ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday assured the secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that Islamabad was ready to work with member states to make the inter-government body “stronger, effective” as it seeks to forge deeper economic and trade ties with them.
Pakistan hosted the SCO’s Council of Heads of Government summit from Oct. 15-16 this week in Islamabad where regional leaders representing China, India, Russia, Iran and other countries arrived.
The SCO is a key Eurasian political, economic and security alliance founded in 2001 by China, Russia and several Central Asian nations. Over the years, it has expanded to include countries like India and Pakistan, making it a significant regional bloc.
Sharif received Zhang Ming, SCO’s secretary-general, who was in the Pakistani capital for the summit. The Pakistani premier thanked Ming for his support in conducting the regional summit.
“He [Sharif] stressed that Pakistan stood ready to work with SCO Member States so as to make the organization more effective and stronger,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
He reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to the SCO’s charter, adding that Pakistan would continue to work wholeheartedly to promote SCO’s development priorities for the benefit of its member states and the wider region.
“Mr. Ming warmly felicitated the Prime Minister on the successful organization of the SCO CHG Meeting and its positive outcome,” Sharif’s office said.
“He appreciated Pakistan’s constructive contributions to SCO’s work and activities across all domains and expressed satisfaction over Pakistan’s leadership role as SCO CHG chair.”
PAKISTAN, MONGOLIA TO FORM MINISTERIAL COMMISSION
Separately, Sharif met his Mongolian counterpart Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene where the two leaders spoke about bilateral ties between their countries.
Sharif suggested the two countries mark 2025 as the year of Pakistan-Mongolia friendship to enhance their bilateral relationship.
“Both leaders agreed on forming a Joint Ministerial Commission to enhance cooperation in trade, tourism, agriculture and mining sectors,” the PMO said.
“Establishment of an inter-parliamentary union was also agreed in the meeting to expand the parliamentary relations between the two countries,” it added.
Pakistan says ready to work with SCO members to make organization ‘stronger, effective’
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Pakistan says ready to work with SCO members to make organization ‘stronger, effective’
- PM Shehbaz Sharif meets SCO secretary-general Zhang Ming to discuss recently held summit in Pakistan’s capital
- Reaffirms Islamabad’s commitment to SCO’s charter, says Islamabad will promote development priorities for members
Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military
- Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
- PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”
Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”
The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference.
“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”
Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him.
“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”
‘NATURAL OUTCOME’
Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said.
“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations.
The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging.
The army and the government both deny his allegations.
