Pakistan on Tuesday chose not to participate in the democracy summit taking place in Washington this week, opting instead to engage with the US on a bilateral basis to encourage democratic values.<\/p>\n
The virtual summit, led by the United States, begins today. China and Turkiye have not been invited to the summit.<\/p>\n
The issue of Pakistan\u2019s participation in the Second Summit for Democracy in the US had been under discussion for some time, particularly because it could potentially upset its \u201call-weather friend\u201d China, which had not been invited to the summit. The decision had been a challenging one, with Pakistan weighing the benefits of participation against the potential risks to its diplomatic relationships.<\/p>\n
China would be closely monitoring these overtures as the US has already annoyed Beijing by inviting Taiwan, China\u2019s longstanding nemesis.<\/p>\n
Like the first democracy summit in 2021, both India and Pakistan were invited to the summit this time. India attended the last meeting and may do so this year as well. Pakistan had opted out of the first summit, reportedly on back of the Biden administration\u2019s refusal to reach out to the then-prime minister Imran Khan.<\/p>\n
Dawn reported that Beijing would want Pakistan to opt out of the \u2018controversial\u2019 moot but doing so will send negative signals to the US at a time when Islamabad wants Washington to be on its side to help secure a deal with the IMF.<\/p>\n
According to the Dawn report, the decision to keep Turkiye out of the summit was another cause of concern for Pakistan.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued today, the Foreign Office said Pakistan values its friendship with the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the Biden Administration, this relationship has widened and expanded substantially. We remain committed to further solidifying this relationship for peace, stability, and prosperity in the region,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Explaining the rationale for not taking a part in the summit, the FO said Pakistan had not been part of the summit process that commenced in 2021 and required countries to make certain national commitments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Summit process is now at an advanced stage and therefore, Pakistan would engage bilaterally with the United States and co-hosts of the Summit to promote and strengthen democratic principles and values and work towards advancing human rights and the fight against corruption,\u201d Pakistan said.<\/p>\n
It, however, thanked the United States and the co-host countries for inviting Pakistan to attend the summit.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a vibrant democracy, the people of Pakistan are deeply committed to democratic values and generations of Pakistanis time after time have upheld their faith in democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms,\u201d the FO added.<\/p>\n
It also underlined that the nation was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Constitution which is the fountain of a democratic polity in Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan on Tuesday chose not to participate in the democracy summit taking place in Washington this week, opting instead to engage with the US on a bilateral basis to encourage democratic values. The virtual summit, led by the United States, begins today. China and Turkiye have not been invited to the summit. The issue of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-322336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n