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ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: Pakistan on Monday condemned bomb blasts in Mumbai that reportedly left at least 46 people dead and scores of other wounded.
“We deplore these attacks and sympathise with the victims and their families,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters at a weekly press briefing here.
“Civilians have been targeted, we condemn all acts of terrorism,” he said and added: “Such wanton targeting of civilians should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
KASHMIR ISSUE: The spokesman said Pakistan was a party to the Kashmir dispute and made it clear that there could be no durable settlement to the issue without Pakistan’s active involvement and consent.
He said there could be no dialogue on Kashmir without Pakistan as it was part of the dispute. He emphasized that India should initiate dialogue with Pakistan and Kashmiris on this issue.
In reply to a question, he maintained there had been no shift in the APHC’s policy towards Pakistan. He pointed out that the APHC had denied reports attributed to its chairman about direct talks with India on the Kashmir issue. On the contrary, the APHC had stated that there could be no solution to the Kashmir dispute without Pakistan’s participation, he added.
Mr Khan said the Pakistan government was “not forced” to write to the UN Security Council to draw its attention to the Kashmir dispute. He said Kashmir was on the agenda of the UN Security Council and Pakistan wrote the letter to keep it abreast of the security situation in South Asia, which he described as “still very volatile”.
The objective was also to urge the international community to ask India to end repression in Kashmir and resume a substantive dialogue process to address all outstanding issues including Kashmir, he added.
TALKS ON AIR LINKS: Mr Khan said talks on resumption of air links between Pakistan and India, which would be held in Islamabad on Tuesday, were a “good” sign. He expressed the hope that the talks would lead to early resumption of air links on the understanding that in the future there would be no unilateral withdrawal of this facility.
The spokesman rejected reports in the Indian press that claimed five Pakistani soldiers had been killed on the Line of Control. He said no Pakistani soldier had been killed, rather the Indian firing last week had claimed lives of six civilians, including a girl.
AL QAEDA HUNT: In reply to a question, Mr Khan said that Pakistan was committed to the search for the Taliban and Al Qaeda men. The search had been intense and aggressive and it continued as part of the war on terrorism, he said. “Pakistan has so far handed over about 500 suspected terrorists to the US authorities and the search for more goes on,” the spokesman maintained.
Responding to a question about expulsion of a Pakistani Embassy staffer in Nepal on the charge of using fake Indian currency, the spokesman said it was an unfortunate incident, adding that the charges were baseless.
He stated that no evidence of fake currency was given to the Pakistan envoy by the Nepal authorities. However, he added that such an incident could not undermine Pakistan’s relations with Nepal.
He said the matter had been resolved after negotiations with the Nepal foreign office that had issued a press statement in this regard. The spokesman said it was an attempt to divert attention from the two Indian businessmen who had been caught earlier in a similar currency fraud case.
Mr Khan ridiculed a report that the Indian government had approached the Nepalese government, seeking reduction in the strength of the Pakistani mission staff in Kathmandu. He said the staff strength of the Indian mission was around 300 compared to Pakistan’s skeleton staff at the embassy.
FM’s KABUL VISIT: The spokesman described Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri’s visit to Afghanistan as “very successful” and said the minister had taken up the issue of Pakistani prisoners languishing in jails in Afghanistan. He said Pakistan was making all necessary efforts in this regard.
When his attention was drawn to a statement made by the foreign minister in Karachi a day before that Pakistan had launched the operation in Mohmand Agency on a call by the US which was in contradiction to the earlier official position that the operation was launched on the request of the local people, the spokesman said: “I will have to check with the foreign minister what exactly he said.”
The spokesman downplayed Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali’s meeting with the head of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) in Saudi Arabia last week.
Clarifying a report that the latter had called on the prime minister, he said the prime minister did not meet the IGC delegation, adding that it was a “chance encounter” in Mecca. Without denying that it was the head of the IGC with whom the prime minister had a “chance meeting,” the spokesman said after the prayers a member of the IGC had approached the prime minister and the two exchanged pleasantries.
Asked if the head of the IGC had made a request for a visit to Pakistan, the spokesman said: “Not that I’m aware of.”
Responding to a question about Pakistan’s position on Taiwan’s decision to issue its own passports, the spokesman reiterated that Pakistan was fully committed to one-China policy and considered Taiwan as an “inalienable part” of China. He said Pakistan’s policy of not granting visas on passports issued by the Taiwan government would continue.
ME SITUATION: In reply to a question about the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and Pakistan extending recognition to Israel, the spokesman said Pakistan was closely watching the situation in the Middle East and how the roadmap was being implemented.
When asked about back-channel diplomacy between Pakistani and Israeli diplomats, he categorically stated that there had been no official contacts with Israel. “There is no question of contacts, all we have done is to open the subject to discussion,” the spokesman emphatically said.
ASYLUM: In reply to a question, the spokesman confirmed that Pakistan’s deputy consul in Toronto was seeking an asylum in Canada. He told reporters that Pakistan had asked the Canadian authorities not to grant the Pakistani diplomat the asylum because he had been involved in financial irregularities.
