Want to work together with opposition on national issues: FM Qureshi

ISLAMABAD : Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said display of maturity by the government and the opposition is commendable, and expressed that the government wants to work together with the opposition on national issues. The foreign minister penned down letters to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and thanked them for attending the joint session of the parliament. Shah Mahmood Qureshi wrote, “I have praised the positive attitude of the opposition in the parliament as well. It is proven that all parties are on same page for protection of the national interests. According to a press release on Tuesday, the foreign minister said that the opposition parties deserved appreciation along with the treasury benches for showing maturity during the joint session of parliament, called over Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Kashmir issue. “I have already appreciated the positive attitude of the Opposition on the floor of the House,” he added. For the sake of the national interests, Qureshi further said the ruling and opposition parties once again proved that they had unanimous stance. He said the parliament had unanimously rejected Indian government’s unilateral and illegal steps of August 5, 2019 over Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir through a resolution backed by all parties. Qureshi said that they were willing to take the opposition on board on all the important national issues including Kashmir and would be always according high importance to their actionable suggestions. In his letters to both leaders of PML-N and PPP, the foreign minister said that he would be waiting for their positive proposals for formulating future strategy over the Kashmir policy. For the last one year, the government had been actively raising the gross human rights violations in IIOJK at all global fora, he said, adding the United Nations Security Council had debated the Kashmir issue thrice during last one year. The foreign minister said after a lapse of 55 years, the Kashmir issue was discussed by the UNSC.