Foreign Office on Friday confirmed Pakistan's participation in 12 countries' conference on Afghanistan scheduled for April 14, 2017 in Moscow which is likely to be attended by representatives of the Afghan Taliban. In his weekly media briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria while confirming Pakistan's participation in the conference said that the decision on the level of Pakistan's participation will be taken in due course.
"Pakistan firmly believes in an Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process, aimed at bringing all warring factions, including the Taliban, to the negotiating table...I would like to reiterate that Pakistan constructively participates in these meetings for pursuing lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan. We hope the deliberations in this meeting would be focused on this objective," he said. He declined to comment on a reported meeting of Afghan Taliban's representatives with Pakistani authorities in Islamabad recently with a view to persuade the insurgents to attend the Moscow conference, saying he would not comment on the media reports. But he neither confirmed nor denied Islamabad's hosting of the seven-member Taliban delegation to convince them for attending the conference on which the US has also been invited.
Moscow earlier hosted a six-country meeting on February 15, 2017, bringing together officials from Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Russia, Iran and India. Zakaria also declined to comment on the July 2015 leaked letter in which then Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has empowered former Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani with regard to issuance of official visas for US citizens travelling Pakistan. He said that the matter falls within the domain of Ministry of Interior as it devises policies related to issuance of visas and advised the media to refer their queries to that ministry.
Commenting on US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's apprehensions about recruitments for ISIS from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, he said that Pakistan has undertaken great efforts to eliminate terrorism from its roots in the country and has made significant successes.
"There is no presence of ISIS in Pakistan. What Tillerson expressed his concern about was ISIS efforts to recruit people from different countries. The recruitment could be done from any country from amongst the vulnerable people. On our part, we are determined to thwart any such attempt by any terrorist organisation," he added. He also reacted sharply to the US State Department's Country's report 2016 which has criticised Pakistan on account of human rights situation, describing it as "so-called" Country Reports on HR Practices for 2016.
"As a matter of principle, we do not recognise validity of unilateral approaches including reports sitting in judgement of other states. As such, these reports are invariably inherently flawed and lack objectivity. It comes as no surprise that as regard Pakistan, the Report is far removed from facts and depicts a grossly inaccurate and misrepresented picture," he added.
He said that Pakistan remains deeply committed to the promotion and protection of human rights of all its citizens, adding the government accords high priority to advancing the mutually reinforcing objectives of development, human rights and democracy for the people of Pakistan.
Referring to the grave human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir, he said that the country Report on Indian HR record for 2016 is a big question mark on the credibility and fairness of such accounts, adding during the assessment year, extrajudicial killing of a Kashmiri young man, Burhan Muzaffar Wani, led to the resurrection of a widespread peaceful movement for self-determination, which the Indian occupation forces tried to suppress brutally.
He said that over 150 defenceless Kashmiris were killed during the same period while use of pellet guns damaged eyesight of several hundreds of Kashmiri youth, more than 20,000 are injured with many in critical condition while thousands have been arbitrarily arrested with no reports of their welfare.
Referring to Pakistan Day celebrations across the country as well as in Indian occupied Kashmir, he said, "Pakistani flags were fluttering there and entire Jammu and Kashmir region was echoing with Pakistan's national anthem, which was a clear verdict by the Kashmiris, who they want to be with. And this happens every year and every day."
Responding to another query, he said that India's relentless arms-buying spree is driven by its desire for regional hegemony and global power status, adding Pakistan has never wanted to engage in any kind of arms race.
To another query, he said that Pakistan-Afghanistan border was reopened as a goodwill gesture and it is expected that the Afghan government will take measures to address the reasons that led to the closure of the border. He stated that the recent meeting in London between Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar also focused on the need for an institutional mechanism for counterterrorism cooperation, to which Afghan side was agreeable. "We hope that the two countries will work through the agreed mechanism for cooperation for preventing cross-border terrorism and enhancing bilateral interaction in different areas," he added.
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