Pakistan's refusal to provide bases to America in our national interest: FM
ISLAMABAD (92 news) - Referring to the establishment of peace in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan's refusal to provide bases to America is in our national interest.
He said that Pakistan will continue all possible contribution for establishing peace in the neighboring country as we want peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.
"US President Biden said that they spent a trillion dollars in Afghanistan, trained the army. Institutions set up. US public opinion is not in favor of keeping US troops in Afghanistan any longer. Even after deciding to evacuate, the US government assured them of continued financial support, as far as peace is concerned, it is up to the Afghans to decide for themselves. We cannot make decisions for Afghans, we can respect their decisions. The Afghan people must put pressure on the parties to settle the matter," the foreign minister maintained.
FM Qureshi said that Pakistan as a neighbor is praying for peace and will continue to help as much as possible. "Our policy is very clear. We want peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan. We want to double our trade with Afghanistan," he added.
India trying to use FATF for political purposes
FM Qureshi said that India is trying to use FATF for political purposes and Pakistan will foil its nefarious designs. He said FATF is a technical forum and it should not be used for political purposes and Pakistan has expressed its concern in his bilateral talks with his counterpart of different countries.
He said Pakistan will continue to work to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing in its own interest. He said the program given to us by the FATF during last two years, was very difficult to implement but we did it.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that apart from new legislation, we have amended 14 laws and taken administrative steps and China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Gulf countries have strongly supported us on this issue.
South Punjab
He said that he congratulated the people of South Punjab for allocating huge sums of money in the budget for the first time. "It was ensured that the budget of South Punjab would be spent on the development of South Punjab. In previous periods, only 17 per cent of the development fund was spent on 33 per cent of the population. The cornerstone of the South Punjab Secretariat has been laid by Prime Minister Imran Khan."
