MULTAN: Foreign Min­i­ster Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Saturday that the country’s institutions had evidence that some people were receiving money from Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) and India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to create disturbances in the country.

Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, he said Pashtuns were faithful to the country and always supported Pakistan. He said tribal people had faced hardship during the 17-year war in Afghanistan.

He said stability in Afghanistan would prove beneficial for Pakistan as well because peace in both countries was interlinked. “Afghanistan has been in a state of war for a long time and it will take more time to bring about peace there,” he added.

Mr Qureshi hit out at India for its propaganda against the Pakistan-China friendship. “China is a time-tested friend of Pakistan and supports its economic development,” he said.

He said India had been trapped in the net which it had weaved for Maulana Masood Azhar. “It has got nothing out of such tactics.”

He said the Bharatiya Janata Party government had failed to provide any evidence to support its allegations of Pakistan’s involvement in the Pulwama attack, adding that the Indians had been exposed before the world.

The foreign minister said that the affairs of the Punjab government were running smoothly. He said Chief Minister Usman Buzdar held meetings with MNAs in Islamabad recently and discussed the new local government system. Another meeting would be held on May 8, he added.

Mr Qureshi said there were no differences among the allies in the government over the local government system. “The government and its allies are on the same page over the new local government system.

He said the prices of petroleum products were discussed in the cabinet meeting and an increase had to be made in keeping with the international market trend.

He said the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue had not been removed on the conditions of the International Monetary Fund, rather they both had been shown the door over their performance.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2019