted to
create distraction for Pakistan on the western borders.

He observed that the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic by India had
caused a setback to their economy. The foreign minister added that
Pakistan comparatively had been recognized to have managed the situation
well.

“The textile industry of Pakistan has received so many orders which the
mills are unable to supply,” he said, adding that no textile mills,
looms or spindles were closed in Faisalabad at the moment.

According to him, the textile exports had stalled during the previous
governments. He credited Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s government for the
growth of housing and tourism sectors and said that Prime Minister Imran
Khan has also provided the industrialization package.

The FM recalled that when the cricket team of New Zealand was scheduled
to visit Pakistan a scare was spread and the team’s visit was cancelled.

He added that in that regard he presented the statistics and proofs at a
press conference at the foreign office besides handing over dossiers to
the Secretary General of the United Nations, President of the Security
Council and their foreign ministers.

Replying to another query, he said 900,000 Indian army troops were
stationed in IIOJK and that there were also the so-called special laws
and extra judicial killings were happening as well.

“The occupying forces take away young men and after some days their dead
bodies are found. There were also mass graves. All these are tactics
through which they have suppressed the people,” he added.

He threw down the gauntlet to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking
him to come to Muzaffarabad and present his case to the people. In
return, he said, Modi should allow Prime Minister Imran Khan to go to
Srinagar and present his case before the people there.

“Then let the people to judge who is right and who wins,” he stated. He
apprised that he had written 23 letters to SC of UN and President of SC
over the Kashmir issue besides organized debated in the UN thrice since
August, 2019, annexation of IoK by India.

Qureshi said no other leader of Pakistan had fought the case of Kashmir
more eagerly in recent history than Prime Minister Imran Khan. He asked
the people to take up speeches of PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and
compare them with Khan’s speeches to find out which of the two leaders
mentioned the Kashmir issue more times.

Commenting on creation of a new province in Punjab, he said PPP Chairman
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was deceiving the people to whom he promised that
he would create South Punjab province.

He told that some time ago he wrote a letter to Bilawal and asked him to
join hands with the PTI government to address the issue of South Punjab
but the PPP leader did not even bother to reply.

He said the PTI swept 2018 polls in southern Punjab but the PPP could
only secure 4 seats. Qureshi credited the PTI government for having
taken practical steps in the direction of materializing its promises
with the people of south Punjab.

The foreign minister elaborated that as part of the administrative
actions taken by the PTI government, the secretariats of bureaucracy had
been established in Multan and Bahawalpur. He added that the separate
rules of business had been formed and additional Chief Secretaries and
additional IGs had been posted there.

According to him, the secretaries of 16 different departments including
education, health and other public service oriented departments had been
posted in Multan and Bahawalpur.

The region had been provided separate development funds which could not
be utilized in any other part of Punjab, he claimed. He said that the PM
was planning to provide a fixed employment quota to the youth of south
Punjab.

Qureshi asked the PPP leadership to tell the nation what special
measures had they taken to serve the people of Sindh which they were
ruling for a third consecutive term since 2008.