FM presents a rosy picture of Strategic Dialogue to Senate

ISLAMABAD Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Thursday informed the Upper House of the Parliament that the United States had agreed to address Pakistans genuine concerns over the excessive Indian presence in Afghanistan. India shares no border with Afghanistan and doesnt directly suffer from the situation over there. Therefore, it must have no stakes in Afghanistan as compared to Pakistan, Qureshi told the House as having been conveyed to US officials. The United States would also announce a multi-year package to meet Pakistans security needs on a fast track, the Minister added, while apprising the House over the outcome of the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue. The success of the strategic dialogue is evident from the Indian fear reflected in her print and electronic media, Qureshi maintained. We did extensive homework and had brainstorming sessions to chalk out our future course of action for removing the bilateral trust deficit in transforming the US-Pakistan relationship to a durable partnership, the Minister further said. He said that the US had given an assurance of providing a major chunk of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) in April and clear the CSF backlog by the end of the current financial year. They have also given an assurance regarding legislation on the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) in militancy-hit areas of Pakistan on a priority basis as well as giving more US markets access to Pakistani exports, Qureshi added. The Minister maintained that the successful military operations against the terrorists had totally changed the atmosphere in the United States in Pakistans favour. He said Pakistans delegates made full use of the changed environment to make the US officials realize the sacrifices rendered by the armed forces and people of Pakistan. The coalition government also succeeded in making the United States abandon the Af-Pak mantra and come back to the bilateral relationship spreading over six decades, he said. He added that US-Pakistan engagements would assume a regular dialogue process in the near future with frequent exchanges of high-level delegates from both sides. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would soon visit Pakistan to further promote the process, he informed. The Minister said Pakistan invited US high officials to visit Pakistan and understand our pains and the challenges that we face, and above all the urgency of these challenges. He also apprised that the recent dialogue encompassed four strategic sectors while future engagements would cover ten sectors including energy, water and agriculture etc. He said only people-to-people relationship could be said to be a strategic relationship. Qureshi said that for the first time Pakistan remained neutral in Afghan elections, adding that Pakistan desired a stable and prosperous Afghanistan. He said the United States would have to understand the repercussions of deployment of 1.5 lakh Pakistani troops on the Eastern Border and would have to fulfil its security needs on a fast track. He said the Pakistani people could afford no more hike in electricity tariffs and that they had asked the US to make the IMF soften its conditions for Pakistan. The House passed the Pakistan Naval Academy (Award of Degrees) (Amendment) Bill, 2010. During the Question Hour, Ministry of Finance informed the House that Pakistan received US $ 7.3 billion bilateral and multilateral loans during the last two years. Interest on the said loans ranged from 0.5 percent to 5.25 percent.