ISLAMABAD   -  Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr. Sania Nishtar attended the 5th Summit of Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in Tajikistan wherein she highlighted suppression of legitimate struggle by Kashmiri people and Pakistan’s efforts for peace in the region.

Dr Sania Nishtar who represented Pakistan at the summit as special envoy of the prime minister, shared Pakistan’s perspective on evolving global and regional trends, noting that CICA had the potential to help advance effective solutions to challenges in areas of peace, security and development.

Held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Saturday, the summit was chaired by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and attended by heads of state and government as well as ministers from CICA region, a Foreign Office statement said.

In her statement at the summit, the special envoy drew attention towards suppression of the Kashmiri people and their legitimate struggle for self-determination.

She highlighted the long-standing nature of the internationally-recognized Jammu and Kashmir dispute. She underscored Pakistan’s efforts to shape a vision and political discourse in South Asia, based on dialogue, confidence-building and peaceful settlement of disputes.

Dr Nishtar highlighted the unparalleled efforts, achievements and sacrifices of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.

Underlining the importance of enhanced international cooperation for effective counter-terrorism strategy, she stressed the need for earnestly addressing the root causes of terrorism.

She also called for filling the gap in UN Security Council’s counter-terrorism sanctions by including in its purview individuals and organisations that had committed acts of terrorism but remained outside its jurisdiction so far.

The CICA summit adopted a declaration centered on the theme of “Shared Vision for a Secured and More Prosperous CICA Region.”

The declaration, inter alia, called for building common, comprehensive and sustainable security in Asia as well as pursuit of common development, partnerships and connectivity.

It underlined the need for devising a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism including through elimination of conditions conducive to terrorism.  The summit declaration also cautioned against politicisation of the UN Security Council counter-terrorism sanctions architecture, noting that such steps undermined UN charter principles and sanctions regime. Consisting at present of 27 members from Asia and over a dozen observers, CICA was launched in 1993 as a platform for dialogue and consultations to promote cooperation in areas of peace, development and stability in the region through confidence-building measures. Kazakhstan, Turkey and China have hosted previous CICA summits. CICA has a secretariat based in Kazakhstan.

Pakistan has regularly participated in CICA summits and contributed significantly to its deliberations. Pakistan’s participation in the 5th summit in Dushanbe is illustrative of its commitment to the realization of CICA’s vision of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Asia.

On sidelines of the summit, Special Envoy Dr Sania Nishtar met Tajik Minister of Health and Social Protection, besides interacting with dignitaries from Thailand and other participating countries.