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ISLAMABAD, March 13: Pakistan will be sending a team to Washington to explore ways to bolster its energy security through enhanced collaboration and prop up US investment in the country’s energy sector.
This was announced by Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam at a weekly news briefing here on Monday. She was reading out the Pakistan-US joint statement issued after the delegation-level talks between the visiting US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri earlier in the day.
The spokesperson said the visit would be decided next week or so.
The joint statement mentions the Energy Security Plan (2005-30) prepared by Pakistan, which forecasts a seven-fold increase in total primary consumption and an over eight-fold increase in the requirement of power over the next 25 years.
The spokesperson said ‘specific proposals’ had been discussed but refused to go into details. “The two sides briefed each other on their plans and various ideas. I would not go into details.”
“Secretary Bodman’s visit symbolises the strengthened and expanded relationship between the United States and Pakistan over the last five years,” says the statement.
Answering a question, Ms Aslam maintained that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project did not figure in talks. About the US reservations on the project, she said: “Yes, US views are well-known but our position on the gas pipeline from Iran is also very well-known.”
AFGHANISTAN: The spokesperson refuted reported charges by an Afghan official about Pakistan’s involvement in Sunday’s suicidal attack on former Afghan President Sibghatullah Mujaddedi.
“We have already rejected the baseless and unfounded allegations made against Pakistan,” she said, pointing out that Pakistan had condemned the terrorist attack.
She referred to President Karzai’s statement that at the moment there was no evidence about who actually was behind the attack and that investigations were under way.
When asked what the weather was like between Pakistan and Afghanistan after the Centcom chief’s visit to Islamabad, Ms Aslam quipped: “I think weather has cooled down after the rain!”
“We want best of relations with Afghanistan,” she said.
Referring to certain allegations made from the Afghan side, she said President Musharraf had made very clear and emphatic statements in which he had questioned the logic of disclosing intelligence information to media.
About the question of human rights violations in Kashmir, the FO spokesperson said it remained a source of concern for Kashmiris as well as Pakistan.
“We do hope that while there are confidence-building measures between Pakistan and India Indian authorities would be taking steps to ensure that Kashmiris also have some respite.”
US RIGHTS REPORT: Answering a question on US State Department’s annual human rights situation report that points to violations in Pakistan, she said Pakistan had already rejected the report and said it (report) had made ‘sweeping’ statements and ‘baseless’ allegations.
