The Foreign office spokesman has said drone attacks amount to violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and undermine efforts to combat militancy and terrorism.
Pakistan has said that all stakeholders in Afghanistan reconciliation process should demonstrate perseverance‚ patience and sincerity of purpose for durable solution of Afghan issue.
Responding to the queries of media persons at the weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Friday over the suspension of Taliban-US talks‚ Foreign Office Spokesperson Abdul Basit said the Afghan reconciliation process is intricate and ups and downs in it are inevitable. However it is important that all the parties demonstrate patience and perseverance to achieve the objective of a sovereign‚ independent and stable Afghanistan, he said.
He said Pakistan on its part would continue to encourage all the parties towards intra Afghan consensus as was underlined by the prime minister in a statement on February 24.
Responding to a series of questions regarding drone attacks‚ the spokesman said there is no question that these amount to the violation of Pak’s sovereignty.
He said “Pakistan has been using all diplomatic channels to bring an end to the strikes that are damaging our efforts against militancy and terrorism. Voices are also being raised in the West against these illegal drone strike.”
He further added that Pakistan was taking the issue forcefully with the United States and hoped that the US would revisit its policy towards that end. He said it is high time that the illegal use of drone attacks are stopped.
About the options available for stopping the drone attacks‚ the spokesman said “we are waiting for the completion of the parliamentary process on the new terms of engagements with the US. In the guidelines of the parliament‚ he said we will move forward and take up the issue with the US.
Describing the parliamentary process for formulation of new foreign policy guidelines as very important‚ he expressed the confidence that it will represent the true aspirations of the people of the country. He was confident that it will put our foreign policy on sound footing.
To a question‚ he rejected the notion that any of Pakistan’s base is being used for the drone strikes.
Rejecting existence of any joint mechanism between Islamabad and Washington on the drone strikes‚ the spokesman said the country’s sovereignty is non negotiateable and any arrangement where our sovereignty is compromised is not acceptable.
Regarding the visit of Pakistan’s Judicial Commission to India‚ Abdul Basit said the commission will record statements regarding Mumbai attack and hoped this will be helpful in concluding trial of the case in Pakistan.
About Samjhota express incident‚ the spokesman said the abhorrent act claimed the lives of about forty two Pakistani nationals. He regretted that despite the lapse of five years‚ India has not shared any outcome of its investigation into the incident. He said it is the right of the families of victims to know what has been done to bring the perpetrators of the incident to justice. He hoped India will not only speed up investigation into the incident but also share its findings with Pakistan.
On Pakistan-Russia inter governmental talks‚ the spokesman said these are likely to happen during the second half of this year.
Drone attacks against Pakistan’s sovereignty: Basit
