TTP attacks aimed at driving a wedge between Pakistan and Afghanistan: FM Jilani

Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani has said that the terrorist attacks being carried out by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are aimed at driving a wedge between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In an interview with Turkish TV TRTWorld, FM Jilani said Pakistan would like to see Afghanistan a stable and prosperous country. He said presence of large number of terrorist groups including TTP and IS-Khorasan are a major concern for not only Pakistan, but for other regional countries also. He said we are in dialogue with Afghanistan, urging them to fulfill their commitment made with Pakistan and international community.

The Foreign Minister said we would like the Afghan interim government to take solid practical steps against the organizations particularly the TTP. “Unfortunately attacks which take place in Pakistan are emanating from Afghanistan by TTP that remain a major concern for us,” he said.

Responding to a question, Jilani said the future of Pakistan in terms of investment climate is very bright as we are expecting the visits of representatives of GCC and other world countries to Pakistan this month for signing of MoUs for investment.

He said Pakistan has taken a new initiative and constituted Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to attract foreign investment and the GCC countries have shown a lot of interest for investment in Pakistan under the SIFC.

He said the GCC countries and Saudi Arabia are great partners of Pakistan. We have very close cooperation with GCC countries in diverse fields including economy and defence. 

The Foreign Minister expressed the confidence that reforms introduced by the government in different sectors will also offer a promising future for the people of Pakistan and we are quite hopeful that it will result in political and economic stability.

About internal political situation, he said Pakistan is going through a normal democratic process and currently there is a caretaker setup in the country which is a constitutional requirement.

Regarding Pak-China relations, he said China is a great partner of Pakistan and we have very strong relationship with Beijing. He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative. He said CPEC has played a key role in development of Pakistan.   

About reforms in the UN Security Council, the Foreign Minister said Pakistan's position on the issue remains very consistent that there should be a criteria for extension of the membership. He said there should be a democratic process and we can't afford to have the emergence of another elite member of the UN Security Council.

He said India has violated the most UN Security Council Resolutions including on Jammu and Kashmir which is the long standing issue on the UN agenda. We would like the implementation of these UN Security Council resolutions, calling for the holding of a free and fair plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

He said Kashmir for the last several years has been turned into a prison and massive human rights violations are taking place. We would like the international community to take notice of it.

On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said Pakistan’s position was very clear, i.e., War is not an option for anything and the issue needs to be settled through peaceful negotiations.

He pointed out that the situation that lingered for two years created an economic crisis with fuel and food shortages.