Japan may relocate automobile industry to Pakistan: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi here on Friday said Japanese government had expressed its interest in relocating automobile industry to Pakistan aimed at increasing exports to Gulf and adjacent states.

Addressing a press conference, he said Tokyo was engaged with Pakistan after a gap of seven years. The Japanese government intends to skill 65 percent of Pakistani youth in order to sustain economic growth.

The minister said that he visited Sri Lankan High Commission on Friday to pay condolences over the Easter church and hotels attacks. Prime Minister Imran Khan also spoke to his Sri Lankan counterpart and strongly condemned the attacks, he said.

Qureshi said his May 2 visit to Sri Lanka was postponed due to security issues on the request of Sri Lankan government. However the visit would be rescheduled after the holy month of Ramazan.

He said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress of India had been in a brawl against each other over the failure to link the listing of Masood Azhar with Palwama incident and Kashmir movement. He said Indian journalist Suhasini while criticising the Modi government questioned its victory claims in Masood Azahar’s linkage to Palwama attack. She was of the view that the BJP government had failed to provide evidence to the United Nation's Sanctions Committee.

Responding to a question, he said India had been repeatedly violating the Line of Control (LoC) and killing innocent people, while Pakistan only responded to the Indian unprovoked firing considering safety of the people of Kashmir who embraced martyrdom and got buried in Pakistani national flag. He reaffirmed that Pakistan would continue to support the people of Kashmir in achieving their right to self determination.