World no more blindly believes India’s blatant lies: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Monday that with Pakistan’s forceful counter-narrative building, the world and international media did not blindly believe India’s blatant lies on resumption of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, following its illegal act of revoking the Valley’s special status last August.

Speaking at the inauguration of state-of-the-art media centre, established at the Agha Shahi Block of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), he said owing to robust foreign policy and effective counter-propaganda strategy, Pakistan had successfully nullified India’s propaganda on Kashmir and Afghanistan at global platform.

“Today, the world sees Pakistan as a solution not a problem, thanks to the government’s intense counter-narrative against India in correcting the global perception,” he added.

On recent improvement with regard to Afghanistan, Qureshi said the previous wrong perception about Pakistan faded away as a clear counter-narrative was adoptedby the latter. The foreign minister said pursuing an independent foreign policy would be a dream without securing economic stability and food security.

He mentioned Pakistan followed a security-centric approach on foreign policy since its establishment seven decades ago but stressed that overcoming the economic vulnerability was equally important to avoid shackles of International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Qureshi said digital diplomacy based on technology was a new global norm amid Covid-19 pandemic, as leaders and foreign ministers held virtual meetings with their counterparts, with seminars being replaced by webinars.

On similar lines, he said, his “Vision Foreign Office” was trailblazing Pakistan’s diplomacy into 21st century with minimised response time by using modern communication tools and upgraded coordination with line departments.

He said the foreign offices worldwide worked with a conservative and cautious approach due to sensitivity of diplomatic matters; however with social media tools like Twitter used by leaders for statements, there was a need to adopt faster response instead of issuing delayed press releases.

He said the press corps of Foreign Office was at the frontline of defending the country’s foreign policy narrative responsibly along with the officials of MoFA.He said the new media centre at MoFA was fully equipped with modern facilities of audio and video transmission to meet the challenges of fast-paced world of news.

He mentioned establishment of Strategic Communication Division at MoFA was meant to fight global battle of perception, while the 24/7 Crisis Management Centre proved beneficial in dealing with repatriation of stranded Pakistanis in the wake of Covid-19 situation.

Speaking on the occasion, Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood highlighted the strong bond of trust and credibility existed between the Foreign Office and media correspondents regularly covering the related activities.Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri and a large number of Foreign Office press correspondents attended the event.