Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday denied any communication from the United States or Afghanistan regarding on-going reconciliation talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban - a plan to persuade Taliban to end bloodshed in the war-ravaged country and said 'if Islamabad is left out' of the process, it would not succeed.
"The whole world has acknowledged that Pakistan is part of solution and any step towards dialogue sans Pakistan, would not succeeded," said Gilani while addressing the Diplomatic Correspondents Association (DCAP) at PM House.
Gilani said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had yet to share with Pakistan the details of his plan, however he did not hint at following the strategy saying 'if Afghans share their plan with us, then will decide whether to be a part of that or not'. The US-backed plan unveiled by President Karzai at London conference earlier this year is aimed at persuading the reconcilable Taliban into the Afghan political fold in an effort to end years of bloodshed in the war-ravaged country. The Prime Minister made a categorical statement that Islamabad was not engaged in 'war against terror' at someone else's behest, saying 'war was our own'.
"We are not fighting a proxy war and my army is not mercenary," the PM stressed, adding that "we shall never compromise our sovereignty and foreign policy would be in the best interest of the country." He said 'dictators have made many compromises in this regard'.
When asked about failure to achieve any breakthrough in repairing strained relations with India, the Prime Minster enumerated several meetings with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh wherein, he said, both of us agreed not to make two nations (Pakistan and India) hostage of one issue, the Mumbai attacks. However, the Indian PM may have succumbed to internal pressure, which is the cause of delay in dialogue.
The only way forward for India and Pakistan, is dialogue. I have had some productive exchanges with my Indian counterpart and am disappointed that the promise of those meetings has not yet been realised. Full resumption of the dialogue process has yet to happen. We remain seriously concerned over the prevailing situation in Indian occupied Kashmir. Pakistan shall continue to extend its full moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their just cause, he added.
He said that America is in a position to play an important role in resolving the Kashmir issue. Responding to a question about civil nuclear deal with the US since Islamabad had suffered a great loss in the war against terror, the PM said that no one has ever denied the fact that we have paid a huge price in this war and President Obama acknowledges our sacrifices.
Pakistan is a responsible nuclear State. Our nuclear capability is only for deterrence. We are well aware of the responsibilities that come with this status. Strategic stability in South Asia is important for ensuring peace, he said.
Gilani stated that Pakistan's presence in the Nuclear Security Summit 2010 is recognition of our nuclear programme and 'yes' we are demanding a civil nuclear deal similar to India. When asked about government policy towards Iran in the backdrop of Foreign Minster Shah Mehmood Qureshi statement, he said: Iran had no justification to pursue nuclear weapons, he said that Iran is an important neighbour, a friend and a partner. The Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project is one of the symbols of our quest for shared prosperity. We support a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. Any other course could have disastrous consequences for the region as a whole, he added.