Says Pakistan wants to maintain ties with US without compromising relations with China
\nTLTP
\nISLAMABAD
\nInterior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that fencing of the Pakistan-Iran border would be finished by June this year, while the fencing of the Pakistani border with Afghanistan is 89 percent complete.
\nTalking to a foreign news agency, Rashid said that fencing of the Pakistan-Iran border is 38 percent complete. \u201cInfiltration, smuggling and many illegal activities are taking place without any check on the Pakistani borders with Afghanistan and Iran,\u201d said the minister. \u201cNow, after fencing, these things will be controlled.\u201d
\nHe said the government is committed to stopping smuggling from Iran at all costs. \u201cWe are going to stop and close all the petrol pumps which are using smuggled oil,\u201d the interior minister said. \u201cOne month back we started a drive against it and there is a very good response, but it will take some time to stop this,\u201d he added.
\nResponding to media reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved the setting up of a National Intelligence Coordination Committee to oversee all intelligence agencies, with the head of the ISI spy agency as its chief, Ahmed said: \u201cThere is not such an authority in which all the agencies are merged or working under it. All [intelligence] agencies are working on their own and giving their own performance reports and actions,\u201d he added.
\nOn Pakistan\u2019s relations with Saudi Arabia, Ahmed said the relationship between the two countries have always remained strong and he would soon visit the kingdom to enhance cooperation in counterterrorism and other fields related to internal security.
\n\u201cSaudis and Pakistanis are brothers and sisters and we have very close contacts. Our Armed Forces have very close contacts with each other while Prime Minister Imran Khan has also established very close contact with the Saudi leadership,\u201d the minister said.
\nHe was hopeful Pakistan\u2019s relations with the United States would improve under the new administration of Joe Biden but said Pakistan would aim to maintain ties with the US without compromising its close relations with long time ally, China, which has given Islamabad over $60 billion for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor of energy and infrastructure projects.
\n\u201cChina is also close to our heart and we can\u2019t lose the respect of China in any circumstances,\u201d Ahmed said, \u201cEspecially CPEC which is one of the great services for the development of Pakistan (from China).\u201d
\nCommenting on an alliance of opposition parties, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which is holding nationwide rallies asking for PM Khan to step down, the minister said the government would not create a hurdle in PDM\u2019s decision to march to the capital next month but would act if they created a \u201claw and order situation.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are not under pressure and they can come to Islamabad peacefully and can stage a sit-in,\u201d Ahmed said. \u201cWe will not create any hurdle but if there is a law and order situation, then the government can act.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Says Pakistan wants to maintain ties with US without compromising relations with China TLTP ISLAMABAD Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that fencing of the Pakistan-Iran border would be finished by June this year, while the fencing of the Pakistani border with Afghanistan is 89 percent complete. Talking to a foreign news agency, Rashid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-175150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n