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No trade concession for India under Pak-Afghan deal
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Spokesman denies
Pakistan shared nuclear secrets with US
* Says Swat deal can be salvaged if Taliban lay down arms
By Sajjad Malik
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not give any trade concession to India
under a Pak-Afghan memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between
the two countries in Washington, said the Foreign Office on
Thursday.
“As far as our engagement with India in the context of a transit
route for Afghanistan is concerned, it is a separate issue
altogether, and will be discussed with India bilaterally and has
nothing to do with this MoU,” spokesman Abdul Basit told a weekly
briefing. He said the agreement clearly stated that Pakistan and
Afghanistan would negotiate to revise the existing Pak-Afghan
transit trade agreement of 1965.
Denial: Basit rejected a story by the Boston Globe that claimed
Pakistan had shared nuclear secrets with the US, and said details of
the nuclear programme were ‘sacrosanct’ and could not be shared with
any country. He said that Pakistan’s strategic assets were safe, and
concerns over their safety were ‘totally misplaced’.
The spokesman called on India to share all relevant information on
the Mumbai terror attacks, to help expedite investigations. He said
Islamabad was serious about bringing the perpetrators to justice. He
said it was necessary for Pakistan and India to resolve their
outstanding disputes, for lasting regional stability and peace.
Basit said the challenges Pakistan was facing were mostly “spillover
effects of the 30 years of conflict in Afghanistan, where the
Taliban still have large chunks of territory under their control”.
He confirmed that the Foreign Ministry had directed all foreign
missions to tighten security, and “this has been done on the basis
of some intelligence reports”. “Diplomatic corps have been asked to
take extra security measures,” he said.
Swat: He said if the Taliban agreed to lay down arms, there was hope
of salvaging the Swat peace deal. “The Swat peace deal was always
linked to the restoration of peace, and if there is no peace ...
there is no deal,” he said.
The spokesman said US drone strikes had been discussed in
Washington, and Pakistan hoped that the US would reconsider its
policy, because “the people and the government do not see these
strikes helping us in any way”.
About the president’s visit to the US, Basit said there was a
realisation in Washington over a shift from the “transactional
nature of the Pak-US relationship to a long-term, people-centric
partnership”.
About Dr Afia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist detained in the US on
terror charges – he said the Pakistani ambassador in Washington met
the US attorney general on April 13 to discuss the matter, and
efforts were underway to bring her back to Pakistan.
He said Pakistani students arrested by the UK were still in the
custody of that country’s border agency. He said President Asif Ali
Zardari would visit Britain on his way back from the US and meet
Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
“Our efforts at this stage are focused on preventing their
deportation to Pakistan, and we are committed to providing them the
legal assistance they require,” he added.
Source:
The News International: Friday 08,2009
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