Pakistan firmly believes that a stable, secure, strong and prosperous Afghanistan is in its national interest since our destinies are linked economically, ethnically and historically, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said here on Monday.
In her weekly press briefing, she said "we want to see a secure Afghanistan because revival of Pakistan's historical linkages with Central Asia depend on peace in Afghanistan, therefore, we are doing what we can to contribute to Afghanistan's stability, to its reconstruction in our own national interest."
She said that a Nato delegation has arrived in Islamabad to discuss details of an agreement to be signed by two sides under which Pakistan would provide logistic support facilities to the allied forces in Afghanistan.
UPDATE ON PAKISTAN-INDIA PEACE PROCESS She said that under the peace process Pakistan and India had agreed to conduct joint survey of the Sir Creek to resolve this outstanding problem.
"When the Defence Secretaries of the two countries met to discuss Sir Creek issue it was agreed that their experts would meet on August 23 and 24, 2006 in Islamabad to finalise modalities for joint survey" she added. However, we have not yet received any information from the Indian side till Monday (August 21) whether their delegation was coming or not.
It may be recalled that India postponed Foreign Secretaries level talks to review the progress of third round of composite dialogue in Delhi last month after train bomb blasts in its financial capital Mumbai. Tasnim said "our policy on war against terrorism is very clear; we co-operate with the international community on the basis of evidence, and information.
"We have repeatedly said that if India were to share evidence with us like other members of the international community we would be willing to co-operate with India as well; but we cannot accept baseless allegations" she emphasised.
She confirmed that though India has conveyed to Pakistan High Commission that Pakistani diplomats cannot go outside the Municipal limits of the Indian capital, but the Foreign Office has not received anything from the Indian government or the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
"The two countries have a regime, which requires advance notice and permission for travelling outside the capital and this regime needs updating and improvement and the process of doing that has already started" she added.
However, she said that Pakistan was following a liberal policy with diplomats and the Indian diplomats are allowed to go to Murree and Rawalpindi without permission though these two cities are out of the Federal Capital Territory and part of the Punjab province.
About the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's proposal for greater contacts between Kashmiris across the Line of Control, the spokesperson said that Pakistan was the first to propose that there should be linkages across the LoC. Kashmiries should be able to meet each other.
She said that President Musharraf had suggested that Pakistan and India should make the LoC irrelevant for the Kashmiries, but at the moment Pakistan wants to focus on implementing the agreement which has already been reached.
She said "we know that the Kashmiries have been complaining that because of very complicated procedure for crossing the LoC, they have not been able to avail of the facilities. They also want more contact and easy travel conditions; we would therefore stress that the arrangement that are already in place should be fully utilised."
PURCHASE OF F-16: The spokesperson said lot of speculative reports are being published to give the impression as if Pakistan has accepted some unusual terms for the purchase of F-16 from the United States.
Clarifying the actual position, she said that the proposed deal has been cleared the US Congress and next step and procedure would be a formal letter of offer from the US Administration to Pakistan and a formal letter of acceptance from our side. She said "we are still in initial phases and have not yet received a letter of offer, therefore a stage of acceptance of terms of the deal has not yet arrived.
LEBANON: Tasnim Aslam said Pakistan has not yet taken a decision to send its troops to take part in peace mission in Lebanon under the UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
"Pakistan has a long standing policy of contributing troops to the UN peace keeping missions around the world; normally we want fulfilment of two conditions, (a) UN umbrella and (b) acceptance of mandate by all parties involved in the conflict, but in this particular a decision would be taken on the basis of ground realities she added.
She said the main purpose of King Abdullah of Jordan's visit to Pakistan is to hold discussions and exchange views on the Middle East situation with Pakistani leadership.
ISREAL'S RECOGNITION: She denied that Pakistan was holding any sort of talks to recognise Israel. "We have always said that the process towards Pakistan's recognition of Israel depended on the progress of peace process and establishment of a viable Palestinian state and a just solution of the Middle East question."
She said "when our foreign minister met with Israeli foreign minister in Turkey it was in a specific context as Israeli had vacated Gaza. "Pakistan wanted to demonstrate that as Israel moves towards a just solution of the Palestinian question, willingness of Pakistan's recognition of Israel would be correspondent towards that direction.
LONDON AIRPORT TERRORISM PLOT: The spokesman declined to give details of the investigation of the London airport terrorism plot, saying it would be at the cost of compromising the end result of inquiry. "It is in the larger interest of everyone that we get to the bottom of this terror plot and we are able to ensure that no link remains unearthed and no link is missed."
At the moment, she said Pakistan, UK, US and others are in the process of investigation, once we have full picture, we will share it with you," she added.
MATIUR REHMAN STILL NOT ARRESTED: She denied that al Qaeda operator Matiur Rehman who is wanted in connection with attempt on the life of the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan has been arrested.
She said "he is one of the most wanted people in Pakistan and his arrest would be a very good news but unfortunately the law enforcing agencies have still not been able to arrest him.
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