ISLAMABAD, June 6: The Foreign Office on Tuesday expressed disappointment at the slow pace of Pakistan-India composite dialogue process and underlined the need for the two countries to move beyond the confidence-building stage to dispute resolution.
“We are disappointed with the slow pace of forward movement in the composite dialogue process. We would like to see further movement, especially because we believe we have been able to conclude a number of confidence-building measures and have been able to create a conducive environment,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said while responding to questions at a weekly news briefing.
“The international environment is also conducive and we certainly need to move beyond the confidence-building phase into addressing the disputes for resolution between our two countries,” she emphasised.
She disagreed with the view that the dialogue process had broken down, saying that it was continuing.
TERRORISM: Responding to a question, the spokesperson said Pakistan had made its position on the question of so-called cross-LoC infiltration and cross-border terrorism very clear. “We are against terrorism, we condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, whether it is perpetrated by state or individuals or groups,” she said. “We are ourselves a victim of terrorism and we have repeatedly asked India if there is any evidence of any Pakistani organisation or individual being involved in terrorist acts in India or in IOK they should share evidence with us. We will cooperate,” she said. She said that in the absence of any proof or evidence, the Indian allegations remained baseless. She said the Indian army chief had stated several times that infiltration had come down.
Rubbishing Indian allegations about infiltration, the spokesperson said: “If all those killed in India or in IOK were Pakistanis, I think our population would have shrunk significantly.”
Pointing to the incessant claims of Pakistanis being arrested and killed in India, she stated: “In case of arrests when we approach the Indian authorities for consular access we never hear from them.”
She asserted: “Either in case of arrests or in case of death we have never had any confirmation from the Indian side that any of these people were Pakistanis.”
SINGH VISIT: Commenting on reports about the postponement of the Indian prime minister’s visit, the spokesperson said: “I wasn’t aware that his visit is scheduled.” She said: “We know that an invitation was extended, he accepted the invitation and when the prime minister met him he again reiterated his acceptance of the invitation but there were no dates except speculations in the Indian media ... Since there were no confirmed dates, the question of postponement doesn’t exist,” she said.
“We have extended an invitation which has been accepted ... now it’s up to the Indian government to indicate when Prime Minister Singh would like to visit Pakistan,” she said.
CONSULATE: On whether Pakistan had been able to find a property for its consulate in Mumbai, the spokesperson said so far there had been no progress on that front. Mentioning reports in the Indian media about three locations recommended by the Indian government, she said: “Two of them were absolutely not suitable from our point of view and there were some doubts about the availability of the third as well.”
ENERGY TALKS: Ms Aslam said the Pakistan-US energy talks were likely to take place either at the end of this month or early next month in Washington.
When her comments were sought on a United States general’s statement that Pakistan and India should work together to fight the Taliban, her response was: “I don’t know what he had in mind.”
HUMAN TRAFICKKING: When her attention was drawn to the US State Department report on human trafficking, she said: “We, because of our location sometimes become a transit point for the traffickers and our government has taken very strong action against human traffickers,” the spokesperson said.
GUANTANAMO: She said the Americans had indicated their willingness to organise a visit of a Pakistan team to Guantanamo Bay to meet the Pakistani detainees there and arrange for their repatriation. “Our ministry of interior is in the process of putting together a team,” she said. She said the government had been informed by the US that there were six people at the Guantanamo Bay who they thought were Pakistanis.
AFGHANISTAN: Commenting on Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, she said relations between the people of the two countries were such that nothing and nobody could sever those. She noted that effort was made to resolve any minor irritants through dialogue.
SCO: The spokesperson confirmed that President Pervez Musharraf would be going for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Shanghai on June 15. She was evasive when asked if the president would discuss the question of a third nuclear power plant with the Chinese leadership.
ARRESTS: Answering another question, the spokesperson said the government had been informed that there was no Pakistani among the 17 people arrested in Canada in an anti-terrorism probe.
