Spokesperson Briefings

Date: 10/09/2007

Record of Press Briefing on 10 September, 2007

Opening Statement

The U.S Deputy Secretary of State, Mr. John D. Negroponte, accompanied by a high-level delegation will visit Pakistan on 12-13 September 2007 for the Second Round of the Pakistan-U.S. Strategic Dialogue. The Strategic Dialogue is scheduled to take place on 12 September. The Strategic Dialogue would be Co-chaired by the Foreign Secretary on the Pakistan side and the Deputy Secretary of State on the U.S. side. The first Round of Strategic Dialogue was held in Washington in April 2006.

The Strategic Dialogue was institute under the “Pakistan-United States Strategic Partnership,” affirmed by the Presidents of the two countries during the visit of President Bush to Islamabad in March 2006. The Joint Statement issued by the two Presidents also envisaged the establishment of separate institutional mechanisms for the promotion of cooperation in the areas of Economy, Energy, Education, and Science & Technology. Separate Dialogues in these areas have since been operationalized.

During the Strategic Dialogue, both sides are expected to cover bilateral relations and regional and global issues of common interest. Among other things, the two sides would review progress in the Dialogues in the four identified areas – Economy, Energy, Educations, and Science & Technology - and agree on next steps. Deputy Secretary Negroponte's delegation includes officials dealing with these Dialogues.

Other issues to be discussed include bilateral trade & economic cooperation, security and counter-terrorism cooperation, and cooperation in the social sector. Important initiatives such as Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) and FATA Development Plan would also be discussed.

Question/Answer Session

Asked, what expectations Pakistan had from the Strategic Dialogue and the specific areas where Pakistan expected forward movement and, also whether it was not paradoxical that on the one hand Pakistan criticized statements from other countries about the domestic issues of Pakistan and on the other hand sought the assistance of foreign governments pertaining to the political issues of Pakistan, the Spokesperson said:

About the strategic dialogue, we would like to see progress in the identified areas I have already mentioned. In addition to that we would like to have updates on the status of legislation about the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones which we have been told is to be placed before the US Congress very soon, development plans for FATA, strengthening of the FC and this would also be an opportunity to discuss other issues like cooperation in counter terrorism, social sector and education.

As regards your other question, we do not accept foreign interference in our internal affairs as we do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. This is an accepted, recognized international norm. As regards the ongoing events, well this is not in my domain. I would suggest you seek comments from other Government Spokespersons - the Minister of Information or President's Media Adviser Major General Rashid Qureshi.

Asked, for comments about the claim of the Indian Defense Minister that the military support from the US to Pakistan would create a military imbalance in the area and that these arms would be used by Pakistan against India , the Spokesperson said:

Fist of all our defense policy and procurements are of a defensive nature. We have no aggressive designs and the claim that it would tilt the conventional balance is again not very credible. I have some facts about the Indian defense purchases and Indian defense budget. In the Indian defense budget for 2007 and 2008, the amount is US$24billion indicating an increase of 20% over the previous year budget which was $21.11 billion. We also understand that India plans to make defense purchases over the next ten years worth US$30 billion. Recently, India also issued tenders for the purchase of 126 combat aircraft for an amount of US$10 billion. These figures make it very clear that there cannot be any asymmetry introduced by Pakistan .

Asked, if these arms would be used against India , the Spokesperson said:

I think I have already said that our defense purchases are of defensive nature.

Asked, for comments about the statements of US Presidential candidates about direct military attacks inside Pakistan and also regarding speculations about Osama Bin Laden being in Pakistan , the Spokesperson said:

These are ridiculous claims which are not even worth responding to. As regards your other question, we have been saying in the past as well that US Presidential elections is a matter for the US and there should not be any efforts at point scoring at Pakistan's expense.

Asked, if the Foreign Office was involved in the deportation of Nawaz Sharif, the Spokesperson said:

No, the Foreign Office was not involved.

Asked, for details of deportation of Nawaz Sharif, the Spokesperson said:

I have already said it very clearly that these questions are not for the Foreign Office. Please contact the relevant Government Spokespersons.

Asked, if she could confirm whether the Taliban had accepted the offer of President Karzai, the Spokesperson said:

Well, only the Taliban can confirm that. We are not in contact with the Taliban and we do not know anything about it.

Asked, about the Pakistanis caught in Denmark who were suspected of having contact with Al Qaeda and also why American Presidential candidates were allowed to get away with statements against Pakistan , the Spokesperson said:

This is a question that American Presidential hopefuls can answer. We have said this is not acceptable to us. As regards your other question, there were no Pakistanis detained in Denmark . We do not have dual nationality arrangement with Denmark . Out of 8 people arrested, 2 were Danish nationals of Pakistani origin and one of them was released. Of the 2 to 3 people still detained, one is a Danish national of Pakistani origin.

Asked, about the progress of the committee of retired judges of Pakistan and India to deal with the prisoners of both countries detained in each others jails, the Spokesperson said:

We proposed some dates to India for a meeting but they were not acceptable to the Indian side. The Indian side has informed us that they were reconstituting the committee. The delay is not from our side. We hope and expect that India will expedite the reconstitution of the committee so that we can get on with this issue. It is a serious issue - a humanitarian concern and it has a priority for Pakistan .

Asked, if any reason was given by the Indian side for reconstitution of the Committee, the Spokesperson said:

No, no reason was given.

Asked, to quantify the progress and achievements accomplished by the Strategic Dialogue since the last 2 years as there had been many meetings but no concrete results, the Spokesperson said:

Well, in some areas there has been progress. We have been very interested in cooperation in that area and we would particularly like to send out our students for higher education and training. After 9/11 there was a decline in the number of Pakistani students going to the US because of very complicated visa procedures. The procedure has been streamlined to some extent and the number is increasing. The Fulbright program that the US has is the largest in Pakistan . We would also like our students to avail of the opportunities in the US educational institutes in specialized fields.

We would like to see progress in our dialogue in the energy sector. This is an important sector and US experts have been coming here and meeting our authorities to advise on alternative energy resources and how to harness them. Similarly in the field of science and technology we would like to benefit form the US expertise. We would also like the leading universities from the US to establish campuses here as has been done by universities from various other countries.

Asked, for comments about the President's admission that Al Qaeda was present in Pakistan which had also been alleged by other countries, the Spokesperson said:

First of all I have an issue with the words you are using that the President of Pakistan has admitted that Al Qaeda is hiding in Pakistan . No sir, he did not say that. What he said was that some Al Qaeda elements may be present in Pakistan . We have always said that there may be some Al Qaeda elements in Pakistan as they are in other countries. So it is not the same thing as making a wild allegation that Al Qaeda Central is in Pakistan or Al Qaeda is reconstituting in Pakistan .

There are people who are moving across our western border. We are doing our bit to stop this movement which is creating problems for us and Afghanistan . We are doing our bit and would like others to do their bit.

Asked, for comments with regards to the educational programs widening the divisions in society as they catered to the elite and not to the poor students studying in the mosques, the Spokesperson said:

We are in the habit of looking at things from a negative prism. I think we should all realize that we are way behind other countries in education, specially in science and technology, agriculture and research and we need to make up for that and if we can get cooperation from the US and from other Western countries in this field, we should go for it. We have limited means. Are you suggesting that since we cannot educate every child in Pakistan , we should not even educate those whom we can?

Asked, about the release of the South Korean hostages brought about by Pakistani assistance, what Pakistan was doing to procure the release of its own security personnel, the Spokesperson said:

About the update on the release of our security personnel, please ask DG ISPR. But let me correct you. There was no assistance from Pakistan in the release of South Korean hostages. Yes, we shared the concerns of the South Korean Government and people. We were concerned that innocent people being kept hostage for whatever reason. It was also a humanitarian issue and we sympathized with them but we played no role.

Asked, for information about progress on the IPI pipeline and if it had been frozen, the Spokesperson said:

No, it has not been frozen. It is a big project. There were a number of issues which had been resolved. There maybe one or two pending issues which are under discussion. The pipeline is very much a priority issue for Pakistan.