Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday that country’s civil and military leadership was on the same page and the Pakistani nation was proud of its armed forces.

Speaking at the weekly briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said that Pakistani armed forces rendered huge sacrifices for the country and nobody could create a rift between the armed forces and the people of Pakistan.

Zakaria said that Pakistan required additional information from India about the Mumbai terror attacks. In this regard, he said, the Pakistani foreign secretary wrote a letter to his Indian counterpart and asked for more evidence relating to the attacks. He said that Pakistan wanted to take the Mumbai terror attacks case to its logical end. He said that Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav was still being interrogated. He said that Pakistan took up this issue with the United Nations and other forums.

The spokesperson said the leadership of both Pakistan and India was trying to improve the bilateral relations. He said that people-to-people contacts between the two countries were important. He said there were only a handful of extremist groups in India who were against Pakistani artists, but most of the Indians were in favour of them. He said that dialogue was the only way to ease tension between India and Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was ready for a dialogue with India.

Referring to Pakistan’s membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Zakaria said it was a victory of Pakistan’s foreign policy. He expressed his disappointment at the loss of lives in a terrorist attack at the Istanbul airport in Turkey that killed 41 people and injured more than 200. He said Pakistan condemned attack. He said that no Pakistani had been reported injured or dead in the attack.

The spokesperson said that Pakistan wanted Afghan refugees to return home in a dignified manner. For this purpose, he said, Pakistan wanted serious negotiations with Afghanistan and the UNHCR. He said that Afghan refugees’ stay in Pakistan had been extended up to December 31. He said that currently more than three million Afghan refugees were living in Pakistan and half of them were unregistered.

Answering a question about Pakistan’s influence over the Taliban, Zakaria said that Pakistan had agreed to play facilitator’s role in collaboration with the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) for peace in Afghanistan, but some countries considered Pakistan’s role in this regard vital. He dispelled the impression that the QCG was dead. He said that Pakistan and other QCG members wanted to revive peace in Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan was in favour of Afghan government’s reconciliation with all warring groups. He confirmed that US Senator John McCain would visit Pakistan soon.

Zakaria said that Pakistan-US relations should not be seen through the prism of F-16 deal only. He said the US approved F-16 for Pakistan in principal, but there were differences between the two countries over funding for the aircraft deal. He said that Pakistan would make any decision on the Missile Technology Control Regime keeping in view its own interests.