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ISLAMABAD, Aug 21: A Nato delegation is here to firm up an Afghanistan-specific agreement with Pakistan on the same lines as the understanding that the government has with the ISAF for providing logistical support, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told a weekly news briefing here on Monday.
Referring to Pakistan’s understanding with ISAF that was put in place in the beginning of 2002 under which Pakistan provided logistical support to it, Ms Aslam said: “It is going to be a similar agreement and basically the Nato has the same mandate. Perhaps, it may be even less than that because now the allied forces in Afghanistan have their own systems and are very well-established there.”
ISRAEL: Articulating Pakistan’s policy on the Israeli question, she categorically stated: “We have always said that progress towards Pakistan establishing diplomatic relations with Israel would depend on progress in the peace process and on the establishment of a viable Palestinian state and a just solution of the Middle East question.”
TROOPS: The spokesperson said Pakistan had not yet taken a decision on the question of dispatching troops to Lebanon for the UN peace mission. However, in a clear hint that Pakistan was unlikely to participate in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) she declared: “We do not have a policy of participating in a peace enforcement mission and we have not done it so far. The mandate of UNIFIL under Security Council resolution 1701 is peace enforcement.”
KING: Confirming the visit of King Abdullah of Jordan to Pakistan on
Tuesday, she said: “The main purpose of the visit would be to hold discussions and exchange views on the Middle East situation.”
TERROR PLOT: To a question regarding an update on the Pakistani side of the investigations in the London terror plot, Ms Aslam said: “At the moment our government, the British government, the US government and others are in the process of investigating and once we know that we have the full picture we will share it with you.”
She denied media reports that a key Al Qaeda operative Matiur Rehman had been arrested in Pakistan. She noted that he was one of the most wanted people in Pakistan and search for him was continuing.
AFGHAN LINK: On the Afghan government’s rejection of Pakistan’s statement about the foiled London terror plot having an Afghanistan-based Al Qaeda connection, the spokesperson said: “We have not and we are not accusing the Afghan government of providing shelter to these people. Reports, however suggest that Al Qaeda leaders and members are present in the bordering region inside Afghanistan but no one knows their exact coordinates.”
INDO-PAK: Asked if President Musharraf’s comments in an interview to an Indian magazine that some restrictions should be put on the intelligence agencies of the two countries so that they do not interfere in each other’s affairs was an acknowledgment of the fact that they did, the spokesperson said. He was not acknowledging ‘I can speak for our agencies’. Basically he was responding to a question about the allegation that Pakistani agencies were behind the terrorist acts in India and we don’t do that. She said the president was basically referring to the particular mindset of a knee-jerk reaction of an immediate accusation which should be avoided.
LOC LINKS: Commenting on the Indian prime minister’s statement that more routes should be opened along the Line of Control (LoC), Ms Aslam said: “In principle we are in favour of increasing contacts across the Line of Control but at the moment what we want to focus on is making the agreements that are already in place workable. In this context she mentioned the complaints of Kashmiris about the very complicated procedures for the crossings which prevented them from availing the existing facilities. They (Kashmiris) also want more contacts and easy travel conditions.”
DIPLOMATS: Confirming that Pakistani diplomats in India were now not allowed to go outside the municipal limits of Delhi, the spokesperson maintained that Pakistan was very liberal with the Indian diplomats in Islamabad and they were allowed to go to Murree and Rawalpindi which were not part of the Federal capital.
SIR CREEK: Replying to a question, the spokesperson said when the defence secretaries of Pakistan and India had last met to discuss the Sir Creek issue they had agreed that experts from the two sides would meet on August 23-24 in Islamabad to discuss modalities for a joint survey. However, she said: “We have not yet received any indication from the Indian side that the delegation is coming.”
