Spokesperson Briefings

Date: 22/01/2007

TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS BRIEFING ON 22 JANUARY 2007

Opening Statement

Prime Minister's visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will be visit Davos , Switzerland to attend the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum on 24-28 January 2007. Ministers of Commerce, Privatisation and Information Technology, and Advisor on Finance and Minister of State for Finance as well as senior officials will accompany the Prime Minister.

At the Forum, the Prime Minister will be among the key speakers in discussions on: the West and Islamic Dialogue in the Council of 100 Leaders and the Plenary Sessions on Comprehensive Response to Terrorism, and Stopping the Spread of the Nuclear Weapons etc. The Prime Minister will also participate in a round-table on Women Empowerment and Education Reform. The Prime Minister will meet several political and business leaders including the President of Swiss Federation, King of Jordan, President of Brazil, Prime Ministers of Egypt, Ukraine and Vietnam , former President of Iran Rafsanjani, and the British Opposition leader. He will also meet the Presidents of World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, Director General of IAEA and Secretary General of the Arab League.

Question/Answer Session

Asked about why the President, after his meeting with King Abdullah, said that his visit would contribute towards fighting extremism and terrorism and what would be the mechanism for curbing extremism and terrorism in the region, the Spokesperson said:

The President's visit is in the context of holding consultations on the Palestine issue. We believe and we have articulated our position that in order to eradicate terrorism and extremism, we need a comprehensive strategy. We have been stating, as have the OIC Member States and many others, that military action alone cannot resolve or eradicate the problem of extremism and terrorism. We need to have a comprehensive strategy which addresses the underlying causes of extremism as those causes may be used by fringe elements to gain the sympathy of the Muslim populations. The purpose of the President's visit is to discuss the way forward on the Palestine issue. He has had very good discussions in Saudi Arabia . Now he is in Egypt . After that he will visit Syria and Jordon.

When her comments were sought on the statement by the APHC leader Mir Waiz Umer Farooq that both India and Pakistan should agree on a ‘minimum common programme' in order to ensure that they move ahead on the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir issue, the Spokesperson said:

Obviously, we want to move forward and the whole purpose of the peace process is to move forward. I do not know what he meant by the ‘minimum common programme', but certainly progress can be achieved if there is willingness on the other side also to move forward to resolve differences and issues between Pakistan and India. Jammu and Kashmir , we have repeatedly said, is the core issue between the two countries and for Kashmiris as well.

In response to a number of questions about the specific proposals that had been evolved to open the stalled Middle Eastern peace process, the Spokesperson said:

There is concern in the Middle East and the Muslim world on the Palestine problem. The peace process is stalled. There is resentment in the Muslim world because of the Palestine problem and Israeli atrocities. The President is there to hold consultations with the leaders of the neighbouring countries of Palestine . This visit is taking place at the suggestion and request of a number of countries in the Middle East that Pakistan should play a role. What exactly would emerge from the President's discussions is difficult to predict at the moment. He would have some ideas and the leaders he is meeting would have some ideas. I would not comment on what exactly those ideas might be at the moment. However, as a first step, there are consultations to see what initiatives can be taken. Unfortunately the peace process is stalled for some time. We feel there is a need to break that deadlock.

When her comments were sought on a Kashmiri leader Amanullah's statement that Pakistan 's insistence on the relocation of troops in IHK implied their relocation inside the Occupied Kashmir and was contrary to the idea of demilitarization, the Spokesperson said:

The President of Pakistan has proposed demilitarization in Kashmir . We have also been asking India to, as a first step, relocate troops from the urban population centres so that the Kashmiris get some breathing space. It would also remove a psychological barrier. The Indian troops are in Kashmir in large numbers and there have been human rights violations.

Asked whether Pakistan would be able to play an effective role in the Middle East Peace Process without engaging one of the key players in the region i.e., Israel, the Spokesperson said:

At the moment the President is holding consultations with the Arab leaders. They have been requesting Pakistan to play a role and may have some ideas as to how to proceed further. These are basically consultations between Pakistan and Muslim neighbours of Palestine . The President also spoke to President Ahmadinajad before his departure and informed him about his visit that he is presently undertaking.

Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel . We are not working to bring the two parties together. We are just holding consultations with the Arab neighbours of Palestine and to exchange views with them and see if they also have some ideas as to how to take this process further and how to remove the deadlock.

Asked whether she subscribed to Mir Waiz Umer Farooq's suggestion that it was high time to give up arms struggle in order to pave way for the peaceful resolution of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir , the Spokesperson said:

These are individual views. Kashmiris have been discussing the way forward with regard to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. There are discussions that Kashmiris are holding among themselves and with the Pakistani leadership. They are also meeting with the Indian leadership. I would not comment on any specific ideas or views by Mir Waiz or any other Kashmiri leader.

