ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday that the government was still mulling over an invitation from India for a meeting of the National Security Advisers (NSAs) for discussing issues related to terrorism.
“These dates are under consideration of our government,” Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said at the weekly media briefing.
India last week proposed Aug 23-24 for a meeting of the NSAs in New Delhi.
The meeting was agreed when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Ufa (Russia) last month.
Mr Khalilullah, while responding to a question, reiterated the government’s position on the counter-terrorism cooperation.
“We have affirmed many times that terrorism is our common enemy and requires a cooperative approach to combat the menace rather than a blame game,” he said.
The delay in Pakistan’s response, analysts say, is happening because of an internal debate in Islamabad whether taking part in the dialogue on terrorism would be beneficial for Pakistan at a time when India is not ready to engage in formal talks on other outstanding issues, including Kashmir.
The other reason apparently delaying Pakistan’s acceptance of the invitation is the continuation of Indian hostilities along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary in which a number of civilians have been killed.
Three civilians were killed and 22 others were injured due to unprovoked Indian shelling on villages along the Working Boundary (WB) earlier this week.
The Foreign Office had on that occasion summoned the acting Indian deputy high commissioner to protest against the shelling and called upon Delhi to immediately halt the attacks.
The army lodged a complaint on Thursday with the UN Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) and asked it to investigate the unprovoked firing and shelling by Indian troops on Aug 4 in Pukhlian sector on the Working Boundary. The army complaint said that Indian troops deliberately targeted civilians with heavy weapons resulting in civilian casualties.
This is the second time in three weeks that the army registered a complaint with UNMOGIP. A group of UN Observers visited the Working Boundary on July 20 after the earlier complaint on July 17.
There have been a total of 122 ceasefire violations by India so far this year both on the LoC and the Working Boundary. Most of the casualties have happened on the LoC where 14 people have been killed.
BELARUS: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be travelling to Minsk (Belarus) on Monday (Aug 10).
This will be the first visit by a Pakistani prime minister to that country.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visited Islamabad on May 29 during which a package of 20 agreements aimed at broadening cooperation between the two countries were inked.
A number of important agreements/MOUs are also expected to be signed during Mr Sharif’s visit. The prime minister is also expected to visit top Belarusian Industrial units, besides participating in the Pakistan-Belarus Business and Investment Forum. A Pakistani mango and film festival will also be held during the prime minister’s visit.
Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2015
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