ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: The government on Wednesday expressed hope that the Bush administration would improve on the Pakistan-specific legislation adopted by the United States House of Representatives, hinting that it had been given assurances in this regard.
“We expect the US administration to intervene and we expect that the language of the final legislation would be more balanced,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told a weekly news briefing here while responding to a question.
Asked if Pakistan had been given any assurances on the matter, Ms Aslam referred to a statement by a US official who was here last week that the Bush administration would work with the Congress to make the language of the legislation more balanced. She pointed out that the US Senate had yet to come up with its own version.
Regarding another US legislation that said Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programme was inconsistent with its friendship with the US, Ms Aslam said she did not recall seeing a reference of this sort but made it clear that Pakistan would not accept such positions. “Any categorical position of this nature would be inconsistent with the spirit of Pakistan-US bilateral relation,” she asserted, declaring: “We are a nuclear weapon state. That is a reality and this is going to stay that way.”
On the question of surrendering scientist Dr A.Q. Khan to the US, she said: “No. Our position is very clear, if there are any questions, they should be forwarded to the government of Pakistan. We will investigate and we will respond. That’s it.”
She said Pakistan had been interacting with the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group and had clearly conveyed its interest in establishing cooperation with it in peaceful uses of nuclear technology. “Pakistan fulfils the criteria for membership of the NSG except that we are not a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and we have no intention of becoming a member of the NPT,” she noted.
TRANSIT FACILITY: In reply to a question about providing land-route transit facility to India for trade with Afghanistan, the spokesperson said: “If there is definitive positive movement towards the resolution of disputes between Pakistan and India, that would make it possible for the government to prepare the public opinion.”
When an Indian journalist asked if Pakistan would reconsider its stand on issue given that settlement of disputes could take a while, Ms Aslam’s response was: “We need to prepare our public opinion and that also takes a while.”
She said India was most welcome to avail the transit trade facility through the Karachi port.
KASHMIR: The spokesperson refused to be dragged into the question about whether India and Pakistan were showing equal amount of flexibility on the Kashmir issue, saying it was a matter of judgment. Noting that the bottom-line was that Jammu and Kashmir was the core issue between Pakistan and India and needed to be resolved, she said: “There are ideas that are being discussed and we believe there is realisation in India also that we need to resolve all the differences and issues.”
ME: On Pakistan’s Middle East peace initiative, she said that while there were ongoing discussions with Muslim leaders on ‘some ideas’, the stage for making them public had not come.
“It’s a process, consultations are still going on. There haven’t been consultations by the president with the Palestinian leadership but with countries that are in the neighbourhood or are influential Muslim countries,” she said in reply to a question.
“These visits are not being undertaken at the behest of anyone,” she asserted. The initiative was aimed at promoting harmony among the Muslim countries and addressing the challenge of extremism and terrorism, she said.
In reply to a question, she said: “The recognition of Israel or establishing relations with Israel would depend upon the progress towards the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state. Before that there is no such consideration either in Pakistan or collectively in the Muslim countries, although individual Muslim countries have relations with Israel.”
“At this stage we are not discussing the interface with Israel by Muslim countries or Pakistan,” she said.
She said the agenda of the president’s Middle East-related visits included the Palestine issue, Iraq and the situation in the region.
“If a stage comes where there are some alternative plans which the Muslim countries can offer then of course there could be discussions with the US,” she said.
When asked about the president’s telephonic conversation with the European Union foreign policy chief on the initiative, the spokesperson said: “That was not for consultation… it was just to keep them informed.”
IPI: The spokesperson made it clear that despite the US opposition to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, the government would go ahead with it.
She said a broad understanding on the pricing issue had been reached. “We expect that there would be confirmation of that agreement in a month,” she said.
Ms Aslam said no decision had been taken on the extradition to the United Kingdom of terrorism suspect Rashid Rauf.
