FM Bilawal Bhutto defends former PM Imran Khan’s visit to Russia at the UN

FM Bilawal Bhutto has defended former PM Imran Khan’s visit to Russia at the UN.

During a press conference in New York, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto was asked a question related to former PM Imran Khan’s visit to Russia,

Responding to the question, Bilawal Bhutto said, “As far as the former PM’s trip to Russia [is concerned], I would absolutely defend him,” adding that, “[the] Pakistani PM conducted that trip as part of his foreign policy”.

Bilawal Bhutto added that no one knew that there would have been a Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“I believe it is very unfair to punish Pakistan for such an innocent action. Of course, Pakistan is absolutely clear as far as it comes to the principles of the UN [United Nations] of non-use of force and we stand by these principles,” he said.

“We will continue to emphasize the importance of peace, dialogue, and diplomacy to resolve this conflict as soon as possible,” he added.

“We will certainly not take the side of any aggressor within this context,” FM Bilawal said, adding that Pakistan has its problems and has witnessed a decade of conflicts in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan is now tired of this war as it has sacrificed its children, leadership, men, and women,” Bilawal Bhutto said, adding, “Therefore, we think that through using tools of dialogue and diplomacy we can solve many problems”.

The country’s youngest Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto has earned praise for exhibiting statesmanship for refusing to criticize his political rival ex-PM Imran Khan for his trip to Moscow.

Foreign Minister #BilawalBhuttoZardari is trending top, on Twitter.

 

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s long-planned February 23-24 visit to Moscow, the first official state visit by a Pakistani head of government in two decades, became a risky gambit.

But no one fully predicted how controversial this official visit’s timing would eventually prove to be.

Ex-PM Imran Khan and his delegation were just settling in their hotel rooms in Moscow, when Russia’s President Vladimir Putin formally announced the invasion of Ukraine just before daybreak on February 24.