ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hinted on Thursday that it was sticking to its deadline of Dec 31 for the repatriation of Afghan refugees to be completed.

“According to our information, no new MoU has been signed between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The stay of the registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan is being governed by the Tripartite Agreement among Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR, which was extended up to Dec 31, 2015,” Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said at the weekly media briefing on Thursday.

The spokesman’s comments implied that no further extension in the accord regarding the refugees was being contemplated.

Also read: Over 600,000 registered Afghan refugees in KP

The government had in January this year, following the Peshawar school tragedy, unilaterally decided against extending the tripartite agreement that would expire on Dec 31 this year. But, the government showed flexibility following improvements in ties with Kabul.

The three sides — Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR — had at their last meeting in Islamabad in March, according to the joint communiqué issued on that occasion, agreed to work together for formulating a “comprehensive plan” containing “realistic timelines” for the repatriation of refugees.

The tripartite meeting had further asked Pakistan to take a timely decision on extension of the agreement so that confusion towards the end of the year could be avoided.

All three parties are also coordinating on a new return policy for the refugees being framed by the Afghan government, which would be presented to the tripartite commission at its next meeting in August in Kabul.

PEACE PRO­CESS: The spokesman avoided confirming or denying media reports that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had, with the Chinese government’s support, facilitated a secret meeting of Afghanistan’s Secretary High Peace Council, Masoom Stanikzai, with a group of Pakistan-based Taliban leaders, led by Mullah Abdul Razaq Akhund on May 19-20 in Urumqi, the capital of China’s western Xinjiang province, to discuss preconditions for start of reconciliation talks.

“I would like to reiterate that Pakistan supports an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process and we support all efforts in that regard,” the spokesman said when asked about the meeting between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives.

Both Afghan government and Taliban have denied having met in China.

TERROR COMMENT ROW: The spokesman said that Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s remarks that “terrorists have to be neutralised only through terrorists” should be a cause of international concern and not just for Pakistan.

“The statement of the Indian defence minister should be a matter of concern to not just Pakistan but also others in the region and beyond,” he said, adding that the comment should be seen in the context of a similar statement given by Mr Ajit Doval before becoming the National Security Adviser.

“Their statements confirm Pakistan’s apprehensions about India’s involvement in terrorism in Pakistan,” he maintained.

Mr Khalilullah said Pakistan would “take all appropriate measures that are required to protect our national interest”.

EGYPT: In an attempt to pacify Cairo, which had been peeved over Pakistan’s criticism of the death sentence for former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the FO spokesman said Pakistan was confident that ties between the two countries would remain normal.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said that Pakistani comments could affect their relationship.

Mr Khalilullah said: “Our statement on the death sentence given to the former Egyptian president was based on internationally recognised principles.”

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2015

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