Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday welcoming all efforts to normalise relations between Pakistan and India said that peace in the region is key to security and development of the region.
“We are committed to have good relations with all neighbours in the region but the serious issues between India and Pakistan should be resolve through dialogue process,” Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said, in his weekly briefing here at Foreign Office.
Referring to recent telephonic conversation between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the spokesman said that Pakistan welcomes all efforts to normalize the bilateral relations. Referring to some statements, he said that Pakistan will take all appropriate actions and measures to protect its national interest.
To a question about the offer of the Indian prime minister to release Pakistani fishermen detained in India, the spokesperson said logistic arrangements were being finalised in this regard and exchange of detained fishermen will be made very soon as it took a while to complete the process.
Answering a question about cooperation to fight against terrorism, the spokesperson said that Pakistan has been making sincere efforts in this regard and already cooperating in the international community. He said that Pakistan has already clarified that there was no footprint of ISIL in Pakistan, although Pakistan has expressed its concern on its activities.
Commenting on Pak-Russia ties, the spokesperson said that Russian Federation is an important country and Pakistan had adopted a policy of constructive engagement with all the countries in the region and recent engagement with Russian Federation is in that context. He said that there had been up-ward trajectory in Pak-Russian bilateral relations and there had been very high level contacts from both the sides in this regard.
The spokesman clarified that bilateral relations of any two countries are always independent of any influence from any other country. To a question on the recent Yemen situation, the spokesperson said Pakistan has appreciated the efforts of the United Nations for starting Geneva talks to find a peaceful solution to the Yemen crisis.
He said that Pakistan also supported the efforts of the OIC foreign minister held recently in Jeddah where all the members of the OIC also spokes for the peaceful solution to the Yemen crisis. He said that Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz who attended the OIC foreign minister’s extra-ordinary meeting urged the muslim community to join hands to find a peaceful solution to the Yemen crisis.
To a question on the Iranian offer to help Pakistan in eradication of polio in Pakistan, the spokesperson said that India has neither showed its concern nor imposed any condition on Pakistani visitors if they had not been administered polio drops. He said that Iranian authorities had been administering polio drops to the children from Pakistan when they reach Iran on any airport.
