US-India strategic alliance won't change over Pakistan's wishes: Qureshi

KARACHI/NEW YORK: Pakistan's foreign minister said Wednesday night the strategic alliance between the United States and India would not change just because Islamabad wishes so.

Speaking exclusively to Geo News on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi commented on how it was only the US, out of the two parties, that benefitted whenever it moved ahead in partnership with Pakistan.

"We now need to step forward keeping in consideration our national interest," he said.

Qureshi also stressed that India cancelled at the eleventh hour the meeting between its own and Pakistan's foreign ministers due to its internal matters.

Separately, the foreign minister met top officials from Afghanistan, China, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the European Union (EU). He had agreed on a meeting with Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, in December, he said, adding that representatives from Kabul, Beijing, and Islamabad would meet to ponder and resolve regional issues.

With regard to Pakistan's ties with the United Kingdom, Qureshi said he met with Jeremy Hunt, the British secretary of state for foreign affairs, wherein they focused on expanding the bilateral relations to a multipurpose partnership.

On the sidelines of the UNGA, Pakistan's foreign minister met Federica Mogherini, the high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, as well as Adel al-Jubeir and Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the respective foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Oman. With them, Qureshi discussed bolstering two-way trade and investment.

Earlier, on the other hand, Qureshi had addressed a session of the Organisation of Islamic Council's (OIC) Contact Group, wherein he highlighted the first-ever UN report — released in June — on Kashmir rights violations.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has recommended constituting a commission to probe rights abuses, he said, demanding that India allow the OIC’s permanent human rights commission to visit occupied Kashmir for an inquiry.

If India is not hiding anything, he commented, then it should support setting up the inquiry commission.