It all who do you see. But your phone to me its been over a year since the former cricketer turned politician imran khan became pakistans Prime Minister. During his campaign mr cohn promised to turn around the countrys economy but the fight to ease inflation has not been an easy one the pakistani rupee last 35 percent of its value drink comes 1st year in office and despite some encouraging news from the International Monetary fund many are still struggling as a result of the weak economy pakistans location brings a lot of opportunity as well as challenges a lot of hope has been put on its agreement with china to set up an economic corridor. But its not clear if the ambitious project will be beneficial to both sides. Relations with the other big neighbor india have been strained in recent months after new delhi revoked the autonomy of indian administered kashmir. Theres also been tension of indias controversial citizenship law that many say discriminates against muslims and islam about will also be looking to see how the recently signed deal between the us and the Afghan Taliban will impact on its policies. To put these questions to its top diplomat pakistans foreign minister sharon Mahmood Qureshi talks to al jazeera. Mr cressy welcome to talk to aljazeera is pakistan now in the driving seat when it comes to the outside worlds relationship with the taliban. But pakistan has played the role of a facilitator pakistan as you ignore has suffered a lot because of the situation in the region youve been a huge prize in human terms and in economic terms and we have already been advocating that there is normative dissolution of the of han conflict what you need is the because he hated political theater and yet the lad that the world has finally can words to that point of view i think the world should have listened to us earlier and done. What its doing today. Sit across the table and find a solution find a political solution you happy that is happening and we have honestly and with good faith. Contributed to that movement it looks increasingly examining what hes been saying as if the us secretary of state mike pompei o is beginning to really trust trust the taliban do you trust the taliban i think that. Theyre very savvy and theyre sure. And they. Want just good fighters they are tough negotiators and. Even before the talks began the reality was and lets recognize the reality that despite the attention and you know the financial contributions the father bought while still controlling a good 4045 percent of the of high on their tree so their reality you know and you have to deal with that reality i hope. The one thing because wed all know that agreement. One expects them to both sides you know the u. S. And the taliban on a what they are citing there was however an oped recently in the New York Times from the Condi Network it raised. In the state department in washington they take their cue claims from your government. Theyre independent they take. No cues from no one they have independent minds and they have their own. Vision of what they want. To look like. All of you have said that listen this cannot go on forever you cannot keep fighting for ever theyve also fought and theyve also have lost many people also fatigued so there is a new reality that a store in every war has come to an end the world has been in conflicts in the past even the world wars can go on forever. Ultimately they would assume from there was a negotiated settlement and that i think they have realized that they have realized they know their strengths and they also realize that a homicide is not the same place is different the last so many years in the last 120 years. Things have changed you know there is there have been to be elections over there they have been parliamentary elections over there have been president ial elections over there they have you have seen a new empowered class over there so these new realities they also have to compromise for it does that mean that you are quite happy for the taliban to move from being quote terrorists to being politicians because there will come a point surely during this process where they will have real political power but they wont have stood for Political Office at that point and that might be a template that the taliban in pakistan would like to see happen for them as well the point is been telling them that they must come into the bean stream. Give up the gun and. Come into the bean stream and if you have a point of view which the people of the song by dust it and the best way of testing that is through the ballot box your critics might say this is really about india and about pakistans relationship with india because down the line if you have traction with the taliban in pakistan in a positive sense as far as theyre concerned you therefore by definition have traction with the taliban in afghanistan if you then as a country have a footprint in kabul you have to make sure that afghanistan or you would make sure that afghanistan doesnt play nice nice sea with the indians and they share a border what we want is peace and stability you know one of song because we feel if theres peace and stability the one assad pakistan stands to gain as i said earlier on that weve suffered a lot in human and in economic terms then there are opportunities that have been lost we feel that today if this peace work on stance again. If there is reconstruction and harness thought we got to be. We have a huge potential of bilateral trade with one of the young and with. Peace and stability in afghanistan we get access into the central issue republics we are an Energy Deficient country we can have the gas pipeline coming down to pakistan and for filling out acquirements we can have the 1000 electricity coming into pakistan that we need food electricity affordable gas a new area opens up to us you know regional connectivity and then with the development of the go other port. Land locked countries of central asia of homicide and get an opportunity of promoting Economic Activity in their countries but when you talk about that port thats interesting that you mention that china is building roads for you as well china is building the port but its so much more than a poor your critics might say its actually a chinese foothold in pakistan china and pakistan have a long bested relationship they have stood with pakistan to pick and pin. What we are trying to do now is we are trying to as they have economically developed and have now the technology and the cash we are trying to build a new Economic Partnership with china you know costs have gone up in china and we feel a lot of their labor intensive industry can be relocated into pakistan. When the world moved away this dept in to invest in pakistan and we have we have we are happy about it that its a ring win situation for both sides so we gain they gain the region gains but doesnt it mean that you tilt if you tilt towards having good relationships with beijing you are so far under the umbrella of the Chinese Government that you cant in effect do what you need to do because from a fiscal