ISLAMABAD -  Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif Wednesday said that he had asked the United States to identify the terrorists’ hideouts in Pakistan where Islamabad was not taking action.

Speaking to a select group of journalists here, Asif said Washington should pinpoint the hideouts to facilitate action to eliminate them.

“We have been saying that there are no hideouts on our side but there are sanctuaries on the Afghanistan side. We have been fighting militancy for long with complete sincerity,” he said.

Asif said in his just concluded visit to the US, he had raised the issue of the alleged hideouts with the American officials.

Pakistan is expecting top aide of US President Donald Trump – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis - in the coming days to discuss the war on terror and the level of cooperation between the two uneasy allies.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said that he still believed Pakistan needed to ‘clean our house.’ “I have not changed my stance. We need to clean our house and move forward,” he maintained.

The minister said some people were not accepting his stance but “we have to be realistic. I own my words despite opposition by some people”

Asif said if there was nothing wrong in Pakistan “why we needed the National Action Plan. We are of course fighting for something.”

The minister said he does not intend to get a certificate from anybody over his patriotism. He said the US agreed with Pakistan over its reservations on India’s interference in Afghanistan and the resolution of the Afghan issue.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Wednesday participated in the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Contact Group on Afghanistan held at the Deputy Foreign Minister level in Moscow, a foreign ministry statement said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov chaired the meeting while Deputy Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India and the representatives of SCO and its relevant bodies attended the meeting, said the statement.

Addressing the meeting, Foreign Secretary underlined the challenges faced by Afghanistan, including deteriorating security situation marked by increasing ungoverned spaces being used to provide sanctuary to the terrorist groups like Daesh, Al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Jamaatul Ahrar and increasing drug production which threatened Afghanistan’s neighbours.

She stressed the need for making serious efforts for negotiated settlement between Afghan government and Taliban for achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan.

The Foreign Secretary also emphasised the importance of early return of Afghan refugees and combating drug production and trafficking which continued to affect stability of Afghanistan and the region.

The members of the SCO Contact Group exchanged views on ways and means to support peace and stability in Afghanistan through facilitating Afghan-led peace process, assisting the Afghan government in dealing with security and counter-terrorism challenges and promoting regional economic integration and connectivity.

They unanimously supported measures for strengthening interaction between Afghanistan and the SCO countries.

The member countries welcomed Chinese proposal for hosting the next meeting of the SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan in Beijing in early 2018, said the statement.

A separate statement released by the foreign ministry on Wednesday said Pakistan had communicated to the International Court of Justice its designation of Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, a former Chief Justice of Pakistan, to be its Judge Ad-hoc in the Kulbushan Jadhav case.

Justice Jillani served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from July 31, 2004 to December 11, 2013 and subsequently as the Chief Justice of Pakistan from December 11, 2013 until July 5, 2014.

The procedures of the International Court of Justice allow a party to nominate a Judge Ad-hoc in circumstances where there is no judge of the court that has that party’s nationality. Currently, there is no judge of the court that has Pakistani nationality, whereas Judge Dalveer Bhandari from India sits as a Judge of the Court.

Those appointed as Judge Ad-hoc are treated as having the same authority on the court as any of the sitting Judges.

“The court will now notify India that former Chief Justice Jillani has been nominated by Pakistan to sit as a Judge Ad-hoc of the court in the Jadhav case,” said the statement.