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| December 8, 2003 | Monday | Shawwal 13, 1424 |
Islamabad has fulfilled Commonwealth criterion: Maleeha
LONDON, Dec 7: High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Dr Maleeha Lodhi on Sunday said Pakistan should be re-admitted into the Commonwealth as it had fulfilled the Harare Declaration criterion following the restoration of democracy.
In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, she said an organization like the Commonwealth should ascertain as to whether the will of the people in any state was being implemented or not.
“I think the wishes of Pakistanis have been expressed in the elections, and therefore we deserve to be back in the Commonwealth,” said Dr Maleeha.
Pakistan is an influential country which, “everybody agrees, has restored democracy” after the general election witnessed by the neutral observers, the diplomat added.
It is a functioning democracy and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali is an elected leader and the chief executive of the country, she said. “What else is there to do?”
Dr Maleeha said there was a great difference between the situation when Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth and now. She said Islamabad had met the principles of the Harare Declaration and the criterion laid down for a country to be reinstated in the 54-member organization.
“We believe that it was for the Commonwealth to decide to reinstate Pakistan. That is why Pakistan has not made a big issue of this because we think there is no point in trying to break open the door. It is the Commonwealth which should reopen the door to Pakistan,” said Dr Maleeha.
She said that one fact should not be ignored that Pakistan’s traditional adversary sitting in the Council of the Ministerial Action Group of the Commonwealth, which had to take the decision of reinstating the country, was opposing Islamabad’s re-admission into it.
“That traditional adversary has repeatedly been opposing Pakistan’s reinstatement,” said Dr Maleeha.
Asked if she was disappointed, she said “the disappointment should be as much on the part of the Commonwealth because by excluding the second largest member of
the Commonwealth, we believe that the Commonwealth has not improved its stature”.
On the issue of terrorism, she said Pakistan’s role as a pivotal state in war against terror had been acknowledged and lauded by countries across the world.
“We don’t expect to pay back for such things. This is something we do because we believe in it, we do this because this is a moral imperative and it is our legal and international obligation,” said Dr Maleeha.—APP
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