(2013-02-14) [This is a rush transcript. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated] I don’t have any announcement to make. I look forward to your questions. Question: Can you tell us the dates of the visits of the Palestinian President Mr. Mahmoud Abbas to Pakistan when he will be visiting, whether the formal invitation has been extended and what is going to be discussed with him. Answer: He will be visiting Pakistan on the invitation of President Zardari. He will arrive here on the evening of 16th of February. On 17th they will have bilateral consultations and a luncheon will be hosted by the President, Mr. Abbas will leave the following day. As far as what will be discussed, as you know Pakistan enjoys excellent relations with Palestine. We have always been supportive of their legitimate right to self-determination and have consistently supported the Palestinian cause. We have been supporting the two states solution. Pakistan has also been instrumental in helping Palestine getting the observer status in the UN as well as in UNESCO. The two countries have been very cooperative, and this visit will further help improving the bilateral relations. Question: As you know, there is much criticism on North Korea’s recent nuclear tests. Do you agree that North Korea has used its inalienable right for their defence by carrying out this test? Answer: We do recognize that every country has their legitimate security concerns, and that they have every right to address there security concerns. But we also understand that there are some international obligations, and those international obligations need to be respected. As you must have seen in the press release we issued yesterday, we have expressed our regrets on their conducting a nuclear test. Pakistan has always supported the nuclear free Korean peninsula, and has also supported the six party arrangements under which we believe the parties concerned can resolve all their issues through peaceful means. But as far as North Korea’s nuclear tests are concerned, we think it is contrary to their international obligations. Question: Pakistan is going to hand over the operational mechanism of its Gwadar deep sea port to China. The US and India have shown their concerns over it. What are your comments? Answer: We are still working out the modalities of this arrangement. We have seen some reports in the media, which are rather over enthusiastic about this arrangement. We think that this is not something that any other country should have any reason to be concerned about. Question: My Question is regarding the movie on Osama bin Laden’s killing on Pakistan’s soil and the fresh memoirs, has the United States shared any details with us that what went on or do we have any details that what exactly went on the night of 2nd May 2011? Answer: We have already established a commission in this regard, and I think it will be better for us to wait for the Commission’s report. Question: Will this report be made public as the commission has handed over the report to the Prime Minister? Answer: We will have to wait for the report to come out, and then it will be for the competent authorities to decide as to what part of the report they would like to make public. Question: As Pakistan has released a number of Taliban prisoners, can you tell us what exactly is the number of Taliban left in Pakistani jails and what number is going to be released in future? Answer: I can’t tell you about the future, but I can tell you that so far we have released 26 Taliban prisoners. Question: Kabul conference is on the edge as it is going to be held in Kabul very soon. Not official though but it has been reported that some of the Ulemas were here from Kabul and they have been negotiating about the modalities of the conference but there is a clear divide whether Pakistani Ulemas and TTP are going to be invited to attend it or not and there is also a clear divide on fatwa. How do you see these differences? Secondly, President Obama has recently announced in a public debate that they will be only partial withdrawal of their forces from Afghanistan but on the contrary here in Pakistan and Afghanistan most of the circles are beating the drum of NATO and ISAF withdrawal from Afghanistan which is going to complete in 2014 and has already started. So, do you think that American presence or their partial withdrawal from Afghanistan is going to work for the peace in the region? Answer: To your first question, Pakistan government supports the idea or initiative of this Ulemas Conference, that of course, goes without saying, but we are not going to determine the agenda or the outcome of the conference. There was a meeting, as you know, of Ulemas from both sides. They discussed various aspects of the conference. I have seen some media reports, it seems that there were some disagreements but we hope that Ulemas from both sides will be able to resolve them and develop a consensus on them. Your 2nd question regarding withdrawal of American forces, I think President Obama in his State of the Union address yesterday has announced that about 34,000 troops will be withdrawn by early next year. This is obviously an issue primarily to be discussed between the US and Afghanistan, but we have always stressed that the withdrawal should be a responsible one and it should take into account all the complexities linked with this issue. Question: Maulana Fazlur Rehman was in Doha to meet the Taliban but according to the reports, Taliban have refused to meet Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Is Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the loop regarding this issue or the establishment or Ministry of Foreign Affairs have asked Maulana to take the step. Can you put some light on it? Answer: We are not in any way part of this process, we have supported this process and we have supported the