Daily Times

AMRITSAR/ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz – after attending Heart of Asia conference in India – said that ‘blaming any country for terrorism would not bring peace in the region’.

Addressing an ‘emergency’ press conference in Islamabad, Sartaj said that he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval among others on the side-lines of the conference.

Aziz said that the Indian media tried to pressurise Pakistan in the context of terrorism during the conference and that he was stopped by the Indian government from holding the decided press conference after Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar earlier.

– ‘Pakistani journalists mistreated’ –

Indian officials also mistreated the Pakistan journalists who went to India to cover the event by stopping them from talking to Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit.

“No one can stop me from speaking to these people,” Basit scolded the Indian official. “These are Pakistani journalists and these are my people. No one can stop me from speaking to them,” he said. Embarrassed, the Indian official backed off and apologised the Pakistani High Commissioner to India – who was in Amritsar for the Heart of Asia conference.

READ MORE: Basit cautions Indian official on stopping Pakistani journalists

Earlier, Aziz said that concerted action is needed for peaceful resolution of regional conflicts and the‘blame games’ will not help toward achieving peace – which is needed to boost regional cooperation and communication.

Alluding Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s allegations of Pakistan giving ‘sanctuary’ to terrorists, Aziz said that such blame games will not bring peace to Afghanistan.

Aziz said that Pakistan’s attendance at the conference – despite escalating tensions with India – shows Pakistan’s resolve to establish peace in Afghanistan and the overall region.

The Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process was launched in 2011 with the objective to boost economic and security cooperation.Its members include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the United Arab Emirates.

The initiative has the support of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Finland, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Britain and the United States.