Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has said that country's stance regarding Iran's nuclear issue is very clear and Pakistan has already conveyed to the international community that solution to this problem must come by peaceful means. He was talking to journalists after a ceremony of Beacon House University on Saturday.
Referring to Pakistan's relations with Iran, the foreign minister said that the decision in this regard will be taken independently in a sovereign way and no pressure will be accepted. Talking about country's relations with India, he said that it has improved during the last three years. He said, the condition of these relations a few years ago in which 1 million armed forces of each country stood eyeball-to-eyeball was known to all.
The foreign minister speaking about the relations with the western neighbour Afghanistan, said that trade relations with Afghanistan has reached $1.5 billion. Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri speaking about relations with USA and China said that the country had good relation with both.
Referring to China, he said bilateral relations between Pakistan and China were exemplary and during his recent visit to China, he toured their space agency establishment. He said this opportunity was unique as Chinese Foreign Minister told him that he himself did not visit the space installations, he added.
Speaking about the Kashmir issue the foreign minister said that if solution has to be brought after taking all the three parties to the dispute in confidence. He said that the Parliament of the country would be taken into confidence over the outcome of Kashmir dialogue.
He made it clear that there was no secret diplomacy involved in the resolution of Kashmir issue and everything would be transparent and made public whenever there is a real movement. Governor Punjab, Khalid Maqbool, speaking at the first convocation of the Beacon House University earlier stated that for all the steps that have been taken to boost educational system here, credit goes to President Pervez Musharraf.
He said due to measures taken to promote education, the number of Ph.Ds in the country is rising. The Governor termed this development a direct result of the steps taken by the present regime.
He said that in education sector, teachers were now coming to Pakistan to impart education here. He said that there were a lot of opportunities waiting for Pakistani children obtaining higher education outside the country.
Sartaj Aziz, Ex-Federal Minister and Vice Chancellor of the University also addressed on the occasion. The convocation also marked the award of an honorary degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Cultural Studies to Margherita Boniver, Former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Italy.