Severing Ties With France Would Be A Detriment To Pakistan: PM

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that sending the ambassador back would not make any difference to France.

While addressing the nation, the Prime Minister said that severing ties with France would be a detriment to Pakistan. Relations with the European Union will be severed and doing so will hurt Pakistan’s textile industry as most of Pakistan’s textile exports are to European countries.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that there was no guarantee that after the deportation of the French ambassador, they will stop doing blasphemy but any other European country would do the same by making the issue a matter of freedom of expression.

Imran Khan said that the issue was being discussed with our religious party for a long time. They demanded that the French ambassador be deported. We tried to convince them that doing so would be a detriment to our own country.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that there is no point in sabotaging one’s own country. There are 50 Muslim countries in the world but this is not happening anywhere.

Note that, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, the Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony said on Monday that the government will resolve the issue with the protesting religious party through talks.

While speaking during the National Assembly (NA) session, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said that the matter with the hardline religious party will be resolved through negotiations as per the wish of the Parliament.

He expressed disappointment over the countrywide protest by banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) workers and the chaos created past week. He said that the second round of talks with the demonstrators will be held in the evening.

Earlier today Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that the first round of talks between government and the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) concluded successfully. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the Punjab government played crucial role in successful negotiations with the banned TLP.