Editorial
The word ‘Azerbaijan’ means ‘the land of fire’ and the word ‘Baku’ means ‘the city of winds’.
The name says it all; in Azerbaijan, there are many places where there is centuries’ old naturally lit fire due to the seepage of natural gas from the soil. Historical sources reflect former names of Azerbaijan as Andirpatian, Atropatena, Adirbijan, and Azirbijan. Azerbaijan has deep historical footprints of the earliest humankind which was present in the region since time immemorial.
Azerbaijan has its indigenous ancient culture, civilization, progress, and dialectics. Azerbaijan is also a country that has economic and strategic importance in the Caucasian Region based on its rich energy resources and the standing of its geographical location. Azerbaijan is also holding a high place among the community of nations for its ongoing soft diplomacy and use of several nonviolent and peaceful means for putting together efforts to resolve issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory, illegally confiscated by Armenian forces.
The country has also been elected as one of the Non Permeant Member states for United
Nations’ Security Council. Azerbaijan and Pakistan, brotherly Muslim countries have
unique commonalities of historical, religious, and political nature. Pakistan recognized
the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991 (the second country after Turkey) and later two
countries established diplomatic relations in 1992. Pakistan was one of the first countries to
open its embassy in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Ever since the first visit of the then President Farooq Ahmed Khan Lagari to Azerbaijani
capital, Baku in 1995, and a reciprocal visit of Azerbaijan’s late President Heydar Aliyev in
April 1996 to Pakistan, lots of ground has been covered in terms of political and economic
spheres. Both countries have supported each other in every international forum.
Azerbaijan supports Pakistan’s position on Kashmir and Pakistan supports Azerbaijan’s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Pakistan and the people of Pakistan can well understand and feel the pain of the Azerbaijani people and the sufferings of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh as we are facing similar bloodshed in Kashmir since the time of our inception in 1947. Pakistan has not yet recognized Armenia because of its aggression to the Azerbaijani people. This has also resulted in the successful development of relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan.
They have been established on the ground of friendly and fraternal principles. Pakistanis leadership is fully cognizant of the importance of its relations with Azerbaijan. That is why, in recent years, we have been looking for ways and means to strengthen our partnership with Azerbaijan and focus on trade and commercial relations, which are not commensurate with the level of our political understanding.
Azerbaijan has also extended great help in the 2005 earthquake and 2010 & 2011 floods in Pakistan. The Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan has allocated an amount of US $ 2 million to help the victims of devastating flood-affected areas of the Sindh province of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on October 27, 2011. In short, our relations are characterized by consistency, stability, mutual respect, and trust.
President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain paid an official visit to Azerbaijan on the invitation
of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. During the visit, four MoUs of bilateral cooperation were signed while President Mamnoon Hussain had also conferred Pakistan’s highest civil award “Hilal-e-Pakistan” to the First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva, in recognition of her services to the people of Pakistan and continuous humanitarian work, spanning over a decade, by her organization “Hyder Aliyev Foundation” in Kashmir and other parts of Pakistan.
The President of Pakistan was also given an honorary doctorate degree by Baku State University in recognition of her outstanding contributions to enhancing friendship and cooperation. Ambassadors of both countries Dashgin Shikarov, Khalid Usman Qaiser, and Dr.Ilham Mammadov, First Secretary, Embassy of Azerbaijan to Pakistan also deserve praise for their outstanding contributions for making this visit a success, for both countries.
The journey of togetherness has been refreshed during this highest level visit. It is the right time now that officials and people of both countries especially businessmen to revamp their energies and work together to make these headways into concrete steps that can be remembered forever.
Pakistan-Azerbaijan Dosti Zindabad
