News @ 3 - 3rd January 2018

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday billed US President Donald Trump’s recent tirade against Pakistan as mockery of the sacrifices Pakistan has rendered in combating terrorism.

Addressing an event here, the interior minister said, “Pakistan has given enormous sacrifices in the fight against terrorism. No one has right to call us liar.”

He said Pakistan is a sovereign country and will not give in to pressure and threats. It will take its decision independently keeping in view its national interests, he added.

“No country other than Pakistan has higher stakes in peace in Afghanistan,” Iqbal said.

If peace in the war-torn country will be seen through the prism of India, then it might remain a dream, he added, advising the US administration to see peace from Pakistan’s view point.”

Iqbal said Islamabad was making every possible effort to help restore peace in the neighbhouring country.

He said Pakistan was paying the price of the scorn that world powers strewed in the region to defeat the Soviet Union. They left poverty and weapons in the region without sparing a thought about its future.

The minister said the government will implement the National Action Plan (NAP) and establish peace in Pakistan at any cost.

He said Pakistan facing challenges on external and internal fronts.