A spokesman for the Foreign Office has rejected suggestions that various recent statements reflected a change in the traditional stance of Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute, saying Islamabad still believed that a solution to the problem could not be achieved without the approval of people of occupied Kashmir.
Addressing his regular news briefing here on Monday - first since last week's Summit Conference of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) here - Masood Khan told questioners that Pakistan and India had to respect the wishes of the Kashmiris.
The spokesman also rejected suggestions from various quarters that Pakistani and Indian leaders had entered into "secret deal" on the Kashmir dispute, saying there was nothing of the sort, and recalled a statement by President Musharraf that Islamabad will not seek a secret solution in this context and that all decisions will be made keeping in view the national interest.
Masood Khan described the recent Saarc summit as a successful event that took landmark decisions, saying Islamabad and New Delhi were working together to implement the decisions taken there, and promised to keep the media apprised of the progress.
At the same time, he hoped that the media will continue its constructive role that it had played when the Saarc leaders were meeting here.
Answering another question regarding reports that Pakistan had invited Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani to pay an official visit here, the spokesman said no decision had been taken so far in this connection.
He told another questioner that the two French electronic media persons arrested for "making a documentary about the fake Taleban camps in Pakistan", and convicted by a court last week were on their way home now. He did not say so but this must have been possible because of official suspension of their convictions.
However, he hoped that in future, the visiting foreign media-persons would respect the laws of the host countries and avoid getting into trouble.
Masood Khan also rejected a suggestion that the recent operation to flush out suspected Taleban elements in Wana (South Waziristan) was conducted at the behest of the US government.
He reminded his audience that Pakistan was wedded to a policy of anti-terrorism and recently had up-dated its laws, and made it a crime to fund such activities. He also refuted reports that American troops were also active along with the law-enforcement agencies in Wana operation.
He also spoke of plans to bring in the Muslim seminaries into the national mainstream, and shall provide funds for this purpose to reform their curricula.
About the Pakistanis still being held in Afghanistan, Masood Khan said they were being held for violation of the Afghan immigration laws and Islamabad was negotiating for their release with the Karzai administration.
When asked about the number of scientists the government was de-briefing about their role as revealed by the Iranian government in a report to the International Atomic Energy Authority, Masood Khan said those were very few, and they were still being questioned in the light of Iranian claims. He, however, was not specific about the number of persons, who were being "debriefed" in this connection.
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