Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Friday said that his meeting with Indian counterpart Ajit Doval to discuss terrorism-related and recent Indian allegations will take place prior to the UN General Assembly session. Briefing Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Adviser also rejected the impression that Pakistan has abandoned its plan to raise the issue of the Indian and RAW's subversive activities to destabilise the country.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, during their recent meeting in Ufa, had agreed on the meeting of national security advisers (NSAs) of the two tries in New Delhi. Some reports claimed that the meeting may not take place after the recent Gurdaspur terrorist attack in Indian Punjab. However, Sartaj Aziz rejected the reports, terming these as speculations and said that the meeting would be held before the UN General Assembly session in September.
He told the committee that Prime Minister Sharif's meeting with Prime Minister Modi was arranged at the behest of India. He said that the meeting between the two NSAs was agreed to redress each other's concern regarding terrorism. Referring to the recent Indian allegations in the wake of Gurdaspur incident, Aziz said that Pakistan rejected the allegations and asked New Delhi to provide concrete evidence instead of levelling 'baseless' allegations of Pakistan's involvement in the attack.
In response to the threatening statement by Indian Home Minister, the Adviser said that Pakistan is capable enough of defending its national interests. "Terrorism is a common challenge which needs collective efforts...India needs to provide evidence instead of levelling baseless allegations," he said, adding that the recent tension was a matter of concern and Pakistan is well-prepared to defence itself. However, he said that Pakistan wanted to resolve all issued including Kashmir dispute through talks. He stated in categorical terms that no talks will be held with India unless Kashmir issue is made part of the agenda.
Briefing the committee, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said that during Modi's tenure tension on line of control (LoC) and the working boundary intensified. He said that Pakistan was expecting to pursue an economic agenda with Modi government but unfortunately New Delhi does not seem serious and instead accuses Islamabad of every terror incident inside India.
He said that Pakistan was taking up its case at international level including the UN platform. However, he clarified that Pakistan's Permanent Representative at UN Dr Maleeha Lodhi was not in Islamabad to prepare a case for the UN against Indian interference but she was called to finalise the engagements for the upcoming UN General Assembly. To various question about Kashmir, the foreign secretary said that there were a number of option to resolve the dispute on the table but he regretted that there has been no progress due to India's 'rigidity'.
However, he said that Pakistan was regularly taking up the issue of Kashmir at various international forums including the UN. The committee, which was presided over by its chairperson Nuzhat Sadiq, was given a detailed briefing on SCO Summit recently held in Ufa, Russia. Sartaj Aziz said that besides the SCO Summit, the Prime Minister also attended the Outreach Session of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries.
The most important outcome of the SCO Summit was the grant of full membership to Pakistan along with India, with a unanimous decision by all the member countries. Though in principle the membership has been granted, but some procedural formalities are required to be completed, such as, the accession to 28 agreements/MoUs of the SCO to formalise the membership which also pertains to anti-terrorism, narcotics control and trade/investment, etc, he said.
He said that Pakistan's legal experts were examining all the agreements particularly the one which relates to anti-terrorism efforts to check whether it also contains some clauses which have repercussions for Pakistan and India. On the sidelines of the SCO Summit, the Prime Minister held bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Russia, China, Afghanistan, besides the Prime Minister of India.
In his meeting with the Russian President, the Prime Minister congratulated President Putin on the successful conclusion of the SCO Summit and also thanked him for the continued support of Russia to Pakistan in attainment of full membership of the SCO. He said that the meeting with President Putin provided an important opportunity to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest. He said that Russia was interested to expand its relations with Pakistan in various fields including defence and economy. He further said that Russian side was also interested in agriculture sector of Pakistan.
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