LAHORE: The Foreign Minister, Mr Z.A. Bhutto, called upon the Opposition leaders to consider requirements of the national interest and be mindful of the universal support which the country’s foreign policy had earned from all sections of the nation before making any pronouncement on it. In a statement, the Minister said that by attempting to distort either the meaning or the scope of the foreign policy of the country, ill-advised politicians would only expose their insensitivity and “lose whatever respect they might have in the eyes of the people of Pakistan”.

Mr Bhutto said it was deeply regretful that the Opposition has now sought to make the foreign policy of the country an election issue, jeopardising the relations of Pakistan with its neighbours and the Great Powers. The Foreign Minister said that as for the United States being Pakistan’s only friend, “this might have been true of the time before the advent of President Ayub’s regime”. He said the horizon of the foreign policies of the pre-1958 Governments was bounded almost entirely by the SEATO and CENTO, and Pakistan’s relations hardly extended beyond the 10 countries which were members of these defence alliances and the objective of its policies were limited to co-operation with the members of the alliance.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2014