The Foreign Office (FO) has stated that Pakistan and China have not yet reached an agreement on Gwadar Port, and that India’s concerns in this regard are unwarranted. While replying to a question during the weekly briefing on Thursday, FO Spokesman Muazzam Khan dismissed Indian concerns regarding Pakistan’s decision to transfer the management of Gwadar Port to China, saying a procedure was being considered to hand over the deep sea port to China. He said it was a matter between Pakistan and China, and no other country needed to be involved in it. To another query, he said that Pakistan had released 28 Taliban militants, and it was making sincere efforts to resolve the Afghan problem. He hoped that the Ulema Conference due to be held in Kabul on March 10 would lead to the resolution of all the problems between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The spokesman clarified that the FO had no connection with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Fazlur Rehman’s recent visit to Qatar, reportedly for a meeting with the Afghan Taliban. Fazlur Rehman travelled to Doha of his own accord, he said.
