Regional cooperation a must to cope with COVID-19, Pakistan tells India

MULTAN – Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi Sunday said Pakistan wanted peace realizing that the regional cooperation was a must to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic that had engulfed the whole world.

“Being a foreign minister of Pakistan, I want to give message to Indian government. We want peace. We are cognizant that it required regional cooperation to cope with coronavirus pandemic. We have requested them to go for cooperation”, the foreign minister said talking to media after offering Eid-ul-Fitr prayer at Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria shrine in Multan.

But, he added, if India misconstrued Pakistan’s restraint as weakness, it would be their folly. If they made any aggression towards Pakistan, they would be given a befitting response, he added.

While strictly adhering to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) of social distancing, the foreign minister joined hundreds of the worshippers at the mosque and prayed for safety and security of the country particularly from the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

The foreign minister prayed for peace of the departed souls who died of the pandemic and for salvation of the Kashmiri Muslims facing the aggravated Indian oppression.

Terming the announcement for ceasefire by Afghan Taliban and the government a “golden opportunity for regional peace” the foreign minister wished durability of understanding so that the Afghan people could decide their future through intra-Afghan negotiations.

He also prayed for the security personnel who had sacrificed their lives to safeguard the country, and the medical staff who were striving to protect the countrymen from the pandemic risking their own lives.

He prayed for early recovery of seven doctors of Multan’s Nishtar Hospital and few parliamentarians who had been tested positive and for peace of the victims of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) plane crash.

He told media that having enhanced its capacity to manufacture Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs), Pakistan had donated few supplies to United States as well as some other countries.

The foreign minister apprised media about his telephonic interactions with the secretary generals of the United Nations and Organization of Islamic Cooperation wherein he apprised them about possible false flag operation by India to divert world attention from its oppression in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

After Eid, he said, he would summon a high level meeting of Foreign Office, Kashmir committee, relevant ministries and other relevant departments to deliberate on the Indian strategy.