‘Non-serious Trump tweet is regrettable’
islamabad — Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said a non-serious twitter post by US President Donald Trump about Pakistan was highly regrettable.
“The head of any state should keep in mind the international and diplomatic norms while talking about another state,” he said while addressing a crowded Press conference here at the Punjab House.
He said the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) should not be given the name of any aid or charity, rather Pakistan’s great sacrifices in war against terrorism should be acknowledged.
“We do not need such a fund,” he said, urging Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to devise a strategy to reduce Pakistan’s dependency on foreign aid so that its self-respect could not be hurt.
He highlighted the unmatched sacrifices of the country’s armed forces, law enforcement agencies, people and children rendered in the war against terrorism and regretted that those were not being acknowledged by the international community. “We must also ponder that why our narrative is not being accepted by the international community despite rendering great human and financial sacrifices,” he said, adding there was a dire need of self-accountability and coming out of self-deception to secure future of the country. After the 9/11 incident, he said, no country in the washington/islamabad — The United States has accused Pakistan of playing a “double game” on fighting terrorism and warned Islamabad it would have to do more if it wanted to maintain US aid.
“They can do more to stop terrorism and we want them to do that,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.
The White House said it would likely announce actions to pressure Pakistan within days, shortly after US Ambassador Nikki Haley said at the United Nations that Washington would withhold $255 million in assistance to Pakistan.
“There are clear reasons for this. Pakistan has played a double game for years,” Haley told reporters. “They work with us at times, and they also harbour the terrorists that attack our troops in Afghanistan.
“That game is not acceptable to this administration. We expect far world except Pakistan suffered such huge human and financial losses in the war on terror. “We have been engaged in a war, which was not basically ours.”
“The American president must realise that after coming into power in 2013, the PML-N government reiterated its resolve to fight terrorism and initiated the military operation Zarb-e-Azb, which resultantly broke the backbone of more cooperation from Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.”
Pakistani UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said in a statement that her country’s fight against terrorism was not based on any consideration of aid but on national terrorists, while their remnants would be cleared soon,” he said.
Had there been any democratic regime back in 2001, it would have not bowed down before threats as was done by a dictator who was ruling the country at that time, he said.
Talking about the country’s prevailing political environment, Sharif stressed the need for holding the upcoming general election, interests and principles. “We have contributed and sacrificed the most in fighting international terrorism and carried out the largest counter-terror operation anywhere in the world,” Lodhi said. “We can review our cooperation if it is not appreciated.”
Relations with Washington have been strained for years over Islamabad’s alleged support for Haqqani network militants, who are allied with the Afghan Taleban.
Meanwhile, Pakistan fired back at Trump’s tweet “completely incomprehensible.”
A statement issued after a National Security Committee meeting, which was attended by Pakistan’s prime minister and the powerful army chief of staff, said the US was scapegoating Pakistan for its own failure to bring peace to Afghanistan after 16 years of war. — Reuters, AP scheduled to be held this year, in a free, fair and transparent manner to strengthen democracy and put the county on the real path of progress and prosperity. “Give the democracy a chance to flourish,” he said and warned that any misadventure to steal the mandate of people would prove counterproductive and drag the country away from progress and prosperity. — APP