ISLAMABAD, July 24: Islamabad on Monday sternly warned New Delhi against any hot pursuit inside Pakistan or in Azad Kashmir and declared that the only option the two countries had was to pursue the peace process.
“Nobody should make this mistake that Pakistan would allow hot pursuit inside its territory or in Azad Kashmir and that anyone can get away with hot pursuit as far as Pakistan is concerned,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam categorically stated at a weekly news briefing here.
She was responding to a question about media reports that the Indian establishment was considering Israel-like hot pursuit policy against Pakistan. Taking strong exception to these reports she termed them “highly irresponsible” and asked: “Do they want a nuclear war in this region? Do they want a holocaust?”
Asked if the peace process was completely off the track, she said: “It should not be. We don’t have any other option. We have to talk to each other and pursue the peace process.”
Replying to a question the Foreign Office spokesperson said India had to indicate new dates for the foreign secretary-level talks and added: “We await this indication from their side. To another query she said no meeting between the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India had been scheduled on the sidelines of the Saarc Standing Committee’s meeting in Dhaka later this month. However, not ruling it out she hastened to add: “If foreign secretaries of both the countries are there, they would naturally be interacting.”
LEBANON CRISIS: Articulating Pakistan’s position on the crisis situation in Lebanon the spokesperson said: “Pakistan supports a political initiative, be it at the summit level or at the foreign ministers’ level.” In this context she said the president and the prime minister had established contacts with other OIC member states.
Spokesperson Aslam said Pakistan’s embassy in Beirut was still open and busy with the evacuation of Pakistanis. It, she said, was trying to establish contact with all Pakistanis and was providing all assistance to them.
Ms Aslam said so far 69 Pakistanis have been evacuated from Beirut to Damascus and they had been temporarily lodged in the Pakistan International School there.
