Multan   -    Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday that the leaders of opposition parties must cooperate with the government to resolve the issues faced by the country.

Speaking to the media in Multan, the foreign minister said that political parties should set aside their differences and play a role in leading the country towards the path of progress. He said despite different kinds of challenges, the incumbent government is trying to bring the country on the way of development.

He disclosed that all opposition leaders including Bilawal Bhutto and Shehbaz Sharif had been extended invitation on national security. “We’ve said that all will have to unite for the national interest. I would ask Bilawal that everyone should take care of red line at this point of time,” he added.

The foreign minister said the country was passing through a critical juncture as India was trying to isolate Pakistan and put it on black list.

He urged Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif to avoid narrow thinking and show more responsibility for country’s interest.

He said there were and would be political differences between PTI and the two opposition parties but he hoped that both the parties would play their role for development of the country.

Answering a question, he said that the price hike would further increase due to hike in dollar rate. “We need to discover that who had prevented dollar from getting to its actual price,” he added.  He said that the South Punjab province was not just a slogan of PTI rather it was a badly needed step. He added that the South Punjab province was a promise made by the PTI and all-out efforts would be made to fulfil this promise. He said that the PTI leadership was making sincere efforts for the province as it believed that running a province with 120 million population was impossible.

Responding to another question, he said that although PPP and PML-N were fighting with one another since long, their alliance in PP-218 by-election unveiled their real face. He said the people were raising voice against the politics of connivance, adding that whatever the result would come from the by-election, it would be part of democratic process. He was of the opinion that today’s voter was intelligent enough and he thought even beyond the politicians.

Answering a question on NAB, he said that NAB was an independent institution and neither did the government intervene into its affairs nor it could. He added that neither did the Prime Minister believed in deal nor relaxation rather he wanted accountability. He said that the Sindhis accorded warm welcome to Prime Minister in Ghotki.

He said parliamentary parties of Sindh expressed their dissatisfaction over the performance of Sindh government while they also expressed their reservations on alleged misuse of Benazir Income Support Programme funds. “Personally I am not in favour of changing the name of this institution. We don’t have any issue with this institution set up in the name of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto,” he added. Regarding recently launched ‘Ehsas’ programme by PTI government, Qureshi hoped that it would serve the poor in amicable way. He said that PTI came into power when the country was passing through financial crisis, adding, the government was trying its best to provide possible relief to masses.

The foreign minister also announced that Pakistani High Commissioner to New Delhi Sohail Mehmood would replace current Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua following her retirement next month.

He disclosed that Tehmina Janjua was going to retire on April 16, adding that she was a lady of wisdom and he learnt a lot from her while working with her for the last seven months. He declared that current Pakistani High Commissioner to Delhi Sohail Mehmood would be appointed foreign secretary after her retirement.