MULTAN: Former foreign minister and PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday lambasted the coalition government for “what he called a lack of response” to the US-India joint statement which called on Pakistan to crack down on extremists that target New Delhi.
Speaking to the media here in Multan, Qureshi said that as a former foreign minister he was “pained” to see the joint communique issued after Biden and Modi’s meeting in Washington.
“This was a bilateral visit, it is his right. They met [and] they had a discussion. But the joint communique issued after the meeting — reading that joint communique as a former foreign minister of Pakistan — caused me great pain.”
He said that the statement failed to recognise Pakistan’s economic and human losses in the fight against terrorism.
“And then in a bilateral meeting, setting aside diplomatic norms, Pakistan is made a target of criticism. This was inappropriate,” he said.
US President Joe Biden laid out a red carpet for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Thursday where the two countries sealed major defence and technology deals as Washington bets big on India as a counterweight to China.
In an apparent bid to use the visit to further India’s agenda against Islamabad, a joint statement issued by the two heads of state late on Thursday called on Pakistan to crack down on extremists that target New Delhi. The statement also called for action against extremist groups based in Pakistan.
The Foreign Office (FO) had termed the statement “misleading and unwarranted”, saying that the “reference is contrary to diplomatic norms and has political overtones” while Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the US president should “consider facts the next time he fetes the butcher of Gujarat”.
The PTI chairman Qureshi said he was “amazed” to see that no one in Pakistan was saying anything. He said that he had made his views and his “disappointment” on the topic clear yesterday outside an anti-terrorism court and was doing the same today.
The PTI leader said that while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was doing “salesmanship” of mangoes in France, he should also have given a response to the statement issued by US and India.
“Our foreign minister says nothing on this? What is a bigger forum than the Assembly […] there is no discussion on this?” he asked.
He noted that the FO spokesperson had issued a statement but said it was “not enough”.
“She gave the right response. But it doesn’t carry the same weight as one by a political, elected leadership. So, I am sad to say that the government didn’t show the responsibility it needed to.”
Qureshi further said that the US could not ignore the fact that Pakistan had cooperated in the fight against terrorism. “Terrorism is a global phenomenon […] it is not limited to our neighbourhood. And Pakistan was and is ready to counter it. We have always said that we are ready for cooperation with the US on counter-terrorism.”
He said that the joint statement, which had targeted Pakistan, did not mention the Indian injustices against the people of occupied Kashmir. “There is no mention of it. The treatment of minorities, especially Muslims […] there is no mention of it and we are sitting silent.”
