Pakistan is no more reliant on the United States for military requirements and will ‘reach out to other sources if one source dries up,’ PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said in an interview with the Arab News on Sunday.
“If one source dries up, we have no option but to go to another source. It may cost more, it may consume more resources, but we have to fight that war, and that’s what we emphasised to all the people that we met,” the PM was quoted as saying.
“We have major US weapons systems in our military, but we’ve also diversified. We have Chinese and European systems. Recently, for the first time we inducted Russian attack helicopters,” he added.
Stressing his stance on Pakistan’s fight against terrorism, Abbasi said that the country’s efforts need to be recognized globally. “Any sanctions or restraints […] put on our systems only degrades our efforts to fight terror, and it affects the whole equation in this region.”
On being inquired about his “unscheduled” meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), he said that they proved to be “very constructive” and were held on the US administration’s request.
Since Trump’s new policy was announced on August 21, Abbasi’s meeting with VP Pence was the highest contact between the two sides. The then planned bilateral interactions were postponed after the policy announcement.
“Whatever concerns they [the US] have, we’ve shown our willingness to address those concerns,” Abbasi said after his meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence.
“We can categorically state that we don’t provide any sanctuaries to anybody,” he said, refuting repeatedly dismissing US allegations of terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan. “Today we have a common objective: to destroy terror and bring peace to Afghanistan.”
Stance on India
“We don’t believe that injecting India into the Pakistan-US relationship will help resolve anything, especially in Afghanistan, where we don’t see any role for India.”
“The reality today is that much of the area bordering Pakistan is controlled by the Taliban,”
“Whatever happens in Afghanistan, affects us. Whatever happens here, affects them,” Abbasi said.
Stance on IMF
While speaking to the Arab News on the economic challenges that Pakistan is facing, the PM said that the country will neither reach out to the International Monetary Fund, nor devalue its currency.
He admitted that declining reserves is a serious issue but that Pakistan will look to solve it within its own resources. “I don’t think the IMF program is something that we intend to pursue.”
Abbasi also conceded to the fact that falling exports and rising imports were widening the current account deficit but, he said, falling exports is a worldwide trend while the rise in imports “actually signals growth in the economy because the people have more money to spend on luxury goods.”
Pinning economic hopes on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Abbasi said that the project will serve Pakistan’s infrastructure as “the basic ingredient” of any economy.
“It’s really a game-changer and it will have multiplier effect. It will attract more investment, it will attract more projects. So, it’s really something that we feel will pay very high dividends for Pakistan.”
Rejecting suggestions that large investments would give China undue influence in Pakistan, Abbasi said that it was a “two-way relationship.”
“Pakistan’s economy has the capacity to repay those loans. They have been targeted very carefully and the economic dividends will pay for more than the loans are worth. So, it’s an economic relationship in that sense.”
