Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday raised the issue of terrorism as a major concern for member states at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and called for “meaningful” engagement with the Afghan Taliban government.
During his official speech on Thursday, the prime minister emphasised the importance of maintaining peace in the region as a precondition for economic development.
“Achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan is a lynchpin to this common objective,” he said. “The international community must meaningfully engage with the Afghan government to meet their genuine economic and development needs.”
As for the Afghan government’s part, he said that they had to “take concrete measures” to ensure its soil is not used for terrorism against any other state.
“Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including state terrorism, must be condemned in clear and unambiguous terms,” PM Shehbaz stressed, adding that there was “no justification for killing innocent people or using the bogey of terrorism” for political point-scoring.
He also touched on the topic of globalisation and highlighted that leaders had the responsibility to rise above partisan geopolitics and join hands to secure a prosperous future for the people.
