ISLAMABAD: The Qatari government on Saturday distanced itself from a letter written by a prince regarding the financing of properties owned by the ruling Sharif family in London.
Responding to the letter, which was submitted by the ruling family in the apex court, Qatari Ambassador to Pakistan Saqr Bin Mubarak Al-Mansouri said in an interview that his government was not involved in the issue. “Let me tell you very clearly. It is an internal issue of Pakistan. The Qatar government is not involved in this,” he reiterated.
He said that the Panamagate case was the internal matter of Pakistan, as “we don’t interfere in internal matter of Pakistan… it’s our clear-cut policy”.
To a question, he said that ambulances were donated by the government of Qatar for the backward and remote areas of Balochistan, and it would further cooperate with the provincial government regarding resolution of its health- and education-related issues. He said that the government of Qatar was working on social welfare programmes across Pakistan.
He said that diplomatic ties were established with Pakistan 50 years ago, while two agreements had recently been signed between Qatar and Pakistan. “One agreement was signed in Doha, the capital of Qatar, while other was signed in Pakistan,” he said, and maintained that Qatar had acquired some eight ‘Super Mushaq’ jets from Pakistan. The relations between two countries were also enhancing in the agriculture sector, he said. Al-Mansouri further said that the Pakistani president had been informed about the Qatari business plans during his visit to Qatar. “Qatar is focusing on the energy sector in Pakistan, and negotiations are being held on power projects. We are thinking about power generation through LNG (liquefied natural gas).”
The ambassador said that both the countries were enjoying good defence relations and “these relations are being further strengthened”. He said that Pakistan would get further opportunities to enhance cooperation with Qatar through trade with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. With regard to Kashmir, he said that his government fully favoured the resolutions passed by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nations Organisation on the Kashmir dispute, and “we want implementation on these resolutions”.
