ISLAMABAD, Jan 8: The government is considering sending delegations of politicians to various countries to explain Pakistan’s position on the current situation in South Asia and seek their support for peaceful settlement of issues.
This was stated by Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan in reply to a question at his press briefing here on Tuesday.
The spokesman said that when the government had finalized the proposed visits, it would be made known. Apparently, the idea is to reinforce the government’s efforts in this regard and obtain politicians’ support for peaceful resolution of the problems in the interest of regional peace.
The spokesman said the international community had largely appreciated Islamabad’s stand on the Indo-Pakistan military stand-off and urged New Delhi to take recourse to talks to resolve the issues that had led to tension. He expressed the hope that India too would eventually agree to de-escalation and withdrawal of troops from the borders to peace time locations, leading to the resumption of talks.
He reiterated that Islamabad had been all along asking India to provide evidence against those it wanted on the charge of terrorism. Pakistan would definitely examine the evidence and would be prepared to meet the Indian demand in the light of the examination of evidence under the country’s law, he said.
Asked for comment on a statement on Monday by British Prime Minister Tony Blair who had supported Indian case to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the spokesman said different governments had different perceptions on the issue. But, he added, it was clear that the matter could not be decided that easy or in a hurry; it was a complicated issue.
He pointed out that besides the issue of adding another permanent member to the existing five nations, which itself is a highly debatable matter, there were other questions as well, including the important question of qualifications to be a permanent member of the Security Council. All these questions would raise differing and conflicting arguments in the UN debates, he said.
AFP ADDS: Asked if there had been any change in the stand-off between India and Pakistan, the spokesman said: “For the moment no.”
“That does not mean we should be discouraged and give up our efforts of reducing tension and of moving to a resolution of all disputes through peaceful means,” he said.
“We remain steadfast in our resolve that all issues between Pakistan and India, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, should be resolved through bilateral talks,” Mr Khan said.