(2013-11-13) [This is a rush transcript. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated] There are no opening remarks. The floor is open for Questions Question Naseer-Ud-Din Haqqani was killed in Islamabad. Reportedly, he was playing the conduit between the government and the Taliban. What are your comments? Answer This is an internal matter and I will refer to you to the Ministry of Interior. Question My question is regarding Mr. Sartaj Aziz’s meeting with Indian Foreign Minister and Indian Prime Minister, what was the message given from Indian side? Was the issue of cross border violations taken up? Are we hopeful that the dialogue process will start soon? Answer Mr. Sartaj Aziz held meetings with the External Affairs Minister and National Security Advisor of India yesterday. The meetings were held in constructive and cordial atmosphere. All substantive issues were discussed including the ones that you mentioned. Pakistan believes that the dialogue process is the most effective way to resolve outstanding issues and improve relations. The issue of ceasefire violations was also discussed. Pakistan believes that the ceasefire agreement of 2003 should be respected. This morning, the Adviser paid a courtesy call on the Indian Prime Minister. The Adviser took the opportunity to convey the greetings of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to him and reaffirmed the desire of Pakistan to have good neighborly relations with India. The need to address all outstanding issues through dialogue process was also affirmed. Question Chairman PTI has announced that they will block the NATO supplies on 20th October 2013. What are your comments on this? Secondly, what is the current status of the Iran-Pakistan Pipe line? Answer As for your first question, I will refer you to the Ministry of Interior. As for your second question, we have clarified our position many times that given the acute energy requirements of Pakistan, the government remains committed to all options for addressing our energy needs, including the IP pipeline project. We believe that in our view the US sanctions do not apply on this project and we have conveyed this to the US government. Further details can be had from Ministry of Petroleum. Question Naseer-Ud-Din Haqqani was a foreign national and was killed here. Have we received any concern from the US or Afghanistan. Has Pakistan conveyed anything to Afghanistan on this matter? Secondly, the two Prime Ministers have agreed that the DG MOs of the two countries should meet. The Prime Minister is the executive authority. Why the meeting is not being held? Answer As for your first question, I will refer to you the Ministry of Interior. As for your second question, you would recall that the two DG MOs had contact on 25 and 29 October 2013 and concurred to normalize the situation along the LoC and the Working Boundary. A sectoral flag meeting was also held between Pakistan Rangers and Indian Border Security Force on 29 October and both sides agreed to observe ceasefire and resolve issues through local level flag meetings. Pakistan remains committed to implementing the decision of the two Prime Ministers that the DG MOs should meet to address the issues of ceasefire violations on the LoC. Question Earlier Pakistan had raised the matter with Afghanistan regarding the presence of Mullah Fazlullah especially when the incident of Upper Dir took place. There were some press releases regarding his presence in Kunnar and Nuristan. Now Afghanistan has denied his presence in Afghanistan. What is the position of Pakistan on this matter? Have we taken up this issue with Afghanistan after his nomination as TTP Chief? Answer I do not have any update regarding this matter. As for reports about the presence of Pakistani militants in Afghanistan, we have said many times that Afghanistan’s territory should not be used against Pakistan. In this regard, our concerns are well known to the Afghan government. We are confident that the Afghan side would take steps that would foster the positive momentum in bilateral relations. Question It was widely reported in Indian media that when Mr. Sartaj Aziz met with APHC leaders, it was declared as diplomatic blunder. How do you comment on this? Secondly, Indian forces are still using repressive measures in IoK. Muharram processions have also been banned. What are your comments on this? Answer It is customary that when our Foreign Minster or Foreign Secretary go to India for official commitment, they do consult Kashmiri leaders. This is not the first time that this has happened. This has been happening for as long as I remember. For us, this is an important activity. We believe that the Kashmir issue is the core dispute between the two countries that needs to be resolved. We further believe that Kashmiri leadership ought to be associated with the dialogue process between India and Pakistan. We have always affirmed our moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people for their struggle to self-determine their destiny. That support will continue. As for your second question, repression by the Indian forces and human right violations in the Indian occupied Kashmir are a matter of concern to us. Several human rights organizations have also reported on this aspect. The solution lies in finding a durable solution of the Kashmir issue by engaging in a meaningful dialogue between Pakistan and India. Question When is the Prime Minister’s visit to Kabul planned? What is the agenda of the visit? Secondly, Pakistan has sent some messages to the UN Security Council regarding drone strikes. What is the response from the P-5? Answer The Prime Minister’s visit to Kabul is on the cards. Dates and agenda are being worked out. In