Qureshi asks India not to shy away from Kartarpur Corridor talks

LAHORE: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday asked India not to delay the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor and settle all differences through bilateral dialogue.

Addressing a press conference flanked by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar here at the Governor House, he said despite tension with India in the wake of Pulwama incident, Pakistan participated in the talks on Kartarpur Corridor.

Pakistan wanted to move forward and improve its relations with India, he added.

India, he said, should not shy away from the Kartarpur Corridor talks scheduled for April 2 (Tuesday). Pakistan was more than willing to address all the Indian reservations, he added.

He said Pakistan had adopted a principled stance that the Kartarpur Corridor should be opened for the Sikh community residing all over the world. Pakistan desired to open more border crossings for pilgrims from India, he added.

Qureshi said the new visa policy was part of the government’s efforts to attract foreign tourists to the country. The people from 50 countries would be provided visa on arrival, while those from 172 countries would have e-visa facility. The government wanted to remove barriers and promote tourism, he added.

About the FATF sanctions, the minister said the country had been placed in the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government. However, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was taking initiatives to avert the country being put in its black list. Being in FATF’s grey list caused a loss of $10 billion to the country while the cost of being included in the black list would be even higher, he added.

Regarding petroleum products price-hike, the minister said: “The common man is sensible enough and does not hold the Pakistan Threek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and Prime Minister Imran Khan responsible for it as well as economic degradation in the country.”

Pakistan, he said, had been facing 6.6 per cent economic deficit when the PTI government took over. Everybody knew that the claims of stability of dollar, made by former finance minister Ishaq Dar, were cosmetic and untenable. The PNL-N government did nothing to control the line losses of Water and Power Development Authority and rectify the infrastructure faults, he added.

The foreign minister said Finance Minister Asad Umar would succeed in making the economy stable soon. The country was on the verge of bankruptcy when Prime Minister Imran Khan took over the office and now the national economy was recovering due to timely financial assistance received from the friendly and brotherly countries, he added.

Qureshi said Asad Umar had managed to get concessions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was putting up tough conditions.

To a question, the minister dispelled the impression that the 18th Amendment was being done away with. The Federal Government to had asked the provinces to reconsider their financial needs, he added.

He clarified that with abolishing of the concurrent list under the 18th Amendment, all economic resources had been handed over to the provinces, leaving the Centre with almost no resources at its disposal.

The Prime Minister wanted the provinces to give viable financial resources to the Centre in the 7th National Finance Commission Award, he added.

About PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen, he said he should continue to serve the nation, but in ‘his personal capacity’.