Pakistan should strengthen its ties with India and other neighbours instead of becoming a U.S. client state, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said.
Speaking on the U.S.-Pakistan relationship at the ThinkFest here on Saturday, Ms. Khar said Pakistan always imagined itself as a complete strategic partner, which was far-fetched, the Dawn reported on Sunday.
She said Pakistan cannot command respect in the comity of nations with a begging bowl in both hands.
“Pakistan’s most important relations should be with its neighbours like Afghanistan, India, Iran and China instead of the U.S.,” said Ms. Khar.
She said Pakistan must get out of the Afghan war and refuse to become a front-line state again.
“Despite being front-line state and the most suffered ally, the US had put Pakistan at number 54 on the list of countries it had trade partnerships,” she lamented.
Referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government’s claims of copying China, she said Beijing had brought its people out of poverty, while the Pakistani rulers were doing the opposite.
