LAHORE – Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that he had no greed for ministries and opposing the US in the Raymond Davis case was not a crime. Addressing a gathering in Multan on Saturday where thousands accorded him a warm welcome, Qureshi made an emotional speech saying he had been punished for telling the truth about Davis and his claims of having diplomatic immunity.
Qureshi said he belonged to a saintly background and believed that if one door closed, hundred others opened. Without naming Asif Ali Zardari, he said leaders must follow the way of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, as the party needed people who followed their principles. Qureshi said it was time to stand against all conspiracies and live respectfully.
The former minister stressed that only an unblemished leadership could salvage Pakistan and the foundation for lasting ties with the US would have to be re-laid, but with heads held high, not bowed. “What is greatly needed today is for us to change the way we think,” Qureshi said.
He said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had called US relations with Pakistan strained, and questioned the basis of these relations which, he said, had been crushed to the ground by a single event.