When her comments were sought on the media speculations that President's visit to the Middle East had an implicit link to the Iran nuclear issue and the Arab concern as well, the Spokesperson said:

The press released issued by the Ministry clearly spelled out the agenda of the President's visit. The focus is on Palestine . Of course, in the President's meetings, the leaders would discuss bilateral relations, the situation in the region and the need for a harmony within the Muslim Ummah. These themes would be discussed. Specifically, Iran 's nuclear issue is not on the agenda.

Asked, with reference to President Musharraf's recent statement, to identify elements who were opposed to President's initiatives on Kashmir and the Pakistan-India peace process, the Spokesperson said:

There are sometimes misunderstanding and misperceptions about Pakistan 's position in the peace process. The President talked about the need to understand Pakistan 's position. Pakistan has repeatedly stated that any solution to the Kashmir dispute which is not acceptable to the Kashmiris cannot be acceptable to Pakistan . Despite that there might be some misunderstandings. It was in this context that the President advised the APHC leaders to discourage such misperceptions and misunderstandings.

When her attention was drawn to the spate of statements against Pakistan , including statements by President Hamid Karzai, Negroponte, NATO Secretary General, Taliban Spokesman's claim and the New York Times story that Pakistan was involved in abetting Taliban, the Spokesperson said:

We have made our position known on numerous Occasions. It is very clear. You have to look at these statements in the perspective of the situation in Afghanistan .

As for the so-called Taliban's Spokesperson's assertions, first we do not know under what circumstances such a baseless statement was extracted from him; the methods being employed are well known. Secondly, you may have seen the statement from Taliban that the Spokesman who has supposedly made these disclosures did not have information about the whereabouts of Mullah Omar. Thirdly, we have regular meetings, intelligence sharing with the US and also others including Afghan officials. Nobody has any information about the whereabouts of Mullah Omar. The likely scenario is that he is in Kandahar from where he is marshalling his troops.

We have three million Afghan refugees in Pakistan , and among them there must be Taliban as well as they do not carry their identity as Taliban on their foreheads. Most refugees, especially Pashtuns, look similar. It is very difficult to distinguish between locals and Afghans on the one hand, and between the Afghans and the Taliban on the other. We do not say that nobody goes from there or nobody comes from there. Everyday traffic between Pakistan and Afghanistan is around forty thousand people making the two-way crossings more than I million in one month. Do you know of any two countries in the world where this kind of movement takes place? Look at the US and Mexico border. Not so many people travel across that border. Yet, even with the latest technology and all the resources, the US has not been able to stop the inflow of people from Mexico to the US . How does anyone expect Pakistan , which shares 2560 km long border with Afghanistan from which 1.2 million people cross two-way in one month – to ensure that there is not even a single Talib who goes this way or that way?

To say that the Afghan insurgency is being sustained by a few people who cross from here would be very simplistic and naïve. Its only purpose could be to shift the blame to Pakistan for failures inside Afghanistan . I would again refer to the UN Security Council Mission's report which highlights the problems inside Afghanistan . You would have seen President Karzai's latest statement in the Afghan Parliament, while repeating his standard allegations, he has also acknowledged that corruption and drug trafficking are big problems inside Afghanistan . Since you are already aware of the numerous steps Pakistan taken, I will not repeat them. The purpose of introducing the biometric system at the Chaman Check-post was to monitor the movement of people including drug-traffickers and the people who come from there and create problems inside Pakistan as well. We want to control that movement. Tribes on the Afghan side were instigated to protest and threaten that if this system was not closed, they would launch attack and destroy it. Who is encouraging this and why? We also suspect that the refugee camps which are close to the border – three or four – are the hub of undesirable activities that are detrimental to Pakistan 's interests and to the interests of Afghanistan . That is why we want these refugees to go back to Afghanistan at the earliest. We do not want to push them into wilderness. What we want is that the UN and the international community should make arrangements for their resettlement inside Afghanistan in those areas which according to Afghan government are relatively peaceful.

Asked about her views on the statement by the Mir Waiz that communication between the Kashmiris living in the two parts of Kashmir was unsatisfactory, the Spokesperson said:

We support greater interaction among Kashmiris. You may recall that the opening of five crossing points on the LoC was Pakistan 's initiative. Our view is that Kashmiris should be able to travel between the two parts of Kashmir ; the procedures should be made simple so that it is easy for Kashmiris to meet each other. We are mindful of the difficulties that Kashmiris are facing in meeting with each other and in re-establishing their contacts. During the Foreign Secretary's visit to India, the issue of simplifying and streamlining the procedures was raised with the Indian Foreign Secretary who agreed that the two sides would work together to try to simplify the procedures.

Asked about the reason behind suspending the biometric system along the Pak-Afghan border, the Spokesperson said:

Some of the Afghan tribes had threatened attack on the check-post to destroy the system.