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Spokesperson Briefings

Date: 06/03/2006

RECORD OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY THE FOREIGN OFFICE SPOKESPERSON ON 06 MARCH 2006

OPENING STATEMENT

The third round of Pakistan-India Composite Dialogue commenced with the Foreign Secretaries level talks on Peace and Security including CBMs and Jammu and Kashmir held in New Delhi on 17-18 January 2006. The two sides have now agreed on the schedule of remaining six items of third round of the meetings of the Composite Dialogue as per following schedule: -

The third round of Composite Dialogue is crucial in moving the peace process forward. Pakistan is committed to further build upon the momentum achieved in the last two rounds.

QUESTION/ANSWER SESSION

- Asked, in the backdrop of the U.S. President's lately concluded visit to Pakistan, whether Pakistan's expectations on U.S. role in the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir dispute and cooperation in the civilian nuclear power had been met, the Spokesperson said:

The expectations we have had of this visit have been met. As for the U.S. mediatory role, I can tell you that the U.S. is engaged. The U.S. President and other senior functionaries of the U.S. Administration have said it repeatedly that they are facilitating, encouraging and nudging the two sides. So they continue to play that role. Essentially, Jammu and Kashmir dispute has to be resolved by Pakistan and India in consultations and taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people and that process is on
track. We are interested in civilian nuclear technology. It was discussed and we will continue to discuss that. However, we have several options and we will be looking at all of them. As you know, during this visit, we established a high-level energy dialogue. And once that dialogue starts, we will also explore various options that we have to meet our energy requirements.

- Asked how she characterized Pak-Afghan relations, especially when sharp differences between these two countries had surfaced on a number of issues, and what would be its impact on the ongoing US-led war on terror, the Spokesperson said:

This was discussed with President Bush as well. We have a Tripartite Commission. The Centcom Chief, General Abizaid would be coming to Pakistan shortly. Naturally, it is in everybody's interest that whatever differences we may have should not impact our common goal i.e. the war against terrorism. There are some misunderstandings or difference of perceptions. You would have heard the President of Pakistan. He is rightly upset because the purpose of the Afghan leak was to malign Pakistan and not to really get
information or intelligence-sharing. If that were the case, the Afghan Government did not need to wait for conveying the information for President Karzai's visit to Pakistan. That intelligence could have been shared with us because we have mechanisms. We have regular contacts. The information could have been shared immediately. They could have also shared it with CIA, because that is also a channel. However, this information was shared with neither CIA nor Pakistan. Afghan side really needs to be serious on this issue, and they need to play their role. We have on our side deployed more than 80,000 troops. We have also assisted the Afghan Government in ensuring smooth elections. We also organized voting by more than 03 Million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. There