ISLAMABAD: A list of proscribed groups attached with the Amritsar Declaration of the Heart of Asia ministerial conference in Dec 2016 has been dropped from the recent Baku Declaration, thanks to Pakistan’s successful diplomacy, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.

“India celebrated it as a huge diplomatic success over Pakistan and started misusing the list for political point scoring,” FO spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal told reporters at the weekly briefing.

“Pakistan had agreed to the list with positive intent... but subsequent Indian behaviour, [i.e.] trying to use the listing of these groups to malign Pakistan forced us to suggest a comprehensive list.”

He said that at the recently held Heart of Asia conference in Baku on Dec 1, 2017, “Pakistan emphasised the principle that selective listing should be avoided and all terrorist groups should be condemned,” he said, adding that member countries had agreed to drop the list from the recent declaration and had referred the matter to the Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, which would come up with a comprehensive list of all terrorist groups in the Heart of Asia region.

Dr Faisal also said that the first phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be completed by 2020 while the entire project would be functional by 2030.

The FO spokesperson said that Pakistan and China regularly monitored the progress of CPEC projects, adding that the decision to include more projects and highways in the economic corridor would be taken with consensus by the two countries.

Talking about the convicted spy of Indian agency RAW, Kulbhushan Jadhav, he said visas had been issued to his wife and mother and their meeting would take place in Islamabad on Dec 25.

Replying to a question, he said the meeting between Jadhav and his family would be held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

There had so far been no decision on the implementation of the spy’s death sentence, he said.

Dr Faisal said Pakistan views the issues of Jadhav as the violation of the relevant resolution of the United Nation Security Council.He said Pakistan had repeatedly raised its serious concerns about the escalating presence of militant Islamic State group in Afghanistan to the Afghan government and to the United States as well.

He said most territories in Afghanistan were not under the control of the Afghan government and they were being used for carrying out attacks in Pakistan. Islamabad had conveyed its reservations to Kabul in this regard and expected that it would take some concert steps regarding the matter, he added.

Replying to another question, he said that Indian malicious designs had caused problems for the functionality of Indus Waters Treaty.

Dr Faisal emphasised that the fate of Indian-held Kashmir was not depended on the orders of Indian courts, but on resolutions passed by the United Nations on the disputed territory.

He said Indian atrocities on Kashmiris continued unabated and this week its forces had killed four more people in the held valley, besides house arrest and illegal detention of Hurriyat leaders continued. He said Pakistan condemned all such actions as they are against basic human rights and international laws.

He said Pakistan had decided to release and repatriate 291 Indian fishermen in two phases as a goodwill gesture and on humanitarian grounds.

He said that Pakistan wanted a political solution for the ongoing Yemen crisis and believed that it was necessary for ensuring regional peace and stability.

The spokesperson also condemned the recent missile attack on Saudi Arabia.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2017