Pakistan’s newly-appointed Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar will embark on a three-day official visit to China on May 13, during which he will meet top Chinese leaders and comprehensively review bilateral relations, including the upgradation of the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Mr. Dar, who is also the foreign minister, will co-chair the 5th Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Saturday.

“The two sides will comprehensively review Pakistan-China bilateral relations including economic and trade cooperation; high-level exchanges and visits; upgradation of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and future connectivity initiatives,” the statement said.

The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province, is opposed by India as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Mr. Dar and Mr. Wang will also exchange views on the unfolding regional geopolitical landscape and bilateral cooperation at the multilateral forum.

During his visit from May 13-16, Mr. Dar is also expected to meet Chinese leaders, senior ministers and leading corporate executives, the statement said. Mr. Dar’s visit to Beijing comes amid reports that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to visit China in the coming weeks.

Mr. Dar’s visit is part of “regular high-level exchanges” between Pakistan and China, reflecting the “importance attached by the two countries to further deepening the ‘All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership’, reaffirming mutual support on issues of core interest; enhancing economic and trade cooperation including CPEC; and reinforcing joint commitment to regional peace and development,” it said.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Friday said that Beijing is willing to work with Islamabad to take Mr. Dar’s visit “as an opportunity to further implement the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries,” The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Asserting that the China-Pakistan friendship had become stronger over the years, Mr. Lin said that both countries joined hands to cope with changes in the international and regional situation, deepening mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.

Mr. Lin said that after the elections in Pakistan earlier this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji congratulated the Pakistani leaders at the first opportunity, expressing China’s sincere congratulations and good wishes.

“The Chinese side was willing to carry forward the traditional friendship between China and Pakistan, strengthen strategic communication and coordination, deepen practical cooperation in various fields and create an upgraded version of the construction of CPEC,” he was quoted as saying in the report.

He reiterated China’s desire to deepen the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries and accelerate the construction of a closer community of destiny between them in the new era.

Ishaq Dar. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

In a surprise move, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was on Sunday appointed as the country’s Deputy Prime Minister. Mr. Dar, 73, a chartered accountant and a veteran politician, belongs to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

According to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the appointment was made by Prime Minister Sharif “with immediate effect and until further orders”.

The announcement was made when both Prime Minister Sharif and Foreign Minister Dar were away in Saudi Arabia to attend a World Economic Forum’s moot. It was clear what specific responsibilities Mr. Dar would perform as Deputy Prime Minister as traditionally, all powers are concentrated in the Prime Minister, who is the head of the government.

He has served as Finance Minister in two previous governments.

Finance expert

Despite being the party’s go-to finance expert for decades, he was surprisingly made the Foreign Minister when Prime Minister Sharif shaped his Cabinet in March.

It is not the first time a Deputy Prime Minister has been appointed. Chaudhry Parvez Elahi served as Deputy Prime Minister during the tenure of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from June 25, 2012, to June 29, 2013. His role at that time was mostly symbolic as he was rewarded by then-President Asif Ali Zardari for supporting the PPP government.

Mr. Elahi is currently president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and is in jail due to allegations of corruption.

Ishaq Dar leaves after a press briefing in Islamabad. File photo
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Ishaq Dar, a four-time former finance minister, has been appointed as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, as the new government settled in to tackle myriad problems at the domestic and external fronts, including its relations with India and other neighbours.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday, March 11, 2024, inducted 19 members into his Cabinet, ending the tenuous wait for the completion of government formation in the cash-strapped country.

Mr. Dar, an ethnic Kashmiri and chartered accountant by training, is a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). He is also a confidant of the party head and former three-time premier Nawaz Sharif.

With little experience in managing foreign affairs, he has been given the important portfolio when Pakistan’s ties with its neighbour India as well as Afghanistan are at their lowest ebb.

The two sides broke off trade ties and lowered diplomatic presence in each other’s capital in August 2019 after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.

Pakistan has suffered due to a hiatus in trade as it used to import several items and raw materials at cheaper rates from India.

Mr. Dar, as an economic guru, favoured economic relations with the arch rival but it was not possible due to the Kashmir issue.

Mr. Dar’s position on Kashmir, which is the chief stumbling block in ties between Pakistan and India, should not be different from the general narrative of Pakistan that it should be solved according to the resolutions of the UN Security Council.

In a tweet on February 5, the Kashmir Solidarity Day, this year, Mr. Dar said Pakistan was “committed to its unwavering political, moral and diplomatic support to the just struggle of our Kashmiri brethren for their right of self-determination, as enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Charter and relevant UN resolutions.” I

India has repeatedly told Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir “was, is and shall forever” remain an integral part of the country. New Delhi has told Islamabad that it desires normal neighbourly relations with it in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence.

This stand was reiterated by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on March 11, 2024 in New Delhi.

“We have never closed our doors to talking to Pakistan … but the terrorism issue should be fair, square at the centre of the conversation. It is the major issue … I am not saying there are no other issues. But I am not going to duck that issue for the sake of talking,” he said.

Mr. Dar, being an economist, should also be aware of the pitfalls of continuous antagonism with India which is the world’s fifth-largest economy.

However, any change in ties with India should come from the powerful establishment of the country.

Meanwhile, the Information Ministry in a statement elaborated on the various portfolios assigned to other Ministers.

Khawaja Muhammad Asif was appointed as minister for defence, defence production and aviation, Ahsan Iqbal as minister for planning, development and special initiatives, Azam Nazeer Tarar law and justice, human rights, Attaullah Tarar as minister of information and broadcasting, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh as minister for maritime affairs and Muhammad Aurangzeb as Minister of Finance, Revenue.

Shaza Fatima Khawaja, the only woman Minister, was appointed as Minister of State.