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ISLAMABAD, Feb 12: The Foreign Office on Monday made it clear that Pakistan had not yet taken any decision to abandon its plan of partially mining its troubled and porous international border with Afghanistan.
This was stated by Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam while responding to a question at a weekly news briefing here.
On Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri’s reported statement that Pakistan would not mine the border with Afghanistan, the spokesperson said she was not sure about what exactly he had said, adding: "These may just be media reports."
Ms Aslam pointed out that Pakistan’s armed forces tasked to work out modalities for selectively fencing and mining the border with Afghanistan had made certain recommendations. In this context she recalled President Musharraf’s statement during his recent interaction with the media that in the first phase Pakistan would only fence certain areas in the NWFP and then in Balochistan.
CANADIAN TEAM: The spokesperson told the news briefing that as a follow-up to the Canadian foreign minister’s visit to Pakistan last month, a seven-member inter-agency team from Canada had arrived here to discuss effective managing of the border with Afghanistan and alternative to laying landmines.
US COMMANDER’S STATEMENT: When her attention was drawn to US commander’s statement in Afghanistan that the US was authorised to take action against Taliban inside Pakistan’s territory, the spokesperson emphatically said: "No, this is not correct." Noting that the visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had also clarified this, she added: "Crossing into another country's territory is far too serious an issue to be determined by a junior commander in Afghanistan."
Her response to what made Pakistan believe that the US-led forces would in future not go for attacks inside Pakistan’s territory was: "Because in the fight against terrorism it is cooperation that would help."
Ms Aslam described President Musharraf's meeting with the US Defence Secretary earlier in the day as "very good" and said it was part of continuing dialogue between Pakistan and US at various levels.
TRADE WITH INDIA: On Pakistan's position on free trade with India, she categorically stated: "We have trade relations with India but free trade or complete normalisation of relations between these two countries would depend on the progress that we are able to make on the core disputes."
On whether New Delhi's plan to buy military hardware worth $10 billion would have a negative bearing on the ongoing India-Pakistan peace process, Ms Aslam said: "We do not want an arms race and if there is widening asymmetry between the conventional forces of Pakistan and India it does not help."
On Pakistan’s dispute with India over the Baglihar dam, she emphasised that the verdict of the neutral expert would be binding on both the parties.
At the outset, the spokesperson announced that the inaugural session of the Pakistan-US Joint Committee on Science and Technology would take place in Washington on February 13-14.
In reply to a question regarding the under discussion Pakistan-specific US bill, she said Pakistan was in touch with the US administration and Congress on this matter.
