ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Thursday expressed the hope that new commander of Isaf (International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan would seriously address the critical issue of cross-border infiltrations into Pakistan.
“We have yet to see what difference the new commander makes in addressing the critical issue,” Foreign Office Spokesman Moazzam A Khan said at weekly pressing briefing in response to a question about appointment of incumbent Isaf commander General John Allen as Nato Supreme Commander in Europe. When asked about the inflexible Indian stance on Kashmir issue‚ the spokesman said Pakistan has a clear position on the issue. Downplaying the statements of Indian representative in UN, he said that Islamabad and New Delhi desire to resolve all issue bilaterally.
“Both the countries are capable of resolving all the issues bilaterally. However‚ if Russia‚ the US or China are willing to play their role to address the issues between Pakistan and India‚ they are welcome”, he added.
On growing relations between Pakistan and Russian Federation, he said that Islamabad’s diplomatic engagement with Moscow was moving in the right direction and both countries would aim to expand cooperation in various fields. To another question, he said COAS Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani had an historical visit to Russia and all fields of bilateral interest came under discussion.
When asked about new date for the visit of Russian president‚ he said President Vladimir Putin in a letter to President Zardari had expressed his keenness to have a summit level meeting with him soon. “Both the countries are working on new dates. However no date has yet been finalised.” The spokesman further said on October 15-16, President Zardari is expected to pay an official visit to Baku to attend a meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation Summit. President Zardari will pay a two-day visit to Azerbaijan from Monday.
The purpose of this visit is to strengthen relations between the two countries, the spokesman said, adding, “Azerbaijan and Pakistan are working closely in the political and economic spheres and have prospects of cooperation.”
He stated that Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf would visit Kuwait next week to attend meeting of the Asian Cooperation Development (ACD). Asked whether the Foreign Office has received any directive from the government regarding letter to Swiss authorities, the spokesman said that so far concerned authorities have not received any instruction in this respect.
The spokesman also condemned the attack on teenage peace activist Malala Yousafzai and added that the government did not wish to speculate about the suspects of the attack. He added that attack on her was an attack on the future and hopes of Pakistan.
The spokesman also said that the Pakistani consulate in Greece was in contact with the Greek government regarding the issue of attacks on Pakistani citizens living there. To a question regarding Syria-Turkey tension‚ the spokesman said Pakistan has condemned the Syrian shelling into Turkey. He hoped that Syrian government would take action to avert such incidents in future.