Not to upset 'all-weather' friend China, Pakistan opts out of democracy summit

Pakistan on Tuesday opted out of the democracy summit taking place in Washington this week The virtual summit is cosponsored by the US Department of State and USAID on the theme of Global Declaration of Mayors for DemocracyChina and Turkiye have not been invited to the virtual summit Pakistans participation in the summit has been a subject of intense debate for some time nowThe issue of Pakistanrsquos participation in the Second Summit for Democracy in the US had been under discussion for some time particularly because it could potentially upset its ldquoallweather friendrdquo China which had not been invited to the summit Dawn Newspaper reported The decision had been a challenging one with Pakistan weighing the benefits of participation against the potential risks to its diplomatic relationshipsChina would be closely monitoring these overtures as the US has already annoyed Beijing by inviting Taiwan Chinarsquos longstanding nemesisLike the first democracy summit in 2021 both India and Pakistan were invited to the summit this time India attended the last meeting and may do so this year as well Pakistan had opted out of the first summit reportedly on back of the Biden administrationrsquos refusal to reach out to the thenprime minister Imran KhanDawn reported that Beijing would want Pakistan to opt out of the lsquocontroversialrsquo moot but doing so will send negative signals to the US at a time when Islamabad wants Washington to be on its side to help secure a deal with the IMFAccording to the Dawn report the decision to keep Turkiye out of the summit was another cause of concern for PakistanIn a statement issued today the Foreign Office said Pakistan values its friendship with the United StatesldquoUnder the Biden Administration this relationship has widened and expanded substantially We remain committed to further solidifying this relationship for peace stability and prosperity in the regionrdquo the statement saidAlso readAtiq Ahmad two others sentenced to life in 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping caseExplaining the rationale for not taking a part in the summit the FO said Pakistan had not been part of the summit process that commenced in 2021 and required countries to make certain national commitmentsldquoThe Summit process is now at an advanced stage and therefore Pakistan would engage bilaterally with the United States and cohosts of the Summit to promote and strengthen democratic principles and values and work towards advancing human rights and the fight against corruptionrdquo Pakistan saidIt however thanked the United States and the cohost countries for inviting Pakistan to attend the summitldquoAs a vibrant democracy the people of Pakistan are deeply committed to democratic values and generations of Pakistanis time after time have upheld their faith in democracy human rights and fundamental freedomsrdquo the Pakistan Foreign Office addedIt also underlined that the nation was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Constitution which is the fountain of a democratic polity in PakistanThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever