Pak facing ‘challenging situation’ along western and eastern frontiers: Qureshi

Islamabad: Pakistan was facing a ‘challenging situation’ on the western frontiers with Afghanistan as well as the eastern front with India, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Wednesday.
Addressing the Business Leaders Summit in Islamabad, he said, the topmost priority of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is to revitalise the cash-strapped country’s economy. But Qureshi said the country faced challenging situation on its western and eastern borders, Geo News reported.
“We have a challenging situation on the western front in Afghanistan and we have a situation brewing on the eastern front. You saw what happened in the last few days post-Pulwama,” he said, referring to the recent tensions between India and Pakistan after the February 14 terror attack carried out by a suicide bomber belonging to the Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
Both India and Afghanistan have blamed Islamabad for not doing enough to curb terrorism and allowing terror groups operating in Pakistan to carry out cross-border attacks.
On relations with India, Qureshi said, Prime Minister Imran Khan had offered a hand of friendship towards New Delhi after assuming office.
“Prime Minister Imran reaffirmed that Islamabad will take two steps if New Delhi takes one. Pakistan wants to solve issues with India through negotiations,” he was quoted as saying by the report.
The foreign minister said that the ruling PTI’s economic team has taken many steps for economic uplift of the country during the first six months of the government.
“The government is taking steps to create investment opportunities in the country and these steps have already paid the dividends,” he said.
“When Prime Minister Khan came into power six months ago he inherited a lot of challenges, including corruption and other socio-economic ills, which had to be overcome.” (PTI)