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.