ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday, while calling his three-day China visit ‘highly successful’, said Pakistan achieved significant progress on the diplomatic, strategic and economic fronts during engagements held in Beijing. Addressing a press conference, Dar said it was not a routine diplomatic engagement. With clear and urgent objectives, he held bilateral meetings with the Chinese leadership and had trilateral talks involving Afghanistan. He further told the media that a clear agreement was reached with both China and Afghanistan that no terrorist organisation — whether TTP, BLA or any other militant group — would be allowed to use any country’s soil against another. While referring to CPEC 2.0, he added, “We have successfully laid the groundwork for expanded cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative.” He also confirmed that China has expressed its intent to finance the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan railway project, calling it a transformative step for regional connectivity. “We have already sent a draft framework to Uzbekistan and Afghnistan…. I am committed to finalising this by early June.” Dar said that the financing and coordination for this project had been taken up directly with China, which responded positively. “This project, along with the Peshawar-Kabul Highway and ML-1 upgrades, will massively boost Pakistan’s connectivity to the Central Asian Republics and enhance the commercial potential of our under-utilised ports.” Reflecting on security cooperation, FM Dar stated, “China has deep concerns over attacks against their people in Pakistan. I assured them that we are addressing these threats seriously. We discussed a permanent mechanism to prevent cross-border terrorism. I commend both China and Afghanistan for aligning with our zero-tolerance stance.” During their previous government from 2013 till 2017, he reiterated that over $4 billion was spent on Operation Zarb-e-Azb, leading to effectively eliminating terrorism. “Unfortunately, the situation deteriorated due to the previous regime’s careless border policies and the release of hardcore terrorists. Now, our resolve is clear: we will crush terrorism with an iron hand as we did before.”