islamabadPakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the country’s new leadership, both political and military, will not hold any talks with terrorist organizations that do not respect the country’s laws and constitution.
In an interview with The Washington Post on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bilawal also accused former prime minister Imran Khan’s government of following a policy of appeasement towards the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the state-run of Pakistan, according to the Associated Press.
“I believe that if we can work with the Afghan interim government, which has influence over these groups, we will be able to maintain our security,” he said.
The External Affairs Minister said that Khan provided hiding places to the TTP, not only did he release their prisoners in Pakistan’s custody, but also held talks with them.
“He (Imran Khan) has always been ideologically sympathetic to their point of view,” he said.
Asked whether Pakistan hoped that the new Afghan government would act against the TTP, Bilawal said, “Our hope and in fact their agreement was that their soil would not be used for terrorism.” We look forward to cooperating with them. Deal with the terrorists who are of concern to us.”
He said, “We are both victims of terrorism. I do not believe that the Afghan government will succeed against terrorism on its own, nor will we succeed against terrorism on our own. We have to work together.”
Responding to a question, he agreed that if Benazir Bhutto, his mother, who was assassinated in 2007, had lived, not only would Pakistan have been a different place, but the region would have gone in a different direction.
He said, “The whole aim of the Pakistan People’s Party is to make Pakistan a democratic country. We believe that democracy is the only way to deal with extremism and terrorism.”
Also, when asked whether he can become the Prime Minister this year, Bilawal said that he will have to win the election first.
“Obviously,” he said, “my party will be hoping that we will win. My party has its own manifesto, and looking at the challenges facing Pakistan, I believe that our manifesto addresses the country’s major problems such as Speaks best about inflation and unemployment.” ,
“However, I do not believe that any one party will be able to solve all of Pakistan’s problems. If [our party wins the most votes]I will try to form a government and form a coalition as the prime minister.”