Pakistan would never tolerate Quran desecration incidents: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday said that Pakistan would never tolerate the desecration of holy Quran incidents, ARY News reported.

As per details, Bilawal Bhutto reiterated in his farewell address at foreign office, that Pakistan’s stance over its relations with India was very clear and consistent; unless it revoked its illegal and unilateral acts of 2019 over occupied Jammu and Kashmir, there was no space to meaningful engagement.

He said that India had not only violated international laws and the United Nations Security Council resolutions but also the bilateral agreements between the two countries.

“There is no space left for Pakistan to meaningfully engage with India,” the foreign minister maintained while addressing a presser to highlight the achievement of the ministry of foreign affairs during his tenure.

About sending Pakistan national team to contest in the ICC Cricket World Cup in India, he said contrary to India’s indulgence in immature acts, Pakistan always maintained that there should be difference between politics and sports, adding that they still had security concerns as the security of the national team could not be compromised; and they had conveyed such to the ICC and India.

Foreign Minister Bilawal said that after fall of Kabul, there was a sharp spike in terrorist incidents in Pakistan and stressed that cooperation and engagement between the two countries was necessary to tackle the issue.

The foreign minister expressed the satisfaction that at the diplomatic front, they moved ahead with ‘damage control’ during the last 16 months.

He regretted that the PTI’s government had caused damage to the country’s relations with world capitals and strongly disagreed with the gesture of former prime minister waving a letter sent by the EU in public.

Bilawal said that diplomatic affairs of the country should be run for the benefits of the people of the country, emphasising “consistency and continuity’ in the foreign policy.

To a question, he replied that he had already maintained during previous government’s tenure that they should not expect anything from Modi, who was a butcher of Gujarat and was quite different from Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

About Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said that Pakistan wanted a peaceful resolution of the issue.

He said they did not want to see relationship with Russia through the prism of the ongoing issue, as they wanted to collectively unlock the immense potential between the two countries. They prayed that diplomacy and peace would prevail, he added.

Removal from FATF’s grey list and hosting of Geneva conference were some of the conspicuous achievements for f Pakistan, he added.

Visa facilitation, cooperation in science and technology resulted in opening of doors for Pakistanis seeking jobs abroad, he said, adding they had corrected the diplomatic course.

Kashmir issue had been a consistent component of the foreign policy, he said and enumerated Pakistan’s efforts to address issues of Islamophobia and desecration of the Holy Quran, leading to adoption of resolution by the UN Human Rights Council.