Pakistan has reaffirmed its readiness to work with the United States as a partner for achieving peace and security in the region but feels that seeing the key South Asian country “through the prism of a third country would compound the situation.”
“Pakistan desires a broader and comprehensive partnership with the United States, beyond security and particularly in the education sector,” Interior Minister currently visiting Washington Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering of academics and experts at Johns Hopkins University.
However, he underscored that “seeing the region from the prism of third country will compound the situation for anyone ,” he said, according to the Pakistani embassy.
Iqbal spoke at the University’s School of Advanced International Studies in a conversation hosted by Vali Nasr, author and dean of the School on the topic “Pakistan’s Efforts in Internal and Regional Security.”
He covered a wide range of areas from Pakistan’s counter-terrorism operations, which had resulted in a marked decline in the incidence of terrorist incidents in the country, to Pakistan’s role in promoting regional peace and stability.
The Minister said Pakistan shared the international community’s concerns about the instability in Afghanistan, which continued to spill over into Pakistan. He said that Pakistan desired peace in Afghanistan and would thus support any effort to effect political reconciliation in Afghanistan, which was the only viable path towards obtaining lasting peace in the region. The Minister said that blaming Pakistan for the security failures in Afghanistan was unhelpful as well as offensive to the people of Pakistan, whose sacrifices in the fight against terrorism were without parallel in the region. The Government has an economic vision for the country, which is based on peace and stability paradigm.
Ahsan Iqbal speaking at SA IS
On the $ 54 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Minister Iqbal, who is also the Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, said CPEC was envisioned as a regional connectivity project by Pakistan and China. CPEC would not only radically overhaul Pakistan’s transport and energy infrastructure, but it would act as a catalyst for regional integration. It should thus be welcomed by all countries that desire to see stability and prosperity in South Asia.
He also spoke about the National Action Plan, the 20-point program developed by the Government of Pakistan to counter terrorism and extremism.
The implementation of the Plan, in conjunction with the sweeping counter-terrorism operations undertaken by the country’s security forces, had been critical to improving the security situation in Pakistan, the Minister said. This was now paying dividends in the form of rising investor interest in Pakistan, including from corporate America.
