ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: Foreign Office reiterated on Thursday Pakistan’s commitment to resolve all outstanding disputes with India including the core issue of Kashmir through peaceful means.
Pakistan’s desire for resolving outstanding issues through talks at bilateral level or through a third party mediation was reiterated by Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan at his daily press briefing.
“We are ready for direct bilateral talks, we are ready for mediation, we are ready for any other channel,” Mr Khan said.
While voicing desire for peace and resolution of issues through talks, the spokesman warned that the people and the armed forces of Pakistan were fully prepared to defend sovereignty and integrity of the country.
Commenting on a statement of Indian defence minister that India could use any weapon in case of war, he said Pakistan was a responsible member of the international community and had always exercised restraint and responsibility.
As regard present stand-off at the borders between the armed forces of the two countries, he said Pakistan would like to avoid any hostility and would try to de-escalate and defuse the tension.
He said Pakistan was paying full attention to all diplomatic efforts and trying its best through diplomatic means that the situation could be defused.
All the world leaders, who have so far contacted Pakistan, had appreciated its policy of restraint and diplomatic initiatives taken to avert the war.
As regards situation on the borders, the spokesman said the Indian forces were in advance offensive stage. The build-up by the Indian forces was unprecedented, which compelled Pakistan to take defensive measures, he added.
The situation, he said, could be defused only by the return of Indian forces to the peace-time locations.
“We would like that to happen because Pakistan has been forced to take action as a defensive measure to the offensive movement of forces that has taken place in the past few weeks from across the borders,” he added.
To a question, Mr Khan said the current tension between Pakistan and India was not on the agenda of the Jan 4-6 meeting of the South Asian countries in Kathmandu.
However, he said, Pakistan was ready if a desire was expressed about the meeting of the leaders or talks from the other side.
To a question regarding withdrawal of troops from the Afghanistan border, he said no shifting of troops had taken place as Pakistan was sticking to its policy of keeping its borders with Afghanistan sealed.
About the government’s policy on militant outfits, he said the activities of such organizations had been monitored for quite sometime and all those found involved in uncalled for activities had been banned.
