Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who is in Pakistan on an official visit met with Chairman of the Senate of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani on 4 June.

Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani who welcomed the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation cordially proceeded to talk about the bilateral ties that are of a historical origin and have only grown stronger yet after Azerbaijan gained independence. He recalled that Pakistan was amongst the first countries to recognise the state independence of the Azerbaijan Republic. The documents that have been signed during the reciprocal official visits and business trips of the leaders of the two states, governments and parliaments have formed the legal platform required to build comprehensive relations and co-operation. The high-level political dialogue held under the aegis of the international organisations has had its positive effect on the progress of the mutual relations in the most diverse areas as well as on making the interrelations firmer.

Mr Sanjrani said that the Pakistani side were glad and proud of Azerbaijan having restored the integrity of its national territory in 2020, and congratulated Sahiba Gafarova on that accomplishment once again. He added that Pakistan did not recognise Armenia as a state and had to date not initiated diplomatic relations with it because of the occupation of Highland Garabagh and the surrounding provinces. Pakistan has always supported and will continue supporting the territorial wholeness and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, according to Mr Sanjrani.

Sahiba Gafarova thanked for the kind words said about Azerbaijan before she highlighted the sublime standards of arrangement and conduct of all the events including the 2^nd General Conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Co-operation Organisation that she had had attended during her current official visit to Pakistan.

This visit is her first as a Chair of the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic, Mrs Gafarova specified. She then accentuated the Azerbaijani Parliament’s keenness on the continued development and strengthening of the bilateral as well as multilateral relations with both the Senate and the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The existing strategic partnership between our countries gives rise to ample opportunities to further the mutual relations, in the progress of which a dramatic role is assigned to the heads of state.

As she covered the social and humanitarian projects that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation had implemented in Pakistan, Mrs Gafarova mentioned with pleasure the decoration of Azerbaijan’s First Lady Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva with the supreme order of Pakistan years ago.

The 44-day Patriotic War of the Azerbaijani people was brought during the conversation, too. Thanks to the valour of the victorious Azerbaijani Army and to the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev our country eliminated the thirty-year-long occupation of its lands by Armenia. The four resolutions of the UN Security Council were enforced and the national territory was made whole again on the same sheet of music. As regards the Highland Garabagh Conflict, it is no more than a pale shadow from the past now. The invaders who had committed the Khojali Genocide had been reduced to inking an act of capitulation whereas restoration work began in Garabagh, now a land free of the occupation’s ball and chain, according to Mrs Gafarova. In the meantime, though, Armenia is obstructing that work; Armenia will not give access to its minefield maps, Armenia resorts border provocations and Armenia promotes the passage of terrorists to our freed lands. Servicemen and civilians alike are killed and wounded because of Armenia’s refusal to disclose the minefield maps.

As the conversation went on, Mrs Gafarov emphasised how highly our nation had valued the principled ground taken by the Parliament of Pakistan at the time of the Patriotic War – the ground demonstrated in no uncertain terms by the adoption of several parliamentary declarations and resolutions. The Azerbaijanis appreciated just as much the brotherly Pakistan’s government’s support to the just standpoint of Azerbaijan that, in turn, is based on the international laws, and treasured the moral support given by the people of Pakistan.

Development prospects of the interparliamentary relations and the necessity of broadening both the co-operation through the international parliamentary forums and the bilateral political, economic, trade and cultural interaction were talked about during the conversation, too.

Then, Sahiba Gafarova decorated Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani with the Milli Majlis Medal of Honour for his merits in the evolution of the interparliamentary relations between his country and Azerbaijan.

After the meeting, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova made a sincere heartfelt in the memories book of the Pakistani Senate.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis