Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that Pakistan wants to ensure rights to the women of Afghanistan.
The foreign minister in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said, “I see women’s rights or women’s rights to education as rights granted to us in Islam. We’ll be emphasising that the Taliban keep their international commitments and ensure rights to the women of Afghanistan because these are rights guaranteed to women in Islam,” Bilawal said when he was asked if Islamabad had engaged with the Afghan Taliban on how Muslim countries can give rights to women.
The minister said it wasn’t an issue of the West. He also said that the first word in Quran is ‘Iqra’, which means to read. “Nowhere is it written that only men should read. We are all meant to pursue our path to education.”
FM Bilawal said that Islamabad is looking to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to play its role in discouraging the increase in terrorist activity on Pakistan’s side of the border.
“We continue to not only monitor this situation but work on our side to ensure that we can try to tackle the threat of terrorism and hope that the regime in Afghanistan lives up to their international commitment to not allow their soil to be used for terrorism.”
“We must prioritise, alleviate the humanitarian crisis, ensure there’s no economic collapse and hold the Taliban regime to the international commitments. It was not Pakistan, but the United States who had direct communication with the Taliban regime before their takeover of Kabul. Pakistan and the international community believe it will not serve any of our interests if we abandon the people of Afghanistan once again,” said Bilawal.
“We all believe, Pakistan believes and the international community believes, they will not serve any of our interests if we abandon the people of Afghanistan, once again,” said Bilawal.
