ANKARA – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed that the US and the West were not conspiring against the multi-billion dollars CPEC, but added that some regional powers were unhappy with the project.
Talking to newsmen in Ankara on the final day of his three-day official visit, he shrugged off any conspiracy hatched by western powers and claimed some of them were keen to join the project.
‘Turkish participation in the CPEC along with Central Asian states would give a boost to the project’ said Nawaz Sharif.
He expressed that his future vision was to establish linkages with the Central Asian republics from Khunjarab to China to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
Nawaz Sharif claimed that his visit to Turkey was significant in strengthening bilateral ties and economic prospects.
Regarding Pak-Afghan relations, he opined that Pakistan was helping Afghanistan in bringing stability and peace and was still prepared to do the same.
‘Peaceful Afghanistan was in the interest of Pakistan and the region’ he reiterated.
The premier maintained that Pakistan believed in decency and never responded to Afghan allegations in the same coin and refrained from using obnoxious language about it.
He also took a sarcastic jibe at political rival Imran khan and said ‘We even didn’t respond to Imran Khan in the language he talks.’
To a question about irresponsible reporting by multiple media outlets about the Gulberg blast hoax in Lahore, the prime minister said it was extremely positive that discussions against such irresponsible reporting had started from within the media, as self-accountability was the best way forward.
Nawaz Sharif said a decision regarding the revival of military courts would be taken soon as a consensus was reached.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was on a three-day official visit to Turkey where he co-chaired a meeting of 5th Session of the Pakistan-Turkey High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
