- Says Pakistan open to Trump’s role in mediation on Kashmir
- Says despite India’s negative attitude Pakistan will attend Heart of Asia Conference
ISLAMABAD, December 1: Pakistan would not accept any pre-conditions for holding dialogue with India, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said on Thursday.
“It is always India that is putting up conditions for dialogue with Pakistan,” Nafees Zakaria said at his weekly briefing.
On the upcoming “Heart of Asia Conference” he said Pakistan would attend the meeting due to its commitment to Afghanistan’s peace and stability and “despite India’s negativity in scuttling SAARC process.
“India has been instrumental in scuttling the SAARC summit, and Pakistan despite all negativity of India is going to participate in the Heart of Asia Conference,” he said.
Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will attend the Heart of Asia Conference being held on December 3-4 in Amritsar, India.
Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that Pakistan believed in peaceful neighbourhood and regarded dialogue as the best option for resolution of issues. The Spokesman said the Heart of Asia Conference would follow the previous agenda as the 14 countries would take stock of the progress.
“Every country has its own share of bringing stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s participation means its commitment for peace and stability in Afghanistan,” he said.
Zakaria said the current phase of indigenous self-determination movement in Indian occupied Kashmir had entered into the fifth month and was continuing in the face of worst violations of human rights of defenceless Kashmiris at the hands of Indian occupation forces.
“The world has before it the unending sufferings and misery of those over a thousand Kashmiris, including children, who have been deliberately blinded,” he said.
He said the doctors in Indian occupied Kashmir expressed their dissatisfaction and rejected “as ambiguous” the report compiled by the Ophthalmology Pathologists in India, suspecting that there was something else about the pellet shots which were causing insides of the eye to turn into a charcoal-like substance.
Zakaria said that Pakistan had been insisting on ‘independent fact finding mission to the IoK’ and similar demands from UN High Commissioner in Geneva, OIC and OIC Contact Group’s Members had not been met.
On India’s growing relations with Israel and Bangladesh, the Spokesman said that Pakistan without out commenting on bilateral relations between any two countries, however stressed that ties should not affect the third country.
On Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement refuting media reports of negotiations with Pakistan regarding its inclusion in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Spokesman said “the statement is self-explanatory”.
Whether Pakistan could unilaterally offer other countries to join CPEC, Zakaria said “CPEC is the project of both China and Pakistan and both countries would decide as how and what sort of indulgence and participation of other countries would be made in CPEC and CPEC-related projects”.
He said that Pakistan-Russia relationship was growing steadily and “we give high importance to it”.
The Foreign Office Spokesperson on has said that Islamabad would welcome US President-elect Donald Trump if he offers to play the role of mediator between Pakistan and India. Speaking at the weekly press briefing, FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that on several occasions during his election campaign, Trump had offered to play the role of mediator as tensions escalated between the two countries on account of the situation in Kashmir.
About the telephone call between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Trump, Zakaria said the premier’s call to the US president-elect was only a courtesy call. He said that if Trump visited Pakistan, the country would welcome him, adding that Islamabad’s ties with Washington should be viewed in their historical context. “We value our ties with the US and wish for them to progress,” Zakaria said.-DNA/Agencies