point if youre economy is in a mess you need somebody whos money be it the chinese or the saudis or indeed the 2 seconds please youve got money from the i. M. F. But everyone says the same thing imran khan waited too long for some reason the only mr carr knows he waited too long to go to the i. M. F. And say yes i need some financial help. Why did we take time because the gap the resource gap was huge and the bigger the gap the tougher the conditionalities of i. M. F. Would have been so we did go to friendly countries and we had grateful to friendly countries like saudi arabia like you we and cutter who stood by us whove helped us now via have negotiated a new. Stabilization program with the i. M. F. Theyve just done their 2nd view theyve gone back comfortable we are fulfilling the conditions that we had agreed upon its a tough its a tough Stabilization Program we had to increase prices of electricity of gas and we are facing the political brunt of that but we feel that we have to do the right things we cannot let our Economic Indicators go haywire when we came into office all our Economic Indicators were pointing in the wrong direction but when you say when we came into office since imran khan came into office since you came into office according to the i. M. F. Inflation is now at a 10 year high and youre borrowing more money to clear all debts that is unsustainable not least because you know imran khan his before the election imran khan said i will get rid of taxation corruption tax corruption whats the point in talking even about that as an entree to becoming Prime Minister if only one percent of your population actually pay income tax we were trying to broaden the base and in the last year and a half the people who are filing their tax returns has more than doubled no previous government could do that one number 2 the Exchange Rate was artificially pegged it was not linked to the market. Weve done realistic think we have made it more market linked that is why the dollar has gone up and the rupee has gone down but its also helping exports and exports we inherited a historic trade deficit now exports have started picking up because of this adjustment inflation is high i absolutely agree with you its high but were trying to fix it were trying to decelerate in order to stabilize and once be a stabilizing then we would want to and as the inflation rate comes tragically down we want to revisit our Interest Rates and once the Interest Rates go down they will have an impact on on private sector boring and an impact on. Inflation where do you see the relationship with saudi arabia going because imran khan was in effect your government is in effect rebuffed because over the issue of kashmir he reached out to the saudis with a view to getting people to talk about kashmir and that relationship between islam about a new delhi has been tinderbox dangerously dry for a generation now well. What weve been doing is weve been talking to the seat and we feel the atrocities that have been committed in the Indian Occupied german kashmir need their attention the oh i see has been speaking about this issue you know theres a history of resolutions theres a record so its starting its time to speak up and that is why we are asking. The friends and other friends in the obama to speak up because this is the just cause speak up for the voiceless and today the media all of us you know there is a clampdown theres a siege theres a lockdown. A journalist like you cannot enter surely that you will not be allowed to. Depend parliament is what allowed the chair of the all parties Parliamentary Committee on kashmir in the house of commons was deported from delhi independent people independent observers are not allowed in. Human Rights Violations have dashed in a new level and that is why it is being now discussed in the u. S. Congress its being discussed in the European Parliament its been discussed in the house of commons and its been discussed in the Human Rights Council in geneva but thats not quite to answer my question so my question was to do about the relationship between imran khan and saudi arabia primarily as a dynamic because of the relationship between pakistan and india and can i suggest to you theyre not going to answer that i think pakistan today is an in a unique position baucus is in a unique position because we have excellent relations almost in countries saudi arabia is one of them you ease another one and cut their excellent relations there expressing an interest in investment in pakistan in helping pakistan. Develop its Tourism Sector we are happy allowing more pakistanis into got that we can contribute you know theres going to be a world cup here and we feel that we can contribute dead and we can also contribute to cut of Food Security but you also have to allow or to get more pakistanis into classes surely because saudi arabia is basically getting rid of pakistani doctors because the saudi authorities have stopped recognizing the certificate and the pakistani doctors have its not in pakistan it is not it is not pakistan specific thats a thing that is you know its across the board its not that theyre identifying and picking on pakistan is not if you have good relations with all the main muslim countries what can you do what can you bring to the table to do with the relationship thats focused in on the g. C. C. Blockade driven by the of cattle we would want. To help. Remove the misunderstandings. Cutter has being an important player in the g. C. C. Right and qatar has also faced and continues to face to face a bucket right what pakistan can do is willing to do is to bridge the gap to do to a tell brothers and friends listen sit and talk and we can if we can help well be more than happy to assist and help because be freed that the middle east and the gulf has seen enough of conflict and unity and coherence is important to achieve what they want to achieve peace stability what about proliferation when people think about the relationship between pakistan and india they think about danger they think about as i said before a tinderbox situation they think about Nuclear Weapons they think about anger i mean granted imran khan since he got the top job has been more has been sending out signals of being more conciliatory particularly towards narendra modi. When we came into office what was the 1st signal be sent you take one step towards peace we will take 2 who are buffed us india weve been waiting weve given them the opportunity to engage. But unfortunately we taught its the politics of india its the elections that is you know they are showing this reluctance but not realize its not just politics its the new hindu twa philosophy that has overtaken delhi and they are being governed by a group of people who believe in this you know superman see you know and reassure them and that approach and that is why they have taken the steps that they have taken on the 5th of august which have been rejected wanted by pakistan they have been rejected by all shades of opinion right so. What we are telling the world listen things are getting from