DAVOS
\nForeign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari says Pakistan\u2019s new leadership, both political and military, will have no talks with terrorist organisations that don\u2019t respect the country\u2019s laws and constitution.
\n\u201cI am confident that if we can work with the Afghan interim government, which has influence over these groups, we will be successful in maintaining our security,\u201d he said in a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post\u2019s senior Associate Editor, Lally Weymouth, in Davos, Switzerland where he is attending the World Economic Forum.
\nThe foreign minister said Imran Khan gave the TTP a place to hide; not only did he release their prisoners who were in Pakistan\u2019s custody, but also engaged in a dialogue with them. \u201cHe (Imran Khan) has always been ideologically sympathetic to their point of view,\u201d he added.
\nTo a question whether Pakistan had hoped that the new Afghan government would act against the TTP, FM Bilawal said, \u201cOur hope, and in fact their agreement, was that their soil would not be used for terrorism. We do hope to cooperate with them to deal with terrorists that are a concern to us.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are both victims of terrorism. I don\u2019t believe that the Afghanistan government will be successful on their own against terrorism, and neither will we be successful on our own against terrorism. We have to work together.\u201d
\nResponding to a question, he agreed that if Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007, had lived, not only Pakistan would have been a different place, but the region would have gone in a different direction.
\n\u201cThe entire purpose of the Pakistan Peoples Party has been for Pakistan to be a democratic country. We believe that democracy is the only way to take on extremism and terrorism.\u201d
\nAlso asked whether he could become prime minister this year, FM Bilawal said he would have to win an election first. \u201cObviously,\u201d he added, \u201cmy party will be hoping that we win. My party has its own manifesto, and given the challenges that Pakistan faces, I believe that our manifesto speaks best to the country\u2019s key problems, such as inflation and unemployment.
\n\u201cHowever, I don\u2019t believe that any one party will be able to solve all of Pakistan\u2019s problems. If [our party wins the most votes], I will seek to form a government as prime minister and have a coalition.\u201d
\nTo a question that Pakistan-India relations are at an all-time low and calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi \u201cthe butcher of Gujarat,\u201d Bilawal said the remarks were in the context of the fact that the Indian foreign minister made some remarks about Pakistan that were inaccurate.
\n\u201cIn my response, I reminded them about the Gujarat riots and the history that surrounds them. But having said that, we don\u2019t want to focus on the past. We want to look to the future. It is in both our countries\u2019 interests \u2014 countries that are both nuclear powers, countries that face incredible challenges as far as poverty and climate are concerned. Our peoples want to live in peace as peaceful neighbors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAVOS Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari says Pakistan\u2019s new leadership, both political and military, will have no talks with terrorist organisations that don\u2019t respect the country\u2019s laws and constitution. \u201cI am confident that if we can work with the Afghan interim government, which has influence over these groups, we will be successful in maintaining our security,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12109],"class_list":{"0":"post-308657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-bilawal-bhutto"},"yoast_head":"\n