LAHORE: Governor Chaudhry Sarwar says the US president’s visit to India ignoring Pakistan in the region as its partner is a diplomatic failure of Islamabad.

“It’s the diplomatic failure of Pakistan that US President Obama visited India and signed all-important civil nuclear deal with it that included some condition even against American and international laws,” Mr Sarwar said at the Tehrik Istehkam-i-Pakistan ceremony on Tuesday.

He said Washington should have given an equal importance to New Delhi and Islamabad while making its policies for the region.

He said Obama should have used the opportunity to normalise tensions in the Indo-Pak relations.

The governor was also critical of the civil bureaucracy, saying they enjoyed each and every perk and privilege in the country but had contributed nothing to the nation in the last 68 years.

He said polite methods to make them realised their duty had failed and now the only option left to teach them was use of “baton”.

Earlier, talking to US Consul General Zack Harkinrider, Mr Sarwar said the UN was not listening to the viewpoint of over 1.5 billion Muslims, who rightfully questioned the world powers why their views were not being heard by the world.

He said it is a matter of concern for the Muslim world that no Muslim country held a permanent status in the UN Security Council.

About the sacrifices Pakistan offered in the war on terror, he said no other country could match its sacrifices with that of Pakistan, where political and military leaders were unanimous on eliminating terrorism and extremism without making any distinction between good and bad Taliban.

Mr Harkinrider welcomed the consensus on terrorism and assured that Washington would always stand by Islamabad for the cause.

The governor also appreciated the Al-Khidmat Foundation for its relief activities at a ceremony held here about the welfare of orphans and destitute children.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play