opening of an office in Doha, and we feel that it is a step in the right direction helping to achieve the objective of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. But let me make it very clear once again that we are not part of this process. This is basically an Afghan-led process and we want to leave it like that. Question: The US has said that they will continue supporting the Afghan forces through NATO supply routes from Pakistan. How long Pakistan is considering to provide this route to Afghan national forces? Answer: This is a very speculative question and I don’t want to be speculative in my answer. As we have said repeatedly, Pakistan wants to be seen as part of the solution and facilitator in this process. We want to see peace and stability in Afghanistan and anything we could do to help achieve this objective, we will have a serious look at it. Question: When is the Ulema conference going to be held in Afghanistan? It was decided between the two governments at the state level about the dates of the conference but now there is some change been observe in Ulemas conference in Islamabad. Can you clarify it? Answer: In the trilateral summit at Chequers, it was hoped that by the first or second week of March the Ulemas conference will be able to take place. Question: How does Pakistan see Afzal Guru? Is he a freedom fighter or a terrorist? There is a huge resentment in Kashmir about it that Pakistan is not raising their legitimate voice as Amnesty International and Human Rights Commission have also raised their voice. How does Pakistan follow the story? A supplementary question on that, is there any shift in policy on the recent developments in Indo-Pak relationship as previously there was more stress on trade and people to people contacts while now there is more stress on Kashmir? Is this a part of a policy change as elections are going to be held in Pakistan this year and in India probably next year? Answer: Let me take the second question first, there is no change or shift in our policy as far as Kashmir is concerned. Kashmir is a disputed territory. Pakistan will always keep striving to resolve this issue through a meaningful dialogue in accordance with the UN resolution as well as the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. As far as trade with India is concerned, it is true that we want to have normal relations with India because we feel that having peace and stability in this region is in the mutual interest of the two countries, and the people of this region stand to benefit from this peace and stability. Yes, there are some issues and some disputes which need to be resolved but we also feel that the only way to resolve them is through dialogue. Regarding Afzal Guru, we have issued a press release on it. We have taken note of some reports, emanating from India, and statements made by some responsible people in India regarding the judicial process, or the way his case has been handled, and we have expressed our concerns about the coercive measures being taken by the Indian government to suppress the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. We urge the Indian government that these repressive measures should be lifted and the arrested people should be released immediately. Question: What are your comments on the bottlenecks pointed out by the Afghan Foreign Minister regarding the proposed strategic partnership agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan? Will you share some details with us? Answer: Basically, in the past, there were some serious issues of trust between Afghanistan and Pakistan. But ever since this government has taken charge, you can witness a sea change in this relationship. We regard Afghanistan as an independent and sovereign country, and we respect their sovereignty and their right to decide for themselves, and we also feel that peace and stability in Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s own national interest. However, there are still some issues and the one way to address these issues is through institutionalizing interactions, both at the civilian as well as military level. Yes, there are some issues, but both sides are sincerely working to resolve these issues. Question: What is the role of China in the Afghan context as China is a neighbor of both Pakistan and Afghanistan? Answer: Of course, China is a very important country, and we think that China can play a very important role with regard to peace and stability in Afghanistan. Question: Has Pakistani government received any response of the letter which was written to the Swiss government on the order of Supreme Court? Answer: I will have to check with the concerned division. Question: As Tahir ul Qadri has two passports, one Pakistan and one Canadian, and according to my information it is a crime to have two passports, so has the Foreign Office taken any action on it? Answer: Allama Tahir ul Qadri has dual nationality, and since we allow dual nationality with Canada, it is not a crime. Question: What is the rationale behind inducting about one dozen military personnel, Major Generals and Lieutenant Generals, into the Foreign Service and recently they have been made Ambassadors to various countries. Some reports in the press analysis write that the career officers in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have shown their resentment over such induction. So, would you like to tell us why the Foreign Service officers who have extensive experience in diplomacy, are not being sent to various important capitals, though the military officers are also senior officers, but they have their own discipline other than diplomacy. Answer: To begin with, it is not really an induction as they are not made a permanent part of the Foreign Service. However as you know, the government has every right to appoint anybody whether they be Generals or academicians.