Islamabad
PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif on Friday criticised the remarks of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi about the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and termed it “highly unfortunate and irresponsible”.
In a tweet, the opposition leader lambasted the foreign minister’s statement, saying that it “flies in the face of history and Pakistan’s trusted relationship with the Kingdom.”
“The cavalier attitude by this government is undermining Pakistan’s core relations with friendly countries,” the PML-N stalwart wrote on Twitter.
Criticising the government for isolating Pakistan at the global stage due to its dismal stances on international issues, the PML-N president said that the government has already made similar blunders towards friendly countries in the past.
“Apologise to Saudi Arabia and deal matters wisely and efficiently,” he said, reminding the government about the strategic and historic brotherly relations between the two countries and that Riyadh has always backed Islamabad in its time of need.
Earlier on Wednesday, FM Qureshi, in an unusually assertive way, asked OIC to stop dragging its feet on the convening of a meeting of its Council of Foreign Ministers over the Kashmir conflict.
In another tweet, Shahbaz stated that the PTI government’s policy on occupied Kashmir lacked “direction and substance”.
“There is a need for a serious and candid review of its performance in this most vital area. Why has the government failed to present its case effectively to the international community?”
Shahbaz Sharif said Friday that the world faces a challenge to save unarmed Kashmiris from the Modi regime. “Modi has challenged the world, the way he has aggressively taken over control of Kashmir,” Shehbaz said, while addressing the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. He said Pakistan will have to move past “empty rhetoric” and fight for Kashmir with practical steps.
“We will have to expose India before the world at the diplomatic level,” he added. The PML-N leader said that the abrogation of Article 370 by India on August 5, 2019, was a “tragedy” for the region.
