ISLAMABAD, January 11: Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz says Pakistan is firmly committed to continue serious efforts for long term peace and stability in the country.
He was inaugurating the first meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Committee on Afghan peace process in Islamabad on Monday.
Representatives of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States
are participating in the meeting. Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan values its brotherly and neighbourly relations with Afghanistan. He pointed out that the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia in Islamabad last month provided impetus to our quest for lasting peace in Afghanistan. The meeting on the sidelines of the Conference
between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ashraf Ghani as well as quadrilateral interaction among Pakistan, Afghanistan, US and China reflected important consensus on the way forward on Afghan peace and reconciliation process. He said on 27th of last month, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif visited Afghanistan and had useful
interaction with the Afghan side for strengthening the security and counter-terrorism cooperation through Continued on page 7
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intelligence sharing and facilitating the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.
He said today’s meeting of the Quadrilateral Groups has a great significance. He said the foremost task of the Group is to define the overall direction of the reconciliation process along with goals and
targets to set with a view to creating conducive environment for holding directing talks between Afghan Government and Talibal groups.
The Advisor expressed the confidence that the meeting will be able to evolve an efficient procedural framework to provide the basis for
smooth functioning of the group. In this regard it is important to underline that the Terms of Reference have to be consistent with the objective and mandate of the group.
He said primary objective of the reconciliation process is to create conditions to bring the Taliban Group to the negotiating table. He said it is important that pre-conditions are not attached to the negotiations process. He said there should be distinction between reconcilable and irreconcilable groups and how to deal with the irreconcilable groups. He pointed out that CBMs can play a key role
in encouraging Taliban to join negotiating process. He said the roadmap should be realistic and flexible. Sartaj Aziz expressed the confidence that the Quadrilateral Group will have constructive and meaningful deliberations focusing on all relevant issues and charing the way forward to achieve lasting peace in Afghanistan through a politically negotiated settlement.