bad to worse to Nuclear Armed states cannot go into a conflict it will be suicidal and its not just to a tiger it will have a Global Impact so you cannot shove things under the carpet this is aN Internationally recognized dispute you cannot look the other way because of political expediency and the commercial interest and the big indian market find you have a right to trade with them you have a right because of response but you cannot ignore an overall look aN Internationally recognized dispute you cannot shove those Security Council resolution under the carpet because thats the reality and that is what the sector general has just said he announced the measures were announced on the 5th of august on the 8th of august he pronounced listen this is a bit of bread this is the un stance is your goodwill is your countrys goodwill towards the lets call it a Peace Process in inverted commas when you talk about you make one overtures to india. They respond positively then you make 2 steps in the right direction good will is a diminishing resource though there must come a point when you think ok mr mr moody has got his b. G. P. Agenda thats his critics critics would say thats partly why hes been criticised just now over this new citizenship legislation is causing trouble on the streets of delhi whats your official stance say on the citizenship law it is discriminate tree. And this has made the muslim 200000000 muslims in india in secure and the fare of being stick close you know not close to 2000000 people in our slum are more or less dateless because of the new and see approach that the indians have adopted and not just pushed him minorities like sikhs like put it like johns even lot cost hindus like ballots in security and what you saw in the law and what you are seeing in the you know in delhi today its like almost like a genocide and a world. Many in the world keeping quiet over it people are also looking in on your relationship with china to do with a very Current Issue why is it youve left pakistanis in china with the coronavirus doing what its doing people are saying you should have taken those people back to pakistan but instead for some reason youve decided to leave them where they are. One. We were following the instructions of w h o N InternationalOrganization People following the instructions of the and i h which is you know i mean its a technical issue its a health issue we have to go International Standards and thirdly when we calculated we came to the conclusion that what the chinese was offering. Was giving them the treatment that is required. And they were committed to a promise to harm the president of china president xi jinping that they will be treated like our own because of the special relationship we had with pakistan if you feel theyre being looked after there we are doing whatever we can they made a special concession to for our diplomats were allowed into what harm they have gone and engage students with them reassure them and pakistan is also expressing solidarity with china because china has taken on this challenge in a very very brave manner and we wish them success and im sure they will succeed in defeating or not by this we have to be cognizant the also have to see the facilities available in pakistan weve seen iran being affected in a major way weve seen our of you know traffic between 2 and 4 from iran and pakistan you know the border has been closed why to protect people to protect our people to pick protect our children of pakistan and families in pakistan could it be that you are stretching yourself as a government so thin in so many different areas and when it comes to the next election people vote with their pocketbooks they vote on the bread and butter. Issues so when it comes to being reelected few if any Prime Ministers or president s get reelected on the state of the economy as it stands at the moment in pakistan are you confident that the next time you have to go to the people the people will say yes thats the government for us one more time the people of pakistan are not fools they have seen the economic condition that we inherited they knew the amount of corruption the amount of money siphoned off through Money Laundering the way people pocket money in switzerland and back down from abroad and Building Properties of you know out of the country thats why did it the established parties and that is why they gave this new party a chance because this credibility here and they also realize that the decision that we are taking which are difficult once theyre hurting people the ordinary people said it passes there was no choice left be had to dig theres been 4 decisions in the hope that the economy well we at the end of the term the economy will start moving up and people would realize that we have restructured the economy we have undertaken reforms and their future is more secure youve been around the block as foreign minister more than once or twice. At some point in the future will we may be talking about a potential Prime Minister. But we have total confidence in what iran khan is doing is doing a great job hes the chairman of my party and im his number 2 his wife kept his wifes chairman and im happy but im going to take that as a yes that mr cressy thank you so much for talking to al jazeera we do appreciate that. In 2014 and aljazeera investigation revealed how anger and fear fear will be in bone a crisis that ravaged west africa we asked our lives they didnt allow you to hospital knowing we are dying 3 years on we speak to the filmmaker the one thing that spread the board and caused devastation on his feet that was born out of ignorance rewind liberia living with the bow on aljazeera. A 4 hour climb. For 4 minutes of practice. But to achieve their dream of becoming afghanistans 1st ever win to win in p. M. s they will have to overcome many mountains. Carving a path of hope and inspiration where the light shines witness on aljazeera but. The latest news as it breaks the fast Train Service is supposed to start from early next year but the coronavirus outbreak could put the brakes on the project and slow down construction with detailed coverage we know that more than 40 people were killed in the violence and officially 350 people were injured from around the world they wanted to create a logistical problem for the greek will sorties but they were enough to make many of the people of less most anxious. Whole or the world. Hello i Maryanne Demasi in london with a quick look at the headlines now governments around the world have stepped up restrictions on the movement of their citizens to reduce the spread of the corona virus the number of deaths recorded in italy has risen 25 percent in the past day to just over 800 while the number of reported deaths in spain has doubled again bob now reports the latest tool in the fight against Coronavirus Police drugs in madrid flying over public spaces urging people to stay home whenever possible. The countrys now under a 2 week state of emergency and as the death toll both a doubles even people out exercising were ordered. In front schools by