Speaking to the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy in Washington, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will select the new army chief in accordance with the constitution and the law.
When asked about choosing the next army chief, the foreign minister of Pakistan replied that the prime minister of Pakistan has the power to do so and will make his decision in compliance with the law and the constitution. In Pakistan, he said, all institutions are independent.
In his discussion of the Pakistani flooding, he said that 400,000 acres of standing crops are submerged under water, and 33 million people have been affected.
In order to help Pakistan’s flood victims, he pleaded for the UN and other international financial institutions to step in.
For them to be able to adapt to climate change and slow the future rise in temperature, he suggested that wealthier nations give $100 billion to less developed countries each year.
The need for extra food, tents, mosquito nets and medicines for flood-affected areas should be emphasised, he said, as diseases have been spreading in Pakistan’s flood-affected areas.
In response to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks on asking China for debt forgiveness, Bilawal stated that Pakistan has always received assistance from China, a nation that is friendly to all weather. He stated there are several facets to Pakistan’s relationships with China.
In bringing China and the US closer together, Islamabad has served as a bridge. He noted that dealing with the effects of climate change would be challenging without cooperation between the two nations.
“I also urged our colleagues to engage China on some of the important issues of debt relief and restructuring so that Pakistan can more quickly recover from the floods.” Blinken had stated.
He added that Pakistan wants a peaceful Afghanistan because its neighbours had suffered because of the conflict there.
In response to a question, Bilawal stated that any form of military tyranny is preferable to democracy. “We believe in democratic traditions. And, we will not support undemocratic measures,” he added.
He pointed out that a government that was democratically elected supports press freedom.
