Pakistan on Thursday declared that its principled position on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir remains unchanged and Kashmir is on the agenda of Pakistan-India dialogue, whenever it takes place. "Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest outstanding issues on the UN agenda. There are numerous UN Security Council resolutions, pending their implementation, which envisage the right to self-determination for the Kashmiris," Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said when asked to comment on the British Secretary of State's comments.
British Secretary of State Philip Hammond during his recent visit to Pakistan stated that the issue of Kashmir should not be a pre-condition for the talks between the two countries and that there were other tactical issues in which both the sides can cooperate. Zakaria welcomed the Pakistan-US joint statement, issued after the recently held Strategic Dialogue in Washington, which reiterates the recognised fact by mentioning Kashmir as a dispute between the two countries.
He further said that Pakistan continued to extend its steadfast moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle for realisation of their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
"There has been no change in Pakistan's principled position on Jammu and Kashmir dispute. We have always condemned human rights violations by the Indian security forces. This support will continue till the implementation of pending UN Security Council resolutions," he said, adding Pakistan will also take every opportunity to raise the issue of gross human rights violations in IOK at international forums. To a question, he said that Pakistan remains committed to counter-terrorism efforts, adding that Pakistan is not the only country facing the menace of terrorism but this scourge is a challenge for the regional countries as well as the phenomenon is global. "Our position is that Pakistan supports all efforts towards eliminating terrorism and extremism," he added.
On Pakistan's cricket team participation in T20 World Cup in India, he said that Pakistan believed in people to people contacts. "We believe that it is a good Confidence-Building-Measure (CBM) and has also been among the strands of the Pakistan-India dialogue," he added.
However, he added that the way Pakistani artists and sportsmen were treated in India was counter-productive in the context of confidence building that the people to people contacts help build. "It is not helpful that when efforts are undertaken at the leadership level for confidence building and to reduce the tension, such efforts are undermined at the local level," he said, adding that from time to time, such events have been reported in the press and we take note of that.
He further said that Pakistan's policy was based on the Prime Minister's vision of 'good neighbourly relations', including with India. About the hardship being faced by the countrymen in getting Indian visas for the T20 World Cup matches, he said that the Ministry took up visa-related issues depending on the nature. However, he stated that Foreign Embassies/Consulates were independent (sovereign) in their decisions to issue or deny visas. "It is up to their policy as to how they assess every case," he added.
Regarding the Afghan peace process, he said that the countries under Quadrilateral Co-ordination Group (QCG) were making concerted efforts to that end. "It has been our consistent position that a politically-negotiated settlement is the most viable option for bringing lasting peace to Afghanistan.
"This can only be achieved through an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led reconciliation process. Pakistan's role along with the other two QCG members is to facilitate the process for a meaningful outcome," he said. In the QCG meetings, he said that they had agreed to continue joint efforts for peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban under the principle of shared commitment. "We will continue to play our sincere role in this regard. President Ghani has renewed the invitation to all the groups," he said, adding that it was a "shared" responsibility of all the QCG members to bring the Taliban and other groups to the negotiation table.
He said that date for the next meeting of the QCG had not yet been decided, adding that Pakistan has offered to host talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban/other groups in this regard, which the QCG members welcomed. To another query, he said that Prime Minister was visiting Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the King to witness the closing ceremony of North Thunder Military Exercise Pakistan's participation in the military coalition is aimed at contributing against extremism and terrorism, he added.
When asked to comment on the media reports that Army Chief General Raheel Sharif had been proposed to be made Commander in Chief of the 34- nation military alliance led by Saudi Arabia, the spokesperson expressed his ignorance, saying he was not aware. About the number of Pakistanis in Saudi prisons, he said the number stands at 2393.
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