Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the government was still committed to its agreement with the BNP-M and would try to persuade him to review his decision of leaving the coalition. 

In a TV interview, the foreign minister said that the government was not concerned about any developments regarding its allies as "ups and downs are part of politics". 

He said that Akhtar Mengal was a respected politician and that the PTI was bound by the agreement it had signed with the BNP-M. "He mentioned an agreement with us [PTI], we are still bound by it," said the foreign minister. "We are not rejecting it," added, stating that talks can be held to discuss the pace of the progress at which it needs to be implemented. 

FM Qureshi said that the PTI will establish contact with Mengal to persuade him to review his decision. "He is an MNA, a lawmaker and the leader of his party," said FM Qureshi. "We listened to what he had to say. We will try to satisfy his demands."

However, the foreign minister said that Mengal was "independent in making his own decisions" about the coalition government. 

Qureshi also commented on India's election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, saying that it was a wrong perception that Pakistan had abstained from voting. 

"Pakistan did not abstain from voting, we voted against India," he said. "We expressed our reservations of India's August 5 actions, which were against the Security Council regulations and in contravention to international law, by principally voting against India," the foreign minister stressed.  

He said that people should understand the election process of the Security Council membership election. The foreign minister noted that Pakistan had won the election as a non-permanent member of the Council seven times and that India had won an equal number of times in the past. 

FM Qureshi said that India had started lobbying for the election since 2013. "It was not the PTI that was in government in 2013. We must check the record as to who was in government then," he stated. 

His statement comes in response to the BNP-M's announcement on Wednesday that the party was breaking its alliance with the ruling coalition.

“Today, I announce in Parliament [the BNP-M's] separation from PTI’s [ruling] alliance,” Mengal had said while addressing the National Assembly.