British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Adam Thomson, who joined Youth Parliament here Friday on the first regular session after tragedy of the death of six Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs), offered condolence and observed a minute of silence on the sad and tragic death of MYPs. "UK will never turn its back to Pakistan," said Thomson while addressing the Youth Parliament on the topic of UK's Foreign Policy towards Pakistan.
Pakistan had lost more soldiers in the fight against militancy than Britain had lost in many wars and the sacrifices of Pakistani were huge, he said. Thomson said that education, population and democracy were three key areas which youth of Pakistan might like to focus on.
The societal discourse on these three key areas needs to be accelerated. UK's policy focus in Pakistan has to be focussed towards youth, as Pakistan is a very young country in democratic terms. Democracy in Pakistan would succeed when a democratic elected government preceded another, he said.
Thomson said that UK's policy towards Pakistan focused on trade, youth, education, and skills-building. Answering a question about Kashmir and water disputes, Thomson said Britain wished to see friendly relations between Pakistan and India but the issues between the two countries needed to be resolved through talks.
He believed water conservation should also be one of the major strategies to resolve water issue. Thomson was presented with a Youth Parliament memento by the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs.