Islamabad: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry says cancellation of blasphemous caricature contest in Netherlands is a diplomatic success of Pakistan.
Talking to newsmen outside Parliament House in Islamabad today, he said Pakistan responded to the development in close coordination with Turkey and other members of the OIC.
The Minister, however, added that there was a need for a global strategy to tackle such issues and situation. He said only a handful of elements in the West create fissures by raising such issues repeatedly. He said majority of people in the Western world including Government of Netherlands were against blasphemous caricature. He said such controversies injure sentiments of over two billion Muslims and therefore, laws should be framed against such actions.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the Foreign Minister to raise the issue at the UN.
About yesterday’s briefing to the Prime Minister and Federal Ministers at the GHQ, he the army top brass briefed them on important security and defence related issues.
He said policy-making was the privilege of the elected Government but it has to take all stakeholders on board. He said the PTI Government would formulate policies after getting input from other relevant institutions. He said the state policies should enjoy confidence of the masses.
Fawad Chaudhry said Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa also said in categorical terms that like other institutions the Army too was a subordinate institution of the Government and was bound to implement policies framed by the civilian Government.
Fawad Chaudhry said the Prime Minister remarked that the country was confronting major challenges which can only be tackled through a joint strategy.
The Minister said Pakistan wants stability in Afghanistan and normalization of ties with India was important agenda of the Government. He said instead of confrontation the two countries should join hands to fight their common enemy of poverty.
The Information Minister said Saudi Arabia is Pakistan’s strategic partner and we also have close relations with Iran.
About China, he said, the CPEC is reflective of geo-economic partnership of the two countries. He said the Government is committed to completion of CPEC projects. He said there are energy projects worth 22 billion dollars besides infrastructure projects of six billion dollar under the CPEC. He said projects worth 42 billion rupee have yet to be undertaken under CPEC.
The Information Minister said Pakistan also wants to maintain good ties both with the United States and the Russian Federation.
He said the dream of Prime Minister Imran Khan to take people out of poverty line cannot be realized without increased interaction with Central Asian Republics.
