ISLAMABAD - The government yesterday told the national assembly that foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India will meet next month to decide modalities of the comprehensive bilateral dialogue while consultation for Afghan peace talks would also be started in days ahead.
“Dialogue between Pakistan and India is heading in the right direction. It doesn’t mean all the matters will be resolved very soon... (But) the process and consultations to initiate the dialogue would be started soon,” Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told the assembly.
Opposition parties the other day (Thursday) had asked government to brief parliament about recent bilateral meetings between Pakistan and India on different matters.
“Heart of Asia was successful conference. Hopefully, there will be progress in negotiation from both sides,” Aziz said while giving a policy statement.
The new process included all the subjects of the Composite Dialogue and some additional issues, he said, adding that the government would seek guidance from standing committees on foreign affairs of both the houses of the parliament.
Sartaj Aziz said as announced in the Joint Statement, Pakistan and India agreed to discuss peace and security, CBMs, Jammu & Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project, economic and commercial cooperation, counter-terrorism, narcotics control and humanitarian issues, people to people exchanges and religious tourism.
Aziz expressed the hope that the dialogue process between Pakistan and India would bring about improvement in relations between the two countries, which would reduce tension on the Line of Control.
About cricket series, Aziz said that the matter of cricket series was not on official agenda. “This matter was discussed during meal timing. As, she (Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj) said that since relations between the two countries were getting better, so it would have positive impact on the cricket also,” he added.
About Afghanistan, he said it was too early to assess when Murree II (parlays between Afghan Taliban and Kabul government) could take place but at least the process of consultation for it would begin soon.
"All four countries involved in this process - Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and the US - have agreed to devise a mechanism to resume the reconciliation process on priority basis," he said.
It had been proposed to constitute a Joint Steering Committee to oversee the process, he said, adding that in the coming weeks "we will be working for implementing these decisions…”
Sartaj Aziz said the Heart of Asia Conference lauded Pakistan’s role for peace and stability in the region. He said Pakistan's role and commitment for facilitating peace talks was recognised by all members of the conference.
“9th December was a historic day in the diplomatic history,” he claimed. One important breakthrough of the conference, he said, was the arrival of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Pakistan, which has improved tense relations between the two counties while the other success was participation of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the conference.
The outcome of the conference, as clear from the Joint Declaration, was to bring durable peace and stability in Afghanistan. He said that important bilateral and trilateral meetings were held on sidelines of the conference. The theme was security situation in Afghanistan, improvement in relations of the two countries and reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
Sartaj Aziz said bringing peace in Afghanistan was very vital for the region and all the regional states and international community should jointly work to bring peace to the war-torn country.
MNA Essa Noori from Balochistan, on point of order, said that the local residents of Gwadar were facing problems due to unnecessary checking. “Even locals are not allowed to enter without showing particular cards,” he said.
Responding on the matter, Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanvir said that ban on entry of the locals without cards in Gwadar was not understandable and promised to look into the matter. He said that future of the country depends on the development of Gwadar. “Incumbent government is making it an international hub,” he said.
Meanwhile, the house was informed that there was no mechanism / procedure test in the medical field which can determine the exact date of birth /age of person.
“There are however Atlas’s e.g ‘paediatric atlas of Greulich and Pyles Skeletal Maturity of Hand & wrist’ which can be used to assess the bone age of person with an accuracy of about 6-12 months before the age of 25 years,” Minister In-charge of the Capital Administration and Development Sheikh Aftab said while responding a question during the question hour.
Minister, in a written reply, said that after 25 years there was no known method whereby a person’s age could be determined.