ISLAMABAD- Pakistan said that the onus to take initiative to resume composite dialogue between India and Pakistan now lies on India.
Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam in her weekly news briefing here on Thursday said India unilaterally cancelled scheduled Foreign Secretaries level talks without any valid reason.
She said Pakistan believes that peace in this neighborhood is important for development. However, there is no immediate break through expected in resumption of bilateral dialogue with India.
She said Pakistan acted in good faith and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif accepted invitation from India to attend oath taking ceremony of Indian Prime Minister NarendraModi.
The Spokesperson said relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan is widening and deepening after the installation of the new Government in Afghanistan. She reiterated that Pakistan wants stability, peace and prosperity in Afghanistan, and refuted reports that Pakistan is interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and hopes that other countries would do the same.
Answering a question, she said Pakistan is practicing the policy of non-interference in Afghanistan and expected that everyone else will practice non-interference.
She said the statements of Afghan leadership are very encouraging saying that they will not allow Afghan territory to be used against any neighbor and will also not allow proxy war on its territory.
Speaking about the possible visit by US President Barrack Obama later on this month, TasnimAslam said that as yet, Obama is not scheduled to visit Pakistan after his trip to India.
She confirmed that few suspects have been taken into custody on the suspicion of walk chalking for Islamic State (IS) group in Multan and other parts of the country. She said that the suspects are not from IS and investigations are underway.
