Friday, 29 March 2024, 04:57:47 am

Analysts term Pak-UK bilateral ties beneficial
November 22, 2022

Muhammad Afzal Khan (UK Shadow Minister for Justice):

Yasmeen Qureshi is the senior Member of Parliament in Britain and she is also the Chairperson of All Parties Parliamentary Group on Pakistan, where I am also the co-chair and I am also the Chairperson APPG on Pakistan in Trade and Tourism. The Pakistani community settled in the United Kingdom, who sees UK and Pakistan as their homes, wants to play their role in building and strengthening this relationship among both. The British parliament is the mother of all parliamentary systems, whereas the parliamentary system in Pakistan also wants to strengthen this relationship, where both countries can learn from one another. Pakistan has a long tradition and historic relation with UK. As we both were the members of Commonwealth, now we are out and we are aiming to develop our relations globally, particularly with those who are the part of Commonwealth and Pakistan is one of them. Pakistan is a developing country with a sizeable population, out of which most of them are youth, so the human resources itself is a powerful asset of the country. Pakistan is developing in various sectors and UK being a developed country, so there are many areas where we can help each other. Education is one the sectors, as we have great universities here. Then we could enhance cooperation on climate issues, as Pakistan has recently suffered from devastation where thirty three million people were displaced. So that is a common area of interest where there is a lot of technology is used and can research in that sector. The relationship among Pak-UK is not dependent on an individual, so we are keen in developing furthermore relations globally. As most of the countries are facing economic difficulties like Pakistan, so they need to develop such relations with developed countries. Pakistan can play the pivotal role in building relationship among others. Therefore, any sector is fine and we can work to promote mutual cooperation among both.

 Ali Sarwar Naqvi (Former Ambassador): 

Pakistan has deep and historic relations with Britain. We may face difficulties and differences, but the relationships stand firm, as they have always benefited us. As more than one million Pakistanis are residing in the United Kingdom, many of them have been living there since 1950s. Many Pakistani expatriates are members of the parliament and House of Lords in UK. Many of the Ministers are Pakistani and the Mayor of London Sajid Khan is also Pakistani. So they play a pivotal role in the administrative and political system of the UK. Therefore, Pakistan holds a special place in the internal politics of the UK. We also share mutual cooperation in various sectors including education, health, trade, business, etc. So this relationship is very fortunate for us