Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Spokesperson Briefings

Date: 09/07/2007

Record of Press Briefing on 09 July, 2007

Opening statements

Three Chinese nationals were killed by unknown assailants on 8 July 2007 near Peshawar . President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have strongly condemned the killing of Chinese nationals and have ordered immediate inquiry into the incident. The Government of Pakistan will make all efforts to arrest the criminals who are involved in this dastardly act. Severe punishments will be accorded to them.

President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have sent messages of condolence to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao respectively over the killing of the Chinese nationals in Peshawar yesterday and the government of Pakistan will provide all possible security to the Chinese nationals in Pakistan .

The First meeting of the Joint Working Group established by the Ankara Declaration of 30 April 2007, was convened in Ankara on 6 July 2007 with the participation of Mr. Mohammad Kabir Farahi, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mr. Riaz Mohammad Khan, the Foreign Secretary of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and Mr. Ertugrual Apakan, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.

Question/Answer Session

Asked, if the killing of the Chinese nationals at Charsadda had anything to do with the events surrounding the Lal Masjid, the Spokesperson said:

It is premature to say anything at present. Investigations are continuing. I cannot make or rule out any connection at the moment.

Asked, when Pakistan would be able to unravel the conspiracy to damage the Pakistan China friendship as in the past few years many incidents like assassination of the Chinese nationals had occurred leading to the inference that this was an attempt to sabotage Pakistan China relations, the Spokesperson said:

I would not like to attribute this to any conspiracy or grand design. This is not my job. Certainly there have been a number of incidents and obviously those who are involved do not care about Pakistan China relations but this is a friendship - this is a relationship which is strong enough to come through such tests and trials.

Asked, to give an estimate of the number of Chinese working in Pakistan and also to elaborate on the details of the enhanced security arrangements made by the Government of Pakistan to protect the Chinese nationals, the Spokesperson said:

As you know the security around the foreign missions and consulates has been increased. Similarly there are designated places where the Chinese nationals are working. Obviously, the Government considers it its responsibility to provide security to them. I want to point out here that these Chinese citizens were working for a private company. You asked for the number of Chinese nationals currently in Pakistan . I cannot give you an exact number because as I said they are also working in private companies but approximately the number is anywhere from between two to three thousands.

Asked, if there was any proposal to convene a donor's conference in the wake of the damage wrought by floods, the Spokesperson said:

No, there is no such proposal. As we have said earlier we have not asked for international assistance, although the UN and a number of friendly countries have offered assistance. This assistance would be mostly in the form of provision of medicines and clean drinking water etc.

Asked how the Government of Pakistan viewed statements by foreign governments with reference to the Lal Masjid stand off - including China and the US State Department - statements about an incident occurring inside Islamabad and also if any foreign government had approached the Government of Pakistan regarding rumors about the presence of foreign militants in the Lal Masjid, the Spokesperson said:

Your first question was about statements. First of all these statements, to use the jargon in vogue, were not suo motto. They were in response to questions and generally the statements have underlined that this is Pakistan 's domestic affair and it is for the Government of Pakistan to decide how to handle it. I have seen the transcript of the spokesperson of the US State Department, there have been repeated and insistent questions, some of them very provocative from you know where. About the Chinese, well yes they have welcomed the Government action but there is a context. A few days ago some Chinese nationals in Islamabad were kidnapped by students of the Lal Masjid and in that context obviously they would be gratified to see that some action is underway. Your second question was about foreign government contacting Pakistan regarding the presence of foreign militants, no there has been no such contact.

Asked, for comments about the statement of the Indian Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh that incidents like the Lal Masjid were delaying the Peace Process, the Spokesperson said:

We have seen his statement and he did not refer to any specific aspect and there were a number of things in that statement. Pakistan remains committed to the peace process and the Composite Dialogue with India which is in its fourth round. As already reported two groups have met recently. Talks have been held on friendly exchanges in various fields and also the Interior Secretaries of both countries met to discuss counter terrorism, drug trafficking and related issues. The joint statement was released to the media and as you can see, these talks have been productive. We continue to maintain that both countries should take advantage of the improved relations and the conducive international environment to move beyond confidence building to resolution of problems in particular the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to ensure that South Asia has a bright future and can also reap the benefits of regional cooperation.

Asked, for comments about rumors that the US Government had advised Pakistan against offering safe passage to the militants of the Lal Masjid, the Spokesperson said:

I have already answered this question. No, the US government has not offered any such advice. Of course this is for the Government of Pakistan to decide how to handle it and the government has the responsibility to protect the lives of its citizens and see how best to handle this situation.

Asked, if any dates had been proposed for the second round of the Strategic dialogue between Pakistan and US, the Spokesperson said:

It will be in the last quarter of this year but we do not have exact dates yet.

Asked, if the Chinese Government had expressed any specific concerns about the presence of Uyghur extremists in the Lal Masjid and also if they were in any way responsible for the killings of the Chinese nationals, the Spokesperson said:

Whatever gave you the idea that there were any Chinese militants or extremists inside the Lal Masjid? No, they have not raised it and we have no information about the presence of any Chinese extremist inside Lal Masjid.