Pakistan facing 'challenging situation' along eastern and western frontiers: Foreign Minister Qureshi

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that his country was facing a "challenging situation" on the western front with India and on the western front with Afghanistan.

Qureshi made the admission while addressing the Business Leaders Summit in Islamabad. He, however, stressed that the top focus of Prime Minister Imran Khan is to strengthen the country's economy, which is currently in shambles.

"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," PTI quoted Qureshi as saying.

It is to be noted that both India and Afghanistan have repeatedly asked Pakistan to take credible measures in order to curb terrorism and terror groups operating from its territory.

Talking about relations with India, Qureshi said that Imran Khan had shown his willingness to forge good relations with New Delhi after coming to power.

"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 said.

Qureshi added that several steps have been taken by the current government to boost Pakistan's economy and steps have been taken to create investment opportunities in the country. "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," Qureshi noted.

He remarked that PM Imran Khan is committed to increasing bilateral trade with Iran, China and other countries of the region. Qureshi lauded China and said that Beijing is currently a strategic partner of Pakistan and Islamabad is interested in transforming this relationship into an economic partnership.

(with PTI inputs)