Bringing Taliban to table not our responsibility alone: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Monday said bringing Taliban to the negotiating table was a shared responsibility and Pakistan should not be expected to deliver in this regard on its own.

He said the government was ready for a debate on foreign policy in Parliament and believed that the opposition will present viable proposals to the government in the interest of country.

Speaking in the National Assembly in response to a point of order raised by the JUI-F legislator Maulana Abdul Wasey, he said: “What we have achieved in foreign policy in last three months is before everyone. The opening of Kartarpur Corridor is being appreciated all over the world. With the opening of corridor we have given a clear message to India that we want peace.”

Qureshi said dialogue was the only way between Pakistan and India for resolving all contentious issues and expressed hope that India will improve the situation in the occupied Kashmir. He said Pakistan wanted to achieve peace in the region through the Afghan reconciliation process.

“The United States has appointed Zalmay Khalilzad as its focal person on Afghanistan and Pakistan who’s cooperating with us for peace in Afghanistan and the region.

He said instability in Afghanistan was affecting Pakistan. He said it was the first time that a positive development was made for the peace process in Afghanistan and the world was acknowledging that the solution to the Afghan imbroglio lay in dialogue and the Taliban were also part of this process.

He said even US President Donald Trump also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan seeking Pakistan’s help in the Afghan reconciliation process. “The help of other countries of the region is also needed for the Afghan peace process,” he said.

He said the issue of Kartarpur Corridor had also been raised in the past and now the world was appreciating Pakistan for opening the corridor. He said even the Indian cabinet had approved the opening of Kartarpur Corridor and sent its two ministers during its ground-breaking ceremony.

He hoped that the next Indian government after elections would take steps for restarting the stalled dialogue process with Pakistan. Earlier in a written reply to a question of Ms Shams-un-Nisa during the question hour, the foreign minister told the National Assembly that peace in Afghanistan benefitted Pakistan the most and violence made them suffer equally.

He said Pakistan believed that peace and stability in Afghanistan was a prerequisite to achieve this goal. “Pakistan has consistently maintained that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict. The only workable solution hinges on a politically negotiated settlement by the Afghans themselves. We have strived for peace in Afghanistan while emphasizing that bringing Taliban to the negotiating table remains a shared responsibility and no single country should be expected to deliver alone.”

In a written reply to yet another question from Dr Mehreen Razaq Bhutto, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the National Assembly that the prime minister in his address on October 24, 2018 made a statement offering to play a mandatory role in Yemen conflict in line with Parliament’s April 10, 2015 resolution.

“We believe that solution to the Yemen conflict lies in an intra-Yemeni dialogue among all parties to the dispute. Pakistan always strived for peace and reconciliation among Muslim brothers and will continue its efforts in this regard. We may mediate between the two brotherly countries, if acceptable to both sides,” he said.