To ensure presence of Indian govt at Kartarpur, Imran Khan bowled a googly says Pak FM
Islamabad, Nov 29: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said Prime Minister Imran Khan bowled a "googly" to ensure Indian government's presence at the groundbreaking ceremony of the landmark Kartarpur Corridor.
Qureshi's remarks came a day after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj categorically ruled out the possibility of resumption of bilateral talks with Pakistan unless it stops cross-border terror activities against India.
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Pakistan earlier invited Swaraj for Wednesday's ceremony. But Swaraj said she was unable to travel to Kartarpur Sahib due to prior commitments. India was represented at the events by Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri.
Qureshi said that opening of the Kartarpur border was a "big achievement" of the cricketer-turned-politician's government, which on Thursday completed the first 100 days in office after winning the general elections.
"Imran delivered a googly and India sent two ministers to Pakistan," he said, using a cricketing term.
A googly is a leg-spinner's prize weapon, which is almost undetectable.
Qureshi noted that it was the same Indian government that had said it will not engage with Pakistan.
He said a meeting with Indian counterpart Swaraj was fixed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last year but it was cancelled by India.
He also said that India refused to engage even after the letter written by Prime Minister Khan to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to resume bilateral talks.
He was referring to the letter Khan wrote in September, seeking to seeking to re-start the bilateral talks.
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Nearly 24 hours after agreeing to have a bilateral meeting between Swaraj and Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA, India called off the meeting, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps "glorifying" Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.
"Tensions with India are not hidden from anyone but our approach is people-centric and we need peace for people to prosper. We need peace in order to speed up the development of our country," Qureshi said.
He recalled that "Imran Khan said he will take two steps for every one step India takes." Qureshi also condemned the violence in Kashmir and said that Pakistan always stood with people of Kashmir and would always stand by them.
"This is one issue on which all political parties are united," he said.
Speaking on Pakistan's "achievements" in international relations during the first 100 days of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, Qureshi said that Pakistan's case at global level was not heard before something he said his ministry was trying to address.
"Our neighbour wanted to weaken Pakistan," he said, in an apparent reference to India.
"We
could
not
present
Pakistan's
case
before
the
world
because
we
did
not
have
a
lawyer.
The
foreign
minister
said
that
the
first
thing
on
the
government's
foreign
agenda
was
to
have
better
relations
with
Afghanistan.
The Pakistan foreign minister said the new government has now carved out from scratch the country's foreign policy priorities.
He
said
government
was
committed
to
have
peaceful
ties
with
all
neighbours.
He
said
that
Pakistan
had
set
up
institutional
framework
with
Afghanistan
to
settle
all
problems.
Qureshi
said
that
Pakistan
gave
a
lot
of
importance
to
relations
with
Iran
and
would
not
let
the
ties
with
Tehran
to
deteriorate.
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He said relations with China were solid and poised to further deepen as the two sides have given new direction to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Qureshi also said Pakistan wanted to strengthen ties with the United States, which has been pressing Islamabad to do more to curb terrorism.