ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday that the capture of an Indian spy has proven its position on India’s interference in Pakistan and that it is continuing to flag this issue at international fora.

“Revelations of Indian designs by Kulbhushan Jadhav have vindicated Pakistan’s position on the issue and also exposed Indian designs against Pakistan and involvement in terrorism,” FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria said at the weekly media briefing.

Since disclosure about Jadhav’s arrest, Pakistani officials have been highlighting their rare major success against what they call Indian intelligence agency’s network in the country (Pakistan). Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale was summoned to the Foreign Office for receiving the protest, while the matter was also raised with visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, as it is claimed that Jadhav had been operating from Iran.

“We have also brought this to the attention of P-5 and EU members. The international community is being briefed through our missions abroad as the investigation progresses and more evidence becomes available,” the spokesman said about the efforts being made to highlight the matter.

Pakistan, Mr Zakaria recalled, had already been inviting the international community’s attention to the Indian state institutions’ involvement in conducting and supporting terrorist and separatist activities in Pakistan.

“Pakistan had last year submitted dossiers to the UN and the US government, containing information and evidence about Indian state-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan,” he added.

Responding to a question, the spokesman said Indian request for consular access to the detained spy, who is also said to be a serving Navy officer, was under consideration.

He said that Pakistan’s future course of action in the matter would be decided after investigations are completed.

LAHORE BLAST: The spokesman objected to last Sunday’s bombing in Lahore being described as an attack on the Christian community.

“I have seen some media reports labelling it as an attack to target Christians, buying what the terrorists are selling for a reason. Let me tell you that these terrorists have no religion and no faith. Those who lost their lives were all Pakistanis. And, I think the international community should see it as an attack on humanity,” he said.

He pointed out that the 78 victims belonged to various faiths, mostly Muslims.

RUSSIA: Updating the media about the deportation of two groups of Pakistanis from Russia last week, he said the matter was taken up with Russian officials in Moscow and Islamabad, who have pointed out several shortcomings on the part of passengers.

“The reasons given to us were that when the immigration officer asked them questions, their replies were not matching with the visas which were issued to them. There were also some other deficiencies like they did not have booking of hotels which is an essential requirement under their immigration rules,” he said.

Mr Zakaria said Pakistan would remain engaged with the Russian government to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

APP adds: On Pakistani team’s visit to Pathankot, the spokesman said the team would submit its findings after its return to the country.

On progress made on Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline during the Iranian president’s visit to Islamabad, he said Pakistan was interested in the project for which negotiations had been going on since 1992.

Besides IPI, many other energy projects including Central Asia South Asia (CASA 1000), Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan-India (Tapi) and import of Liquefied Natural Gas from Qatar were on the cards, he said.

Mr Zakaria said that under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, projects worth $33.8 billion were related to energy production.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2016