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ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: Pakistan on Monday held out an assurance that it would abide by sanctions imposed on North Korea by the UN Security Council but declared that its diplomatic ties with the country would remain in tact.
“As a responsible member of the international community we will abide by the UN Security Council resolution (on North Korea). We, however, believe that sanctions are not an end in themselves and we would like to see the six-party talks resume at the earliest to find a solution to this crisis,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said in response to a question at a weekly news briefing here.
Asked if Pakistan also had its own plan of imposing sanctions on North Korea, she said ‘no’. She reiterated that Pakistan had always supported a negotiated and peaceful resolution of problems.
She, however, said Pakistan would continue bilateral cooperation with North Korea in other areas. “We do have diplomatic, political and trade relations with it (North Korea) and in areas which do not come under sanctions we will continue to maintain our relations,” she said.
NEW DELHI TALKS: The FO spokesperson confirmed that foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India would hold talks in New Delhi next month. She said the two sides were in the process of firming up the dates.
On Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks that India would test Pakistan’s sincerity on counter-terrorism once it provided credible evidence about involvement of elements in Pakistan in the Mumbai blasts, Ms Aslam said Pakistan had not yet received any evidence.
She noted that if the Indian premier’s reference was to the joint anti-terror institutional mechanism, it was not one-sided and both countries had agreed to help each other. “It is not one-way traffic. If Pakistan has to do and prove something, India has also to prove its sincerity and also its resolve not to support terrorism inside Pakistan,” she said.
She termed irresponsible the claim by the Mumbai police commissioner about having evidence of Pakistani intelligence agencies involvement in the Mumbai blasts. Referring to recent statements by the seven accused who said they were tortured to make confessions and sign on blank papers, she said: “It requires a little bit of humility now from the Indian side.”
UN SECRETARY-GENERAL: Answering a question regarding Pakistan’s expectation from the newly-appointed secretary-general of the United Nations in the area of international disputes, particularly the Kashmir issue, Ms Aslam said: “The UN secretary-general has very honourable responsibilities which range from peace and security to providing guidelines to various organisations of the UN involved in economic and other activities. Then he also has to encourage diplomacy in various parts of the world to resolve new and long-time disputes and in this context of course it is our expectation that the new secretary-general will also now play his role.
She said Pakistan had supported and welcomed the appointment of Ban Ki Moon as the new UN secretary-general and underscored that Pakistan believed he was well-equipped to handle the numerous responsibilities he had on his shoulders. She said having served as South Korea’s foreign minister and been associated with the UN he had the requisite experience and leadership skills to carry out the requirement of the job.
AFGHANISTAN: On the Afghan foreign minister’s rejection of President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s claim that resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan was an ethnic issue and his allegation that it was an attempt at playing down the threat of international terrorism, she said it was a belated reaction to a misrepresentation of remarks made by the president in the European Parliament and which had been clarified immediately. However, she said it was common knowledge that the Taliban were overwhelmingly Pakhtuns.
“It is also a well-known fact that the Taliban are conducting their operations inside Afghanistan with the help and assistance of local population,” she underlined. In this regard, she cited the UN secretary-general’s latest report on Afghanistan that identified centres and command structures of the insurgency inside Afghanistan. “The Afghan government needs to focus on addressing its internal problems of governance and I think that is very important,” she said.
When asked about proposed joint jirgas by Pakistan and Afghanistan, she said: “We have not received any proposal from the Afghan side.”
CHINESE PRESIDENT’S VISIT: In reply to a question, the FO spokesperson said it was too early to give the agenda of the Chinese president’s visit to Pakistan later this year because it was still being worked out.
Replying to another question, Ms Aslam said she was not aware of the schedule of the Pakistan army’s de-mining contingent that was supposed to leave for Lebanon.
