LAHORE: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan is in contact with the leadership in the South Asian region as well as beyond to de-escalate the war-like situation on its eastern border.

Pakistan called upon the United Nations and US congressmen to play their role in defusing tensions with India, while the foreign office would also write to the British House of Commons and European Union parliamentarians in this regard, said Mr Qureshi while speaking at a news conference at Governor House on Saturday.

In an attempt to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan, he said the Saudi foreign minister would visit both the countries. However, he did not comment on reports of delay in his visit to Pakistan.

Accompanied by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, the foreign minister asserted that Pakistan wanted peace in the region and so was the demand of millions of people in India. But some “vested interests” were pushing both nations towards war that would result in nothing but massive destruction, he said.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi says Saudi foreign minister will visit Islamabad, New Delhi to defuse tension

Stating that the Narendra Modi government was trying to use the Pulwama tragedy for political gains as it was losing popularity, the foreign minister said: “There is a large constituency of peace lovers even in India but the Modi government is hell bent to regain popularity with Pakistan bashing narrative and pushing the region into war.”

At least 21 political parties in India too were blaming the Modi government for using Pulwama tragedy for political gains, he added.

Despite all peace initiatives taken by Pakistan, Mr Qureshi regretted that the air forces of both countries were still mobilised. “The world needs to differentiate between the warmongers and those who want peace,” he said, while highlighting the role Pakistan played in a bid to bring the Taliban to negotiating table.

The minister said Pakistan Air Force demonstrated its defence capability by downing intruding IAF jets yet the country wished to establish peace in the region through dialogue. Mature people in India knew that the decision to release the IAF pilot was a goodwill gesture and not Pakistan’s weakness, he said.

The foreign minister said Pakistan had activated its diplomatic front in view of general elections in India “as Modi government’s unpopularity was exposed in five states’ elections. Pakistan knew that it would look for anti-Pakistan activities to regain popularity”. Assessing the situation, he said, Pakistan’s foreign office had started calling Islamabad-based Indian envoys to inform them about the situation that could deteriorate.

“I also talked to the foreign ministers of several countries and explained to them Pakistan’s concerns about some misadventure by the Modi government, which unfolded exactly as expected,” Mr Qureshi said.

Besides the diplomatic front, he said the government called a joint session of the parliament that passed a unanimous resolution telling the Indian parliament that Pakistan believed in peace and looking for a reciprocal response.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan also made it clear in his speech in the parliament that it was easy to begin a war but very difficult to end it. He believed that the Indian parliamentarians, too, would raise their voice for peace.

Responding to a question about Shakirullah who was killed in an Indian jail, the foreign minister expressed his disappointment over the murder in Jaipur jail. “It was India’s responsibility to protect him but the jail authorities failed to fulfil their responsibility,” he said, recalling that Pakistani forces had rescued the IAF pilot from an angry mob and attended to him well.

About the Pulwama dossier sent by India, Mr Qureshi said, “After examining the dossier, the Foreign Office will send a message to its counterpart to come and discuss.”

Lauding Pakistan media’s mature behaviour during the tense situation as “exemplary and responsible”, the foreign minister said the Indian media, however, was adding fuel to the fire and creating frenzy and hype.

About criticism over the government’s decision to abstain from attending the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in protest against the Indian minister’s participation in the event, Mr Qureshi said the joint session of the parliament had “unanimously” decided that Pakistan should not attend the summit as a mark of protest. “Leaders of all parties, including the PPP, had signed the resolution,” he said and asserted that it was a “right decision to skip the summit”.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2019