India wants to isolate Pakistan diplomatically: FM

Multan: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday said India wanted to isolate Pakistan diplomatically and tried to degrade it at every forum. The Foreign Minister was addressing a ceremony. He said New Delhi blames Islamabad without any evidence whenever any unwanted incident happens. “Whenever something happened, the European Union would point its fingers at Pakistan,” he added. The United States considers India as its strategic partner and not Pakistan, he said. In August 2017, the US announced a new policy called South Asian Strategy Policy. They said that they want to give India an enhanced role in Afghanistan. “Pakistan was in the middle of a strategic squeeze.” All efforts were taken to box Pakistan. Everyone wanted to isolate the country. Indian PM Narendra Modi accepted that they took measures to isolate Pakistan, he remarked. Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that India and Bangladesh held South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) hostage. He said the spirits of people are exactly like 1965 and the change has started coming. “Intentions do matter but the reward is given by Allah. Pakistan will remain until the end of the world,” he said. “Difficult times have come in the past, and will continue in future as well. The government faced many challenges when it came in power, and Pakistan was on the brink of bankruptcy. Pakistan was put into grey list during the previous government’s tenure.” “The war in Afghanistan which has been continuing for 17 years has damaged Pakistan, and peace in Afghanistan will benefit Pakistan the most. There are terrorists’ hideouts in Afghanistan and the militants enter Pakistan to conduct terror attacks. Afghanistan always blames Pakistan for its own problems.” The FATF placed Pakistan on its grey list when the previous government was in power. It accused Pakistan of not fulfilling its obligations to curb terror financing, he said. The capability of our institutions was compromised. Many institutions were not able to provide their services to the people of Pakistan, the federal minister added. Qureshi urged the people to unite in this time of duress. “I am seeing the same passion in our people as I did in 1965,” he said.