Australian FM commends Pakistan’s operation against terrorists

ISLAMABAD: Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the operation by the Pakistan armed forces against terrorists is commendable.
The Australian minister said this during her separate meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif on Thursday. The prime minister, during the meeting, said that Pakistan and Australia enjoy close and cooperative relations in all fields and wished to strengthen them in the years to come.
The premier said all economic indicators were quite encouraging. “Our growth rate is gradually increasing, which we expect to rise further in the coming years. The foreign exchange reserves have almost doubled during the tenure of this government. The stock market is one of the best in Asia, industry is growing and the agriculture sector is looking up with good wheat and cotton crops,” he added.
Julie Bishop informed the PM that this was her first visit to Pakistan after becoming the foreign minister during which she held several useful meetings. She appreciated the government’s reform agenda which has resulted in economic growth and increased the job opportunities across the country.
The PM said that Pakistan’s economy has suffered badly at the hands of terrorism and that was why the government had decided to launch an operation against terrorists which is going on successfully and has almost smashed their network, hideouts and sanctuaries. “Those who kill innocent people do not deserve any mercy,” he added. He further said that over the years, Pakistan has also laid down thousands of lives in this cause and will not rest until it completely eliminates the entire network of terrorists and their abettors.
The Australian foreign minister said that there was a lot of potential that was yet to be exploited, especially among the business communities of the two countries as well as exchange of high-level delegations, people-to-people contacts and parliamentary exchanges.
The PM appreciated the support and cooperation of the Australian government, including for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). He said that Pakistan’s industry was suffering because of lack of energy and the government was taking urgent steps to meet the energy shortage. He expressed the confidence that power outages would be done away with during the tenure of this government.
Bishop thanked Pakistan for extending cooperation to Australia in important fields like countering terrorism, drug trafficking, trans-national crime, human smuggling and organised crime and said that Australia wishes to strengthen relations in these fields. She said that Australia hopes the initiatives taken by the PM would help improve the relations between India and Pakistan, leading to resolution of long outstanding disputes. She also invited the prime minister to visit Australia at a time of his convenience, proposing to bring along a business delegation so that the focus of the visit remains strengthening of economic and trade ties.
Matters related to the regional situation also came under discussion. The PM said that Pakistan would be pleased to extend more cooperation in all these fields. He also asked Bishop to convey his greetings to the Australian prime minister.
Adviser to PM Sartaj Aziz, Senior Adviser to PM Tariq Fatemi and secretary foreign affairs attended the meeting. Australia’s High Commissioner to Pakistan Peter Heyward was also present during the meeting.
APP adds: The Australian foreign minister visited the General Headquarters (GHQ) and called on the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif.During the meeting, matters of mutual interest including defence and security cooperation between both the countries came under discussion.
According to the ISPR, the Australian foreign minister appreciated the successes of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb and sacrifices rendered by the Pakistani security forces in this operation. She also appreciated efforts of Pakistani security forces towards regional stability.