DAVOS: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said Pakistan’s new leadership, both political and military, will have no talks with terrorist organisations that don’t respect the country’s laws and constitution.
“I am confident that if we can work with the Afghan interim government, which has influence over these groups, we will be successful in maintaining our security,” he said in a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post’s senior Associate Editor, Lally Weymouth, in Davos, Switzerland where he is attending the World Economic Forum.
The foreign minister said Imran Khan gave the TTP a place to hide; not only did he release their prisoners who were in Pakistan’s custody, but also engaged in a dialogue with them. “He (Imran Khan) has always been ideologically sympathetic to their point of view,” he added.
To a question whether Pakistan had hoped that the new Afghan government would act against the TTP, FM Bilawal said, “Our hope, and in fact their agreement, was that their soil would not be used for terrorism. We do hope to cooperate with them to deal with terrorists that are a concern to us."
“We are both victims of terrorism. I don’t believe that the Afghanistan government will be successful on their own against terrorism, and neither will we be successful on our own against terrorism. We have to work together.”
Responding to a question, he agreed that if Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007, had lived, not only Pakistan would have been a different place, but the region would have gone in a different direction. “The entire purpose of the Pakistan Peoples Party has been for Pakistan to be a democratic country. We believe that democracy is the only way to take on extremism and terrorism.”
Also asked whether he could become prime minister this year, FM Bilawal said he would have to win an election first. “Obviously,” he added, “my party will be hoping that we win. My party has its own manifesto, and given the challenges that Pakistan faces, I believe that our manifesto speaks best to the country’s key problems, such as inflation and unemployment.
“However, I don’t believe that any one party will be able to solve all of Pakistan’s problems. If (our party wins the most votes), I will seek to form a government as prime minister and have a coalition."
To a question that Pakistan-India relations are at an all-time low and calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi “the butcher of Gujarat,” Bilawal said the remarks were in the context of the fact that the Indian foreign minister made some remarks about Pakistan that were inaccurate.
“In my response, I reminded them about the Gujarat riots and the history that surrounds them; but having said that, we don’t want to focus on the past. We want to look to the future. It is in both our countries’ interests — countries that are both nuclear powers, countries that face incredible challenges as far as poverty and climate are concerned. Our peoples want to live in peace as peaceful neighbours,” he said.
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