Anwaarul Haq Kakar says New Delhi staged physical murder on European soil by killing Khalistan movement leader n Urges western countries to create an alliance to check rough behaviour of India n Says IMF didn’t demand anything n US businesses show interests in SIFC n Final election date will be announced soon.

 

NEW YORK  -  Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Friday said that the gruesome murder of Khalistan Movement Sikh leader in Canada had jolted the West that raised seri­ous questions about the role of Indi­an state. Addressing a presser at the Pakistan Mission, the prime min­ister said that Pakistan had been a victim of such state-sponsored ter­rorism and shared evidences of ‘Pa­kistan centric’ at different global and multilateral fora about the role of Indian state. 

He said that it might be the first of its kind event probably after the First World War that an Asian country staged a physical murder on the Eu­ropean soil and its impacts were be­ing felt across the Western countries who now realised how India was persecuting its minorities like Chris­tians, Sikhs and Muslims. 

The prime minister opined that an alliance should be formed to check such ‘rough behaviour’ of India. 

To another question, he said that he also held meetings with different business bodies in the US that showed interests in the eco­nomic revival plans in Paki­stan, including privatisation and SIFC. He also termed his discussion with the IMF Man­aging Director very construc­tive, adding that she hoped that the upcoming mandated government would carry on the economic plan.

To a query, he said that the caretaker government had conducted administrative in­tervention against the sugar and wheat mafias with effec­tive measures. There was no dearth of the commodities in the country as different edi­ble items were readily avail­able, however, prices of cer­tain commodities were linked with the international prices, he added. The prime minister said that the caretaker gov­ernment was striving to pro­vide relief to the masses. 

The IMF was very appre­ciative of the interim govern­ment’s steps over illegal trade of dollars, he added. The IMF did not demand anything, rather the caretaker govern­ment was giving them a con­fidence and would abide by the agreements, he said, add­ing that the upcoming elected government would further negotiate with the Interna­tional Monetary Fund (MF) according to its manifesto. 

About Afghanistan, the prime minister said that they had multifaceted engage­ments with the Afghan inter­im government and hoped the outcome of those engage­ments would be beneficial for the two countries. 

Responding to a question, he said that Pakistan would take all steps to protect its territory and people whenev­er any need arose. He further said that Pakistan respect­ed the territorial sovereignty and integrity of Afghanistan. 

About Pak-US ties, he said that they had very construc­tive historic relations which would be further strength­ened. The Pakistani diaspora was contributing in the United States and playing their role in the community building. The prime minister stressed that Pakistan had an exclusive identity and it should be seen through the prism of it rath­er than any other regional or other contexts. 

About his meeting with Ira­nian President Ebrahim Rai­si, PM Kakar said that they had discussed the mutual priorities and held beneficial negotiations. The prime min­ister said that the State of Pa­kistan effectively respond­ed to the Jaranwala incident. Contrarily, the Indian state acted as a spectator rather an accomplice in the Manipur violence in which hundreds of people were killed.

PM Kakar said he as well as the current Chief Justice of Pakistan visited Jaranwala and tried to mitigate the sit­uation. The Army Chief also took a public position on the issue. To a question, he said the Election Commission of Pakistan was mandated to hold the general elections and the final date would be announced soon. He said all the registered political par­ties had the right to take part in the polls as the ECP did not ban any party from the process. He assured that the caretaker government would carry out fair treatment to all the political parties.

Rubbishing the notion of any victimisation, the prime minister said anyone involved in the violence against the state would be dealt with un­der the law of the land as Pa­kistan was a sovereign state.

He said Pakistan want­ed constructive engagement with Russia and both the countries had immense po­tential of enhanced econom­ic cooperation. However, he said, Pakistan did not favour military solution to any con­flict and instead advocated dialogue for settlement.

Prime Minister Kakar said that persecution of Muslims being carried out in the Indi­an Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) was apt­ly described as “genocide”, which he also mentioned in his address at the United Na­tions General Assembly. 

He said thousands of Kash­miris had been killed and women were raped, besides the extrajudicial killing of the innocent people. To another question, he said of around 5 million refugees in Pakistan, some 2.8 million were legal and the rest were without any legal document. Therefore, the government had decid­ed to repatriate them and ad­ministrative intervention was being made for the purpose.

The prime minister rub­bished the notion of an isolat­ed Pakistan and said during his interactions with the world leaders, they had found growing interest of the world in Pakistan. He also highlight­ed his engagements on the sidelines of the UNGA session.

‘THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE’

Caretaker Prime Minister An­waarul Haq Kakar said that bringing economic stability in the country was the fore­most priority of the govern­ment and in this regard a comprehensive economic re­vival plan was in force. 

He said assisting the pro­cess of elections was one of the prime duties of the gov­ernment. “We will be assist­ing and supporting the pro­cess, and while doing so really try to focus on the eco­nomic revival plan. That is the biggest challenge.”

In an interview with the US based weekly magazine Newsweek here on Friday, the prime minister pointed out that the caretaker govern­ment was deeply concerned about the situation of stabil­ity. “At the moment, it’s pret­ty much under control. It’s something which we fully and lawfully monitor, and we are in charge to pull all the strings when it comes to stability.”

With respect to Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan, he said it would take some time to get relations with the neighboring Afghanistan’s de facto government better. “It’ll take a bit of time, but we are quite confident that we will be able to manage that.” “We do have a larger perspective and outlook on the whole of the region. But these day-to-day events do mire and complicate our relationship at times. But we’re trying to manage it in a manner which is mutually beneficial to both sides,” he added. Responding to a question regarding the US’ attention in South Asian region, PM Kakar said as a Pa­kistani and someone coming from that region, he would be very much baffled if that re­gion was being ignored or if it deserved less attention by the United States, because this was where actually lot of things were happening. 

“A population of around 3 to 4 billion resides in that region. How do you ignore 4 billion people? How do you pay less attention to 4 billion people out of 8? Almost half of humanity resides there.”

He said there were poten­tial conflicts in those areas. “It would be very stingy on my part not to mention Kash­mir, because it is a flashpoint between two nuclear states. God forbid, if there is any sort of military confrontation be­tween the two nuclear pow­ers, how would that translate to the region? How would that translate outside the re­gion? What sort of implica­tions would it have for the European continent? What implications will it have across the planet into North America and the rest?.”