MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday termed the Afghanistan peace deal a golden opportunity to move towards peace in the region.
Talking to media persons after the inauguration of a road at Timber Market, Qureshi said that a few elements should not be allowed to succeed to derail the peace process so that this golden opportunity is availed for sustainable peace in Afghanistan.
He said that there was some information about development on the issue of the release of prisoners. He also said that after the successful resolution of the issue, the intra-Afghan dialogue was on the cards. He further said that everyone has condemned Kabul attack which is a good sign, adding that the same spirit was needed in the future to bring ease in the lives of the people of Afghanistan.
Speaking about south Punjab, he said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is committed to establishing south Punjab as a separate province but does not have the clear majority to pass a resolution.
He said that it has been decided in a meeting to seek support from other parties for the purpose. He said that the government had decided to establish a sub-secretariat in south Punjab to facilitate people of the areas, however, few parliamentarians wanted the establishment of the secretariat in Bahawalpur and few in Multan.
The foreign minister added that the general secretary of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had sent a special envoy to Pakistan which met with all leaders. He said that the envoy had visited different areas of the country and also Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) where he had met with the Raja Farooq Haider.
FM Qureshi stated that the European Union (EU) has extended Pakistan’s GSP plus status for another two years which is a victory of the government’s foreign policy. He said that an extension of status would increase the country’s exports. He said that inflation has been decreased to 11.4 per cent from 14.6 per cent, adding that efforts were being made to bring more decrease in it.
Answering a question on coronavirus, he said that Pakistani students in China were safe and were being offered with different facilities by the government of China. He said that the government has taken various measures to prevent coronavirus infections in the country, including the closing of the border with Afghanistan and Iran.
He said that international organisations have appreciated the measures taken by the government against coronavirus. He added that not even a single case of death by coronavirus has been reported so far in the country.
