ISLAMABAD - Pakistan said yesterday that it does not want to be part of any bloc politics in the world.
Speaking at a weekly news briefing here, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said Pakistan was committed to have friendly ties with all global powers.
“Pakistan does not want to be a part of any bloc politics in the world. We want to have broad-based, objective, balanced and mutually beneficial relationships with all major powers, including the United States and China,” he added.
Ahmed said resolution of all outstanding issues between Pakistan and India, including the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir, was vital for the development and progress of South Asia.
The spokesperson said Pakistan has consistently been advocating the need for addressing the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
He said there is a growing understanding and support from the international community, including the UN secretary general toward addressing this dispute, and international community is accepting an understanding of Pakistan’s position on Jammu and Kashmir.
He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visited Kazakhstan for the 6th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). In his address to the plenary, the prime minister articulated Pakistan’s key priorities and perspectives on a range of issues - including the urgency of climate action, win-win cooperation to promote the common objectives of peace, economic development, and enhanced trade and investment, and connectivity in the region, he added.
The PM, he said, also spoke about the Indian atrocities in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, calling upon India to respect its international obligations and undo all unilateral and illegal actions since 5 August 2019, aimed at undermining the internationally recognized disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir.
CICA members expressed solidarity with Pakistan facing the unprecedented climate induced floods and called for supporting the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, he maintained.
Earlier, he said, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari undertook an official visit to Germany on 6-7 October. The delegation level talks and the press briefing with the German counterpart covered a whole range of issues from bilateral cooperation to regional and global issues including Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan. Germany also announced additional €10 million for flood relief assistance. To a question, he said the world was responding to the floods situation in Pakistan. He said aid was regularly coming from across the world.
“In New York, on 7th October, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution, expressing the international community’s solidarity and strong support for the government and people of Pakistan in the wake of the devastating floods,” he said.
Proposed by Pakistan, this resolution was co-sponsored by an overwhelming number (151) of countries from all regions. He said Pakistan had a principled stance on the situation in Ukraine and it was demonstrated in the UN General Assembly proceedings. He said Pakistan-China Spokespersons’ Dialogue was held virtually on 10th October. “It was an occasion to exchange views on strengthening cooperation in the domains of media and public diplomacy to project the strategic partnership, shared objectives, and people to people linkages,” the spokesperson said.