ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said that the bilateral relations between Pakistan and the United States were entering into renewed friendship, marked by the revival of close engagement and cooperation.
Prime Minister Sharif was addressing a ceremony held at the US Embassy in Islamabad in connection with the celebration of the 249th anniversary of the US Independence.
PM Sharif said that Pakistan and the US enjoyed historic, long-standing and broad-based ties spanning over centuries. The US had supported Pakistan with the construction of dams and other development projects.
The Prime Minister said that the Pakistani nation joined the US people in paying homage to the US founding fathers, whose foresight and wisdom had changed the course of history.
The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, ministers, parliamentarians and members of the diplomatic corps.
The Prime Minister said that their democratic struggle, rule of Constitution and equality equally resonated with the ideals of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan.
Prime Minister Sharif emphasised that the recent four-day armed conflict between Pakistan and India had proven the Pahalgam incident to be a ‘false flag operation.’
“The recent armed conflict between Pakistan and India established the fact that the Pahalgam incident was a false flag operation,” PM Sharif maintained.
The incident, which had been used by India as a justification for aggression, was fundamentally baseless, he argued.
He said that at the Kakul Academy event, he had offered a credible and transparent international probe into the Pahlagam incident so that the world could see and sift through reality and fiction.
The Prime Minister said India should have come out with solid evidence and convinced the world about the occurrence of the incident.
“Our sincere offer was responded with aggression but Pakistan showed a lot of tolerance and a lot of patience,” he said, adding on May 6-7, 33 Pakistanis were martyred in the Indian aggression, including children and elders and scores of others injured.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan in its right to self-defence shot down six Indian planes.
At that time, US friends who were in touch with them, conveyed that Pakistan had responded and it was enough, and that peace and ceasefire should be restored.
He reiterated that Pakistan was always committed to peace and de-escalation but India had attacked them despite the fact that he had offered a very genuine offer for de-escalation.
Appreciating the role of US President Trump in ensuring a ceasefire, the Prime Minister said that he had shown beyond any doubt that he “is a man for peace, he is a man for promoting peace and beneficial business deals.”
“President Trump is a man against escalation and a man against cold and hot war,” he said, adding that Trump believed in humanity to live in tranquillity and contribute towards progress and prosperity not particularly in one region but globally as manifested in his statements, in the last few weeks.
The US president had advised both Pakistan and India to go for trade, and investment and give up war and de-escalate, he added.
The prime minister appreciated Trump’s contribution to bring about a ceasefire in this region.
He also lauded the role of the friendly and brotherly countries of the Middle East that proactively coordinated and supported Trump’s genuine efforts and expressed the hope that it would be a long-lasting ceasefire.
PM Sharif also extended heartfelt felicitations to US President Trump and people of the US, on his behalf and on behalf of the Pakistani nation, on celebrating their Independence Day.
The Prime Minister further said that Pakistan had revived and strengthened its economy and always spoke for peace, progress and prosperity, not only in the region but all over the world.
He expressed the hope that Pakistan-US bilateral trade would grow in volumes in the fields of IT, agriculture, education, health etc as both countries were discussing the tariff issue.
He said that he was really inspired by Trump’s vision for trade, investment and growth.