broad terms, the talks between the leaders of the two countries will focus on bilateral relations and peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan. As regards our protest on the recent drone strikes, we have registered our protest with the US side on 2 November 2013. The issue of drone strikes is also being discussed in the United Nations. We have also briefed the governments of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Our view on drone strikes is well known. The recent debate in the UN on the issue indicates that several countries support Pakistan’s perspective that the drone strikes violate international law and entail human rights and humanitarian implications. Question The Americans say that there has not been any formal protest or demarche on the recent drone strikes by Pakistan. What is your response to that? Answer It is an established diplomatic practice that an Ambassador is called to the Foreign Office and conveyed host government’s view point or concern. This is a formal and established channel of communication in the diplomatic world. Question What is the current status of Mullah Baradar? Do you think that he can be used for the dialogue with the TTP leadership? Answer Mullah Baradar and some other Taliban leaders were released at the request of Afghan government to advance the peace and reconciliation process. Mullah Baradar is in Pakistan and he is free to contact his family members or anyone else to advance the peace process. Question The deadline for the illegal Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia has expired. Can you please tell us the latest status of those who were unable to get themselves legalized? Can you also share the exact number of those Pakistanis? Answer I was personally present in Jeddah last week for some meeting. I met the Ambassador and the Consul General who apprised me of the tremendous efforts made by the Embassy and the Consulate to facilitate regularization of the stay of Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia. I also met a number of Pakistanis who greatly appreciated the assistance rendered by the Embassy. I understand the status of more than 800,000 Pakistanis has been regularized. Presently the cases of over-stayers and others are being processed. This number could be 54,000. Our Embassy is in close contact with the Saudi authorities and is rendering all possible help to these Pakistanis. Question Afghan Foreign Ministry has issued a statement that soon an Afghan delegation will visit Pakistan to meet Mullah Baradar. Have they notified the government of Pakistan? Answer We have not yet been approached by the Afghan government on this matter. Question If Government of Pakistan has not contacted the Afghan government for the presence of Mullah Fazlullah on Afghan soil, it means that he is in Pakistan. What are your comments on this? Answer I am not aware of any contacts with Afghan government on this matter. Question There are reports that Pakistani Taliban are in contact with Afghan Taliban and some reports says that they are governed by the Afghan Taliban. Has government of Pakistan sought the help of Afghan Taliban to resolve the dispute between the government of Pakistan and TTP? Secondly, some Iranian law makers have suggested to their government to cross into Pakistan and kill those militants who cross into Iran, if Pakistani government fails to take action against them. What are your comments? Answer As for your first question, I do not have the information on that. Since it has a strong internal dimension, I will refer you to the Ministry of Interior. As for your second question, we are in touch with the Iranian government to address the details of the incident that was reported some days ago. Pakistan and Iran have excellent relations and have instituted bilateral mechanisms to deal with cross border issues. Question After the protest by the government of Pakistan, the Interior Minister said that the recent drone strike was an attack on peace talks. Has Pakistan government discontinued its efforts to have dialogue with TTP? Secondly, there are media reports that Naseer-Ud-Din Haqqani was playing a role of mediator. What are your comments on that? Answer I will refer you to the Ministry of Interior for both questions. Question Has any Pakistani been affected by the recent disaster in Philippines? Answer We are in contact with our Embassy in Manila. According to our information, as of now, there has been no report of any casualty of any Pakistani national. The President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan have expressed deep sympathy to the President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino on the tragic loss of life and property. Meanwhile our Embassy in Manila is in contact with the host authorities as well as Pakistanis living in the region to ascertain their well being. Question CHOGM is taking place in Colombo next week. Certain countries like Canada and India have boycotted this summit. What is your take on that? Answer Given the importance we attach to Commonwealth, Pakistan is participating in the Commonwealth Summit at the level of the Prime Minister. As for the venue of the Summit, Pakistan has cordial relations with Sri Lanka. We believe that our participation in the Summit will further cement friendly ties between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Summit has an important agenda. The Prime Minister will address the Summit on the issues of growth with equity, post 2015 global development, climate change financing, and youth development. There will also be some meetings on the sidelines. I do not have any comment on any country taking sovereign decision to attend or not to attend. ******************