Nawaz to take up LoC, border violations by India with US leadership

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will take up with the US leadership serious violations of human rights in the Occupied Kashmir and blatant defiance of the ceasefire at the LoC and the Working Boundary during his upcoming visit.

He will also highlight Pakistan’s improved face in various sectors at home and abroad during his meetings with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and others.

Pakistan has no plan to hand over dossiers on Indian involvement in spreading and supporting terrorism on its soil during the visit of the prime minister but Washington would be briefed about the acrimonious and belligerent attitude of the Indians.

Four heavyweights of the federal cabinet — Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Senator Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif — will be part of the premier’s entourage besides Adviser to the PM on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Special Assistant to the PM for Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi.

Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Ms Maryam Nawaz’s inclusion in the delegation and her association with the US First Lady Michelle Obama in a worldwide initiative for dissemination of education has become a new element and component of ties between the two countries.

Ms. Maryam Nawaz has been invited by the US first lady to join her for one-on-one talks on the 22nd of this month — the day when Nawaz and Obama will have an interaction in another room in the White House in Washington DC.

The two countries have declared it as an ‘Official Visit’ which will be the second in one year.

The intensification of strategic ties between the two countries and special emphasis on energy cooperation would be characteristics of the bilateral talks besides strengthening the political relations further.

The initiatives of Nawaz administration for peaceful neighborhood with special reference to its ties with India would figure significantly in the course of discussions.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be leaving for the visit on the 19th of this month. The schedule and other agenda items were thoroughly discussed in a high echelon meeting at the PM House on Thursday and it was chaired by the prime minister and attended by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Senator Ishaq Dar, Sartaj Aziz, Syed Tariq Fatemi, Secretary to the PM Haji Javaid Aslam, Additional Secretary to the PM Fawad Hasan Fawad, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and other senior officials.

Well-placed sources in the PM House told The News that the overnight stay in the US capital would provide an ample opportunity to the visiting delegation to interact with the top people from the US administration including Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, Secretary of Defence Ashton B Carter, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.

The meeting discussed the upcoming visit of the prime minister to the US. The visit will also take Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Capitol Hill.

The Thursday’s meeting focused on issues of mutual interest between Pakistan and the US.

The credentials of Pakistan as a civilian and democratic country have improved remarkably. It has shown impressive results on security, energy and economic fronts. The mutual relations of the two countries have been experiencing a lot many upheavals but are stable during the last two years and the leadership of the two countries would discuss to ensure how it should sustain in the longer run as the element of suspicion has been eroded to a great extent.

US investors have already assured Pakistan of huge investment for construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Dassu dams.

The six components of strategic dialogue are being strengthened without any addition in it. Of course, defence cooperation would be prominent.

According to the PM House, the prime minister said the visit would help in promoting the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The prime minister expressed the hope that the visit will also help in providing Pakistan with an opportunity to highlight the matchless sacrifices and huge losses in the war on terror.

The sources pointed out that Prime Minister Nawaz will have a stopover in London on his way to Washington. He has dropped the proposal of visiting Chicago for concentrating on his engagements in the US capital.—Published in The News