He said the prime minister would attend the condolence ceremony for martyred Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tahir Hussain Andrabi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. PHOTO: Radio Pakistan
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will undertake official visits to Iran and Turkey from July 3 to 5.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz will first visit Iran to participate in the funeral ceremony of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and offer condolences on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan to the Iranian leadership and the bereaved families, while reaffirming solidarity with the brotherly nation in this hour of deep sorrow,” Andrabi said at a weekly press briefing in Islamabad.
The spokesperson said the prime minister would also visit Turkey at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The Prime Minister will hold discussions on the full gamut of bilateral relations, with special emphasis on boosting bilateral trade and investment cooperation between the two brotherly countries. The leaders’ meeting will also mull over issues regarding regional peace and security,” he said.
Andrabi added that during his stay in Istanbul, the Prime Minister would also address a business conference organized by Pakistan to highlight Pakistan’s trade and investment potential in priority areas including SEZs, energy, trade, IT and privatization.
“The conference will bring together leading Turkish businessmen and investors alongside senior officials, dignitaries and other distinguished participants from the business community,” he said.
The spokesperson further said that during the visit, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar along with other ministers and senior officials would accompany Prime Minister Shehbaz.
Pakistan and Qatar held talks with US-Iran negotiator in Doha yesterday
Addressing the US-Iran war and the situation in the Gulf region, Andrabi said Pakistan has intensified its diplomatic engagement with key regional and international stakeholders as well as key interlocutors to facilitate serious follow-up and implementation of the Iran-US Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in line with the Pakistan-Qatar Joint Statement issued in Bergenstock on June 21.
“Pakistan and Qatar spoke to relevant parties in Doha yesterday and held separate meetings with US and Iranian negotiators in Doha, and these culminated late last night, in fact, well into the morning,” he said.
The spokesperson further highlighted three specific points regarding the Doha negotiations.
“First, positive progress was made on issues related to different aspects of the Islamabad MoU, building on the Lake Lucerne Summit. Second, the parties agreed to continue discussions in the coming period and third, the next meeting will be scheduled as soon as possible after the funeral procession of the former Iranian Supreme Leader,” he said.
He said Pakistan would continue to play a facilitator and mediator role in the negotiation process alongside Qatari partners.
“FM Dar also continued its high-level consultations and telephone conversations, a series of which took place this week with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, China, Bahrain and Iran. He also spoke with the British Foreign Secretary and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,” he said.
Speaking about the seminar on the Indus Water Treaty, an instrument of peace and regional stability, he said the participants, in general, called for respect for the treaty.
“Participants rejected militarization of water and called for disputes to be resolved through established legal and diplomatic mechanisms rather than unilateral actions. They warned that any attempt to deprive the country of its shared water would have profound consequences for regional peace and security,” it said.
Recalling FM Dar’s statement at the IWT seminar, Andrabi said FM Dar had said that the six-decade-old IWT could not be suspended or terminated under any circumstances, and that the suspension was quote unquote illegal, unilateral and without any basis.
“Pakistan has unequivocally rejected this so-called suspension. Let me add that Pakistan also rejects India’s attempt to invoke baseless allegations of terrorism as a pretext to suspend the IWT and hamper the lawful flow of Pakistani Indus waters actions,” he said.
The spokesperson said the real problem was not terrorism; the real problem was the growing willingness of Indian leaders to treat the shared international river system as a strategic asset that can be controlled, withheld, or diverted at will.
“This mentality of unilateral appropriation is fundamentally inconsistent with the letter and spirit of not only international law, but also the IWT itself. Water is not a tool of coercion or political pressure,” Andrabi said.
He said “any attempt to deny Pakistan its rightful share of the Indus Water is a blatant violation of India’s international legal obligations and undermines India’s credibility in its commitment to a treaty-based relationship.”
