ISLAMABAD: On Friday, the Foreign Office avoided answering questions on Pakistan’s refusal to join the Democracy Summit in the United States, referring questions to a statement released earlier in this respect, stating “it was a considered decision.”
Several questions were addressed during the weekly press briefing, but the FO spokesman chose not to directly react, instead of saying, “With reference to the Summit for Democracy, I would like to remark that our released statement speaks for itself, and I would like you to refer to it.” It was a well-thought-out decision.”
“Our statement is quite clear and speaks for itself. Some of the opinions and impressions that I gather from your questions, I think, are unfounded,” he said.
He was asked whether the decision not to attend was because President Joe Biden had chosen not to make any direct contact with Prime Minister Imran Khan even after nearly a year in office or if it was because China was not invited and Taiwan received an invite, and Pakistan wanted to show solidarity with Beijing.
Another question was whether Pakistan had any objections to the summit’s agenda.
In a similar event, Lijian Zhao, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Office, praised Islamabad for declining Biden’s invitation to the conference.
“Pakistan has rejected to attend the conference on democracy. A true steel brother! “He had tweeted the FO statement while doing so.
On Wednesday, the FO had issued a statement announcing that it would not attend the Summit of Democracy but noted that the decline to attend the moot did not reflect on bilateral relations.
During the weekly briefing, the FO spokesperson was also asked to expand on the comment about the prime minister has said that Pakistan is not part of any bloc, to which he responded, “We are not part of any bloc, let me recall that this has been a consistent and longstanding policy of Pakistan, we have always maintained this principled opposition to the concept of bloc politics.”
Pakistani students’ issue
As Pakistani students keep protesting the Chinese government’s decision not to allow them to return to continue their studies, the spokesman said that they were engaged with China on this issue.
“There is a constant dialogue and engagement with the Chinese side on this issue both in Islamabad and Beijing. We are conscious of the difficult position the students find themselves in due to the Covid situation. We continue to follow this matter with a view to addressing it at the earliest, and we know the high priority attached to it by the Chinese authorities as well,” he said.
TTP agreement
To another query, the spokesperson said he had not seen the peace agreement signed by the TTP and the government was in no position to comment on this.
When asked if the condolences for the Indian CDS who had passed away in a heli crash were sent on the state level or institutional level, the spokesperson responded: “I don’t see a need for interpretation. You have seen the condolences expressed by top military leadership on the tragic incident”.
Western boycott of Beijing Olympics
Despite the fact that a number of prominent world cities have diplomatically boycotted the Beijing Winter Olympics, a representative for the Beijing Winter Olympics remarked in response to a question, “The Olympic Spirit espouses equitable participation in the events.”
Pakistan, as in previous Olympics events, wants to see the Olympic Spirit perpetuated in a sporting manner.
Pakistan likewise opposes any type of politicisation of sports and expects that in Beijing, all nations will come together to allow their athletes to compete against the best and demonstrate their abilities.”
