ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, has expressed concern over the suspension of Samjhota Express train service and said that the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi is in touch with the Indian authorities to help Pakistani passengers stranded at an Indian railway station return home.

Talking to reporters here on Monday after inaugurating a United Nations festival to mark the 70th anniversary of the world body, he urged the Indian government to either extend the visas of the stranded Pakistanis or make a change in the visas to enable them to return home through alternative routes.

He said the high commission was looking after the stranded Pakistanis and providing them food and other things they needed.

The adviser said the government was going to share with (some) countries the dossiers containing evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism in Karachi, Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

“The Indian government has been saying that it wants to hold talks on terrorism. Our stand is that terrorism is not an issue of India alone as we too have complaints. They blame (Pakistan for) terrorist activities by non-state actors in India, but our concern is that a state actor, the Research and Analysis Wing, is carrying out terrorist activities in Balochistan, Karachi and tribal areas through Afghanistan,” he said.

The truth exposed Indian designs at international level, he said, and added that New Delhi was adamant that talks with Pakistan would not be held.

During the prime minister’s coming visit to the United States, he said, it would be emphasised that since tension between India and Pakistan was a threat not only to the region but also for world peace, the international community should do its bit to defuse the situation.

AFGHANISTAN: About the Afghan situation, he said peace in Afghanistan was important for Pakistan too. The second round of ‘Murree peace process’ was scheduled to be held on July 31, but the talks could not take place because of reports about Mulla Omar’s death, followed by insurgency in parts of Afghanistan.

“It is to be decided by Afghanistan when the talks should resume,” he said, adding that with the arrival of winter, insurgency would automatically decline and that would be the time to restart the talks.

Earlier, speaking at the UN festival, Mr Aziz praised efforts made by the world body for peace and progress around the world. He traced the history of UN conferences over the past two decades and said the UN had emerged as intellectual leader which was its real quality.

He also spoke about Pakistan’s role in UN peacekeeping operations.

Neil Buhne, the UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan, said the 70th anniversary of the world body provided an opportunity to look back at what had been accomplished through Pakistan’s involvement with the world body.

In coming years, he said, the Sustainable Development Goals offered an unprecedented opportunity to the UN to complement government efforts to achieve the goals and, through that, meet people’s aspirations for the future.

Rodolfo Martin Saravia, Dean of the diplomatic corps and Ambassador of Argentina, also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, October 13th , 2015

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