Unprovoked hostile statements by Indian leadership against Pakistan pose a serious threat to peace and tranquility of the region, warned Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif. In a written reply to the Senate on Friday, Asif said that Indian involvement in sabotage and terrorist activities in Pakistan is a well established fact, adding that the arrest and confessional statement of Commander Jadhav, a serving Indian Naval Officer apprehended by Pakistani law enforcement agencies, has vindicated Pakistan's stance.
However, he stated that Pakistan strongly believes that continued, comprehensive and result-oriented engagement between the two countries is important for peace and prosperity of the region and beyond. He said that Pakistan is pursuing a policy of good relations with all the countries of the region, adding, "We have consistently strived to maintain close, cordial and mutually supportive relationship with our neighbouring countries."
He gave an overview of Pakistan's relations with the countries of the region along with the steps taken by the present government to improve the bilateral relations with the regional countries. With India, he said that Pakistan wants resolution of all outstanding issues including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. This policy has been consistently reiterated during high-level engagements, as well as, other official interactions, he said. "Unfortunately, our positive overtures have not been reciprocated by the Indian side," he added.
During the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Islamabad on December 08-09, 2015, he said that it was agreed to resume the bilateral engagement as a Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue (CBD). He said that it was decided that the foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet soon to work out modalities of the CBD. He said the two sides had decided to discuss issues including Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security, CBMs, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage, commercial and economic cooperation, counterterrorism, narcotics control and humanitarian issues, people-to-people exchanges and religious tourism. However, the Indian foreign secretary did not visit Pakistan to move ahead on CBD.
The Jammu and Kashmir remains the core dispute between Pakistan and India, he said, adding the continuing Indian denial of UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir dispute and the gross human rights violations in IoK by Indian occupation forces are matters of serious concern for Pakistan and the international community.
He pointed out that India has deliberately escalated tensions at the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary in order to try to divert the attention of the international community from the grave situation in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2018, he stated, the Indian forces have carried out more than 170 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the Working Boundary in just 24 days, resulting in the martyrdom of 11 innocent civilians, while injuring 48 others. "We continue to extend unflinching political, moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people at all forums including the sessions of the UN Human Rights Council, UNGA, OIC and through regular briefings to resident missions at MOFA," he added.
On Afghanistan, he said that Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Afghanistan, as Pakistan believes that peace and stability in Afghanistan is in the best interests of Pakistan.
He said that multiple leadership level and other visits including parliamentary delegations, senior diplomatic and military officials took place between the two countries. In addition, the leaders of the two countries held meetings on the sidelines of various international conferences, he added.
During an interagency delegation visit to Kabul in October 2017, he said, the two sides agreed to establish five working groups for wide ranging engagement between the two countries.
"We shared a comprehensive engagement plan titled, Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Solidarity (APAPS) with Afghanistan," he said, adding that the meetings of the working groups under APAPS will be held soon. Pakistan participated in the first meeting of the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers Dialogue on December 26, 2017 in Beijing. He said that the three sides reaffirmed their commitment to improving their relations, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, advancing connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and taking joint steps against terrorism and not to let any country, group or individual use their territory for violence anywhere.
To support Afghan peace and reconciliation process, Pakistan participated in all international initiatives including QCG, HoA-IP, SCO Contact Group of Afghanistan etc. "Pakistan desires to work together with Afghanistan to fight the menace of terrorism and cooperate on the matters of trade and transit, border management, Afghan refugees, security and counterterrorism," he added.
"For decades, Pakistan has been home to millions of our Afghan brethren," he said, adding, "We have extended 6,000 fully funded scholarships for Afghan students in Pakistan in addition, we, undertake capacity building programs for Afghans on various professions."
"Pakistan will continue to play its constructive role in the institution building and development in Afghanistan. We believe that our future is interlinked and we need to cooperate for peaceful and prosperous future of our two peoples," he added.
Asif said that friendship with China is the cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy, adding that Pakistan and China are strategic cooperative partners. "Our robust partnership is based on principles of trust, cooperation and goodwill," he said, adding that the two sides have undertaken numerous measures in political, cultural, economic, defense and other fields to further enhance this relationship.
He said that the CPEC is progressing remarkably well and many CPEC projects are in implementation phase while extensive planning is underway on all others. These projects have played a significant role in redressing the energy crisis in the country by contributing thousands of megawatts to the national grid, he added.
He said that the relations with Iran are strengthening and bilateral exchanges have increased at the highest level. He said that Iranian President visited Pakistan in 2017 to attend the 13th ECO Summit held in Islamabad followed by visit of Foreign Minister Javad Zarif along with a high-level delegation in May 2017.
Asif said that he also visited Iran on September 11, 2017 which was followed by visit of Chief of Army Staff, Chairman Senate and the Speaker NA recently. Both the sides are engaged on concluding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and key economic mechanism such as Joint Economic Commission (JEC) are holding regular sessions, he added.
Pakistan and Iran also signed Banking and Payments Arrangement (BPA) agreement in April 2017, he said, adding that it will strengthen and improve the trade between the two countries in the coming years.
He further said that different mechanisms on border and security matters have been activated, including Joint Border Commission, High Border Commission and Special Security Committee. Both sides have also decided to resume a fortnightly passenger train service between the two countries by September 2018, he said, adding that it is also agreed that tourism would also be promoted through this train service.
Pakistan-Bangladesh relations are rooted in common history, he said, adding Pakistan has consistently strived to maintain a forward looking approach in its bilateral relations with Bangladesh, though the ties with Bangladesh are at times weighed down by bitter memories and issues relating to 1971.
He said that the present government in Bangladesh continues to pursue the trials of alleged convicts of 1971. Pakistan has consistently urged the Bangladesh government to uphold its commitment as per the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, he said.
He said that Pakistan desires to move ahead keeping aside the events of the past, adding that the country has also a cooperation programme for Bangladesh which includes people-to-people contacts including visits of Bangladeshi journalists and students to Pakistan.
Asif said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka have consistently maintained close, cordial and mutually supportive relationship, adding that there is a regular leadership level interaction between the two countries.
In order to enhance bilateral trade with Sri Lanka and to achieve the objective of US$1 billion bilateral trade, he said that Pakistan has launched Single Country Exhibition in Colombo on annual basis since 2016. He said that Pakistan's relations with other SAARC countries are also marked by cordiality and friendship.
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