ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi announced on Thursday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will undertake official visits to Iran and Türkiye from July 3 to 5.
Speaking at the weekly media briefing in Islamabad, Andrabi said the prime minister will first travel to Iran to attend the funeral ceremony of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He said PM Shehbaz will convey condolences on behalf of the people and the Government of Pakistan to the Iranian leadership and the bereaved families, while reaffirming Pakistan’s solidarity with the brotherly nation during its time of grief.
The spokesperson said the premier will then visit Türkiye at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
During the visit, PM Shehbaz will hold talks with the Turkish leadership covering the full spectrum of bilateral relations, with particular emphasis on boosting trade and investment cooperation. The discussions will also focus on regional peace and security.
Andrabi said the prime minister will also address a business conference in Istanbul organised by Pakistan to showcase the country’s trade and investment potential in priority sectors, including Special Economic Zones (SEZs), energy, trade, information technology and privatisation.
The conference will bring together leading Turkish business leaders, investors, senior officials, dignitaries and other members of the business community. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, along with cabinet ministers and senior officials, will accompany the prime minister during the visit.
Addressing the recent US-Iran developments and the Gulf situation, Andrabi said Pakistan had intensified diplomatic engagement with key regional and international stakeholders, as well as the principal interlocutors, to facilitate follow-up on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Iran and the United States in line with the Pakistan-Qatar joint statement issued at Bürgenstock on June 21.
He said Pakistan and Qatar held separate meetings in Doha on Wednesday with US and Iranian negotiators, with discussions continuing late into the night and early Thursday morning.
According to Andrabi, the Doha talks produced positive progress on different aspects of the Islamabad MOU while building on the outcomes of the Lake Lucerne Summit. He said all sides agreed to continue discussions in the coming period, with the next meeting expected to take place as soon as possible after the funeral of Iran’s former supreme leader.
He added that Pakistan would continue to play a facilitative and mediatory role in the negotiations alongside Qatar.
The spokesperson also said Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar maintained intensive diplomatic contacts during the week, speaking separately with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, China, Bahrain and Iran, as well as Britain’s foreign secretary and the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
Turning to the seminar on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), Andrabi said participants strongly supported upholding the treaty and rejected the weaponisation of water.
He said participants stressed that disputes should be resolved through established legal and diplomatic mechanisms rather than unilateral actions, warning that any attempt to deprive Pakistan of its share of water would have serious consequences for regional peace and security.
Recalling Ishaq Dar’s remarks at the seminar, Andrabi said the foreign minister had reaffirmed that the six-decade-old Indus Waters Treaty could neither be suspended nor terminated under any pretext, describing India’s decision to place the treaty in abeyance as illegal, unilateral and without any legal basis.
He reiterated Pakistan’s rejection of India’s move, saying Islamabad also rejected New Delhi’s attempt to use terrorism allegations as a justification for suspending the treaty and obstructing Pakistan’s lawful share of the Indus waters.
According to Andrabi, the real issue was not terrorism but what he described as an increasing tendency within the Indian leadership to treat shared international rivers as strategic assets that could be controlled, withheld or diverted unilaterally.
He said such an approach was incompatible with both international law and the spirit of the Indus Waters Treaty, stressing that water should never be used as a tool of coercion or political pressure.
He added that any attempt to deny Pakistan its legitimate share of the Indus waters would constitute a clear violation of India’s international legal obligations and undermine its credibility regarding treaty commitments.
On the security situation, Andrabi said Pakistan had launched intelligence-based operations under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq following recent terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Karachi and other areas.
He said that on June 28, security forces killed four terrorists in Bajaur, including high-value Khawariji commander Khan Farosh Abul Zabal and three members of the Indian proxy group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
The spokesperson said Pakistan remained committed to eliminating terrorism while maintaining peace and stability in the region, adding that the country would never compromise on the safety and security of its citizens.
He further said that on June 29, the Afghan envoy was summoned to the Foreign Office, where Pakistan lodged a strong démarche over the Karachi terrorist attack. Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul also delivered a similar démarche to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Andrabi, these démarches were issued because Afghan nationals, including one suspect captured alive, were involved in the Karachi attack, demonstrating once again that Afghan soil and Afghan nationals were being used to plan and execute terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.
He added that the Interior Ministry had directed authorities to immediately arrest any Afghan national residing in Pakistan without a valid visa or legal residency documents, saying the directive would be implemented in earnest.