Islamabad: Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah on Thursday urged India to do away with the practice of hurling “unsubstantiated terror allegations against Pakistan.”
“Such a practice undermines efforts to eliminate terrorism from the region in a collaborative manner,” the spokesman remarked.
Speaking at the weekly FO briefing, he said terrorism was not an issue for only India or Pakistan but a global problem that needs to be tackled with joint cooperation.
He expressed hope that India would share findings of the Samjhota Express attack investigations with Pakistan.
The spokesman said India and Pakistan are in touch to finalise the dates for foreign secretary level talks.
Commenting on the joint Indian-French statement on terrorism, issued at the end of the visit by French President Francois Hollande to India, the spokesperson said Pakistan’s sacrifices in the war against terrorism have been acknowledged by the world community.
Khalilullah said next round of the Quadrilateral Coordination Committee would be held in Islamabad on Feb 6 to discuss the road map for reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Refusing to comment on any media report regarding Pakistan’s mediation policy in the Middle East crisis, Khalilullah said that both Saudi Arabia and Iran have appreciated Pakistan’s role as a mediator to ease tensions between the two countries.
‘Pakistan has sought details from India about IAF bomb incident’
The FO spokesman said Pakistan had sought details from its high commission in New Delhi about dropping of bombs by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Rajasthan, which is close to Pakistan.
“We have seen media reports about the incident and sought more details from the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.”
According to reports in Indian media, loud explosions were heard when IAF jets “accidentally dropped bombs” in Rajasthan’s Barmer district on Tuesday.
There were also reports saying an IAF Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft shot down a balloon-like suspicious object in the same area.
IAF officials said the object was flying in from the western sector (implying Pakistani side) and was shot down on Tuesday morning.
“Between 10:30am and 11am today, an unidentified balloon-shaped object was picked up by IAF radar. An IAF fighter was launched which intercepted the object and brought it down. Further investigation is under way,” an IAF spokesperson said at the time.
No one was hurt nor was any damage caused to the property in the area, the spokesman in Jaipur said.
