Mullah Baradar to be released at appropriate time: FO

The Pakistani government has decided in principle to release Mullah Baradar at an appropriate time.

Briefing newsmen on Thursday‚ Foreign Office Spokesperson Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the Pakistani government has decided to release Baradar at an appropriate time.

He said the purpose of releasing the Taliban detainees was to contribute to the reconciliation process. He said the Taliban detainees were released on the request of Afghan government‚ adding that Pakistan would continue to take steps for the success of reconciliation process.

Asked about the incident in which Afghan security forces fired into Pakistani area‚ the spokesperson said Pakistan was deeply concerned over the incident. The charge D’affaires of Afghanistan in Islamabad was summoned to Islamabad and Pakistan’s sentiments on the incident were conveyed to him.

Chaudhry said Pakistan had asked the Afghan government to probe the matter and respect the existing coordination mechanisms to avoid recurrence of such incidents in the future.

He said Afghanistan was a brotherly neighbour and Pakistan desired cordial relations with it.

The FO spokesman said Pakistan had taken steps to establish peaceful relations with all neighbours, including Afghanistan. He hoped Pakistan’s sincerity would be seen and reciprocated.

The spokesperson said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would visit New York on 23rd of this month to attend the UN General Assembly session.

Chaudhry said during his weeklong stay in the US‚ the prime minister would address the UN General Assembly on the 27th of this month, in which he would highlight Pakistan’s point of view on various regional and international issues besides domestic priorities.

The prime minister would apprise the session about the efforts of the present government to curb the menace of terrorism besides its endeavour to bring stability to the region.

The spokesman said Nawaz would also hold bilateral meetings with world leaders on the sideline of the General Assembly session. “He will discuss various bilateral and regional issues with these leaders.”

Chaudhry said it was expected that the prime minister would also attend various events during his stay in New York, including high-level meetings on millennium development goals‚ sustainable development and nuclear disarmament.

He said both Islamabad and Washington were in touch for a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US President Barack Obama in the coming months. He said this meeting would not take place on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meeting due to paucity of time.

To a question‚ he said both India and Pakistan were also engaged to arrange a meeting of the prime ministers of the two countries in New York. He said both leaders were expected to consider ways to resume dialogue between Pakistan and India to resolve all outstanding issues.

To a question‚ the spokesman termed the recent visit of the prime minister to Turkey as successful and positive in which he held constructive talks with the Turkish leadership on various issues. He said 12 important agreements to give boost to bilateral cooperation in various fields were also signed.