Says PM to attend condolence ceremony for martyred Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tahir Hussain Andrabi. PHOTO: Radio Pakistan
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will pay official visits to Iran and Türkiye from July 3 to 5.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz will first travel to Iran to participate in the funeral ceremony of the late Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and will convey his condolences on behalf of the people and Government of Pakistan to the Iranian leadership and bereaved families, while reaffirming solidarity with the brotherly nation in its hour of deep grief,” Andrabi said during a weekly press conference in Islamabad.
The prime minister will also travel to Türkiye at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the spokesperson said.
“The prime minister will hold discussions on the entire spectrum of bilateral relationship with special focus on giving impetus to bilateral trade and investment cooperation between the two brotherly countries. The leaders’ meeting will also reflect on issues related to regional peace and security,” he said.
Andrabi further added that during his stay in Istanbul, the Prime Minister will also address a business conference organized by Pakistan to highlight Pakistan’s trade and investment potential in priority areas including SEZs, energy, trade, information technology and privatization sectors.
“The conference will bring together prominent Turkish businessmen and investors together with senior officials, dignitaries and other distinguished participants from the business community,” he said.
The spokesperson further said that during the visit, Deputy Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister Ishaq Dar and other cabinet ministers and senior officials would accompany Prime Minister Shehbaz.
Pakistan and Qatar spoke yesterday with the negotiator between the United States and Iran in Doha.
Discussing the US-Iran war and the situation in the Gulf region, Andrabi said Pakistan had intensified its diplomatic engagement with key regional and international stakeholders, as well as key interlocutors, to facilitate serious follow-up and implementation of the Iran-US Islamabad MoU, in line with the Pakistan-Qatar joint statement issued in Bergenstock on June 21.
“Pakistan and Qatar engaged yesterday with the relevant parties in Doha and held separate meetings with US and Iranian negotiators in Doha, which culminated last night, in fact, well into the morning,” he said.
The spokesperson also highlighted three specific points about the Doha talks.
“Firstly, positive progress was made on issues related to different aspects of the Islamabad MoU, building on the Lake Lucerne Summit. Secondly, the parties agreed to continue discussions during the next period and thirdly, the next meeting will be fixed as soon as possible after the funeral procession of the former Iranian Supreme Leader,” he said.
He said Pakistan will continue to play a role of facilitator and mediator in the negotiation process along with Qatar’s partners.
“Foreign Secretary Dar also continued his high-level consultations and telephone conversations, a series of which took place this week with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, China, Bahrain and Iran. He also spoke with the British Foreign Secretary and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,” he said.
Speaking about the seminar on the Indus Waters Treaty, an instrument of regional peace and stability, he said that participants generally asked for the treaty to be respected.
“Participants rejected the weaponization of water and urged disputes to be resolved through established legal and diplomatic mechanisms rather than unilateral actions. They warned that any attempt to deprive the country of its shared water would have profound consequences for regional peace and security,” it said.
Recalling FM Dar’s statement during the IWT seminar, Andrabi said FM Dar had said that the six-decade-old IWT could not be suspended or terminated under any pretext, and that the suspension was, quote, illegal, unilateral and without any basis.
“Pakistan unequivocally rejected this so-called suspension. Let me add that Pakistan also rejects India’s attempt to invoke baseless allegations of terrorism as a pretext to put the IWT on hold and obstruct the legal flow of Pakistani shares from the Indus waters,” he said.
The spokesman said the real problem was not terrorism; the real problem was the growing willingness within the Indian leadership to treat the shared international river system as a strategic asset that can be controlled, withheld or diverted at will.
“This mentality of unilateral appropriation is fundamentally incompatible with the letter and spirit of not only international law, but also the IWT itself. Water is not a tool of coercion or political pressure,” Andrabi said.
He said that “any attempt to deny Pakistan its rightful share of Indus Water constitutes a clear violation of the international legal obligations that India has undertaken and undermines India’s credibility in its commitment to a treaty-based relationship.”
