Pakistan not isolated, internationally active: Hina Khar

Says ‘certain unfriendly country’ wants Pakistan out of BRICS, no doubt about China’s intentions

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday emphasized that Pakistan was not isolated and that its foreign policy was moving in the right direction with all the diplomatic missions working on all fronts.

Winding up the debate on demands for Grants of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the next fiscal year and responding to criticism by Dr Ramesh Kumar in the National Assembly, she said Pakistan was playing a much bigger role on the international front than its size in terms of GDP. “We are very happy to state that over the years, Pakistani diplomats, Pakistani statesmen and Pakistani politicians have contributed towards [effectiveness of] a policy in the multilateral institutions,” she added.

With respect to BRICS, she said there was absolutely no denying the fact that China was the most effective strategic partner of Pakistan. “China is part of BRICS, which means Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, where all the member countries have to work to cooperate with each other,” she noted. If a certain unfriendly country, she said, wanted to block Pakistan and succeeded in doing so, then “how can we doubt China’s intention”. The Chinese government had also issued a statement on this issue, which said that China wanted Pakistan to be part of the alliance and recognized its role in global development.

Khar said the foreign policy of a country is useful if it served the interests of its people. “We are making sure that the government works for Pakistan, not for any individual and party,” she added. Khar observed that in BRICS “we don’t have a role but we still have core roles in many other international forums such as Heart of Asia (Istanbul Process)”. Speaking about the case of Aafia Siddiqui, the minister said as far as fighting her case was concerned, Pakistan was contesting it at every level and that the country was consistent in its policy across the governments to fight in favor of the case.