Obama ignoring Pakistan a diplomatic failure, says Sarwar

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar on Tuesday said US President Barack Obama’s visit to India and ignoring Pakistan was nothing but our failure at the diplomatic front.
While talking to the media during his visit to Lahore Museum, the governor said Obama must use his influence to ease tension at Pak-India borders. However, he added, the Obama decision not to visit Pakistan, a country which has faced the greatest loss in the war against terrorism, reflected our failure at diplomatic level.
The governor, according to sources, wants Pakistan’s Foreign Office to plead its case more strongly with the US and apprise it of its huge contribution and sacrifices rendered in the war against terrorism.
Having lost more than 50,000 of its soldiers and civilians, and facing a loss of billions of rupees, the governor believes that Pakistan was deprived of its credit when President Obama vowed to support India’s candidature in the United Nations Security Council.
The governor, in a meeting with US Consul General Zark Harkinrider at Governor’s House on Tuesday, also laid stress on treating Pakistan and India on the principle of equality. Ch Sarwar told the envoy that to ensure durable peace in the region, US had to treat Pak-Indian nations equally. He asserted that Pakistan was the only country in the world which rendered greatest sacrifices in the war against terrorism and the political-military hierarchy was on the same page over the issue of purging the country of the menace.
The governor said there was no debate on good or bad Taliban anymore, as the entire nation believed that any step against country’s solidarity was extremism which would be dealt with an iron hand.
Sarwar also said Muslim population around the globe stood around 1.5 billion, but still none of the Muslim countries had been granted a permanent status in the General Assembly. The US consul general hailed the role of Pakistani nation and armed forces against terrorism. He said the US would continue extending cooperation to Pakistan in its resolve to eliminate the menace of terrorism.