September 17, 2002	Tuesday	Rajab 9, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: Pakistan has made it clear that the best way to reduce tension and restore peace to the region is by withdrawing troops from borders and resuming talks.

Foreign office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan stated this at a press briefing on Monday while answering questions about the speeches made last week by the leaders of Pakistan and India in the United Nations General Assembly.

The debate pertained to the nine-month-old massive troop deployment on both sides of the border and the resulting volatile situation in the subcontinent.

Referring to the speech by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the spokesman said that accusing President Gen Pervez Musharraf of “blackmailing” was “an unfortunate statement to be made when there was a need for dialogue and discussion rather than to make such statements”.

He said it was known to everyone that who had mounted the military deployment and hurled repeatedly provocative threats at Pakistan.

The spokesman affirmed that troop demobilization and a return to the negotiating table were the only way through which “we will be able to lessen tension and resolve all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir”. The sooner it was realized the better it would be for the people of the subcontinent, and for peace and security in the region, he asserted.

The spokesman dismissed the impression that Pakistan was “put under pressure” by the United States last week to seek a peaceful settlement with India, and pointed out that the position taken by Washington and the international community had been categorically stated time and again that both Islamabd and Delhi should enter into a dialogue to settle disputes.

Asked about the last week’s shootout between the security forces and some 12 Al Qaeda suspects in Karachi, the spokesman said the available data established that one of the suspects captured, Ramzi bin Al Shibh, was a key figure of Al Qaeda and involved in the 9/11 attacks on key targets in the United States.

The spokesman sought to remove any doubts about the FBI’s role in tracking down the Al Qaeda suspects in the country and emphasized that actual operations to nab the Al Qaeda suspects had been carried out all along by the Pakistani sec-ret and law-enforcement agencies.

He insisted that while majority of the Al Qaeda suspects had been caught right on the Pakistan-Afghan border, some of them had possibly managed to hide in Pakistani cities where they were being chased by the Pakistani agencies.

The action in Karachi on Sept 11 proved amply the efficiency and agility of the Pakistani agencies pursuing the fugitives, he emphasized.

The spokesman said that those who had been arrested as Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects were undergoing interrogation within the country and indicated that if needed, they would be extradited to the US for further investigation.

The spokesman pointed out that it would be open to a European Union delegation and other foreign observers to watch the election process already under way in the country and added that they were moving wherever they wished to judge for themselves the fair and transparent polls which would be held on Oct 10.