ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said Pakistan is no longer dependent on the United States to meet its military and other needs
In a similar move, the opposition, Pakistan People’s Party, has submitted a motion to the Senate for a debate on US Defence Secretary James Mattis against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“If one source dries up, we have no option but to go to another source. It may cost more, it may consume more resources, but we have to fight that war [against terrorism], and that’s what we emphasized to all the people that we met,” Abbasi said in an interview with Saudi daily Arab News Monday.
The PM said any sanctions or restraints put on the country’s systems would only degrade the efforts to fight terror, affecting equation in the region.
“We have major US weapons systems in our military, but we’ve also diversified. We have Chinese and European systems. Recently for the first time, we inducted Russian attack helicopters,” he said.
Abbasi said for government, it was a complex job, facing a barrage of domestic and international challenges including terrorism, energy deficit, and economic and regional volatility.
He went on to say: “Governing a country with a ballooning population of over 207 million was no walk in the park.
“Pakistan being one of the largest countries in the world and a nuclear power, was confronting many issues including a challenging neighbourhood, war on terror and the Afghanistan conflict.
We have a neighbour to the east with which we’ve had several wars. They (India) are also a nuclear power. We have a dispute. They occupied Kashmir, which is our territory.”
In reply to a question on next election, the PM said, “Whatever happens, elections will happen on time and in early August. Pakistan will, God willing, have a new government. Hopefully the same party (PML-N) will come to power,” he said.
On his activities on the sidelines of UN General Assembly in New York, Abbasi said he held meetings with several key players including eight heads of state, the UN secretary-general, US Vice President Mike Pence and international investors.
He said the “candid” discussion with Pence was essential for official engagements in the future because when Trump’s policy statement on South Asia came out, there were “a lot of apprehensions on what it meant, and what it meant for Pakistan-US relations”.
“I think we moved substantially forward in that direction. Whatever concerns they (the US) have, we’ve shown our willingness to address those concerns. Pakistan wants an “equal relationship or partnership with the US, like every other nation,” he said.
About Afghanistan’s situation, Abbasi said, “We can categorically state that we don’t provide any sanctuaries to anybody. The bottom line is… today we have a common objective: To destroy terror and bring peace to Afghanistan.”
“We’re partners in the war on terror, and that’s what we emphasized. We emphasized to everybody we met there (at the UNGA) that nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan,” added Abbasi.
The premier said, “The reality today is that much of the area bordering Pakistan is controlled by the Taliban. The people we’re fighting in Pakistan today, their sanctuaries are in Afghanistan, their leadership is living there, the planning is done there, the logistical bases are there, and they regularly cross the border and attack our installations.”
Abbasi said: “We’re fencing our border. We’re open to Afghan liaison officers. We have Afghan refugees here. So if anything is pinpointed and the intelligence is provided, we take action.”
Pakistan wanted peace in Afghanistan via a solution that is owned and led by the Afghans, he said and warned that Washington’s desire to include India would be detrimental.
“We don’t believe that injecting India into the Pakistan-US relationship will help resolve anything, especially in Afghanistan, where we don’t see any role for India. India has a relationship with the US. That is between them and the US,” he said.
Abbasi said: “Pakistan had fought a very hard and vicious war on terror. A total of 200,000 of our troops are deployed. We have 6,500 martyrs in the army. We have 21,000 of our citizens who’ve been killed, including police personnel. Almost 35,000 people have been seriously injured.”
He said, “Nobody has fought a bigger war on terror than we have, with our own resources. Even the most conservative economic estimates of Pakistan’s losses are over $120 billion. It has been a very difficult war, but our army has performed very well”.
The world should recognize Pakistan’s efforts in fighting the ‘world’s war’ on terror, he said, in his first interview since returning from the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September.
“I think we moved substantially forward in that direction. Whatever concerns they (the US) have, we’ve shown our willingness to address those concerns.”
The meeting paved the way for one between Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who discussed Trump’s South Asia policy, and Asif told Tillerson that Islamabad pursues a zero-tolerance approach to “all terrorist and militant groups.”
Meanwhile, PPP Senator Sehar Kamran submitted a motion to the Senate Secretariat seeking debate on US Defence Secretary James Mattis remarks on CPEC.
The motion called the remarks an attempt to sabotage the $56 billion project and is amounted to interference in Pakistan’s domestic affairs.
In the second motion, the PPP has sought debate on statements made by former Afghan president Hamid Karzai alleging the US was supporting the militant Islamic State (IS) group in Afghanistan.
The motion recognises Karzai’s statements as holding “great importance” for Pakistan and adds that US support for terrorism in the region “may affect the security of Pakistan.”
In his interview with foreign media, Karzai had said that he has “more than suspicions” that US bases are being used to aid the IS. He also claimed that the terror group has been able to spread its tentacles in the country just under the nose of the US forces and the CIA. The PPP has demanded that normal business of the House be adjourned to discuss the statements made by Mattis and Karzai.