ISLAMABAD: Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said that India is trying to score political points and divert attention from the Jammu Kashmir issue.
He said this while speaking to a Chinese delegation from the China Association for Friendship (CAF) on the invitation from the Centre for Research and Security Studies. The delegation was led by CAF Deputy Secretary General Chen Shaoxin and bolstered by prominent scholars, professors and researchers.
Peking University’s Centre for South Asian Studies Executive Deputy Director Wang Xu, Centre for South Asian Studies Director Ye Hailin, and Li Wei from the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations were also included in the CAF delegation. The Pakistani delegation was led by renowned security specialists including Dr Shoaib Suddle and Imtiaz Gul.
Sartaj said that the fact of the matter was that Pakistan has made remarkable progress in the last few years against the menace of terrorism. He said that the armed forces of Pakistan have destroyed infrastructure and enemy hideouts, while a clean-up operation was being coordinated through various intelligence-led operations across Pakistan.
The adviser said that the anti-terrorism operation has taken special care to completely eliminate any members or infrastructure of the East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) presence in Pakistan. “Enemies of China are enemies of Pakistan. We cannot and will not allow them to take any refuge in Pakistan,” he added.
Speaking on Pakistan’s strategy to move forward, he said, “The state was following a three-pronged strategy. First, Pakistan was strictly following a policy of non-interference. Second, Pakistan was determined not to allow any part of its soil to be used for the nefarious purposes of terrorism and lastly, Pakistan was keen to promote reconciliation and dialogue to facilitate peace in the region, especially in the Afghanistan’s peace process.”
He said that Pakistan cannot accept the Indian dominance narrative perpetrated by a very vocal and aggressive Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. “Even if we cannot immediately solve Kashmir, it does not mean we cannot talk about it. We have to come to the table and keep talking about political solutions. We may not make progress on one thing, but we will make headway in another,” he added.