ISLAMABAD - Foreign Office Thursday said that Pakistan is a sovereign country and is free to have relations with any state in the world.
Speaking at a weekly news briefing here, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan desired friendly ties with all the counties. Questioned about the US State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet’s recent statement regarding the Pakistan-China relations, the spokesperson said Pakistan being a sovereign state exercises the right to choose its economic partners from around the globe on mutually beneficially basis.
Baloch said Pakistan considers China as an all-weather strategic cooperative partner. “China has been a consistent, generous and steadfast friend that has stood by Pakistan for the last several decades. She said Pakistani nation is proud of its friendship with China which has always come to Pakistan’s assistance when was needed,” she added. The spokesperson said Pakistan was concerned over the security of Palestinian people.
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Commenting on the recent violence in the West Bank where eleven Palestinians people have been martyred by Israeli forces, said: “we condemn all acts that lead to the killing of innocent civilians including in occupied Palestinian territories.”
The spokesperson said Pakistan’s position on Palestine was consistent. “We support a comprehensive approach for resolution of Palestinian question,” she said. Baloch said Pakistan had maintained that there should be a total withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories including Jerusalem.
“There should be restitution of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to exercise self-determination and sovereignty in an independent and viable State of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al Sharif as its capital,” she said.
She called for a just resolution to the plight of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the UN General Assembly resolution. The spokesperson said Pakistan remains concerned at the ongoing human rights violations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. She said Pakistan will continue to raise its voice against grave human rights violations in the occupied territory.
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She said we will also continue to “extend political, diplomatic and moral support to our Kashmiri brothers and sisters for the just and peaceful settlement of Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions.”
To a question, the spokesperson said Pakistan and Afghanistan had been discussing all aspects of cooperation to confront the terrorism that emanates from Kabul.
About the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Baloch said Pakistan believes that peace and dialogue are important in resolution of this conflict as well.
The spokesperson said Pakistan will host a one day conference on ‘Women in Islam: Understanding the Rights and Identity of Women in the Islamic World’ on the 8th of next month at the UN headquarters on the sidelines of the 67th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.