- Says dialogue only solution to outstanding Pakistan-India issues
ISLAMABAD February 11: The Foreign Office on Thursday clarified that Daesh has no organized foothold in Pakistan.
The clarification came on the heels of a confessional statement made by Intelligence Bureau chief Aftab Sultan on Wednesday during a senate hearing that the network of Daesh has been dismantled in Pakistan.
The IB chief had also said that some sectarian outfits including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and individuals have been subscribing to the ideology of Daesh. “There is an emerging trend that the terrorist groups are re-organising while Daesh is an emerging threat to the country,” Sultan had told the senate committee.
In his weekly news briefing in on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that Pakistan was consistently supporting all regional efforts against terrorism and extremism and it was against Daesh and its supporters. He said that that was the reason that Islamabad has welcomed a 34-nation coalition against terrorism. He said that details and modalities of joining the coalition was being worked out at the experts’ level.
On Wednesdya, Pakistan Ulema Council also termed Daesh a ‘Khawarij’ (those who deviated from mainstream Islam).
This declaration was made at the international ‘Paigham i-Islam’ conference organised by the PUC. Mufti-e-Azam Palestine Al-Sheikh Muhammad Ahmed Hussein had presided over the event.
The spokesperson also said the fourth meeting of Quadrilateral Coordination Group on Afghanistan will be held in Kabul on 23rd of this month.
Answering a question, Zakaria said that dialogue is the only way to resolve all the outstanding issues with India. “No date has yet been fixed for foreign secretaries level talks between the two countries,” he said adding that “both sides are in constant touch with each other at various levels to sort out hurdles before the talks were held”.s
“India and Pakistan are also in contact regarding investigation into the Pathankot terrorist incident,” the FO spokesperson added.-Online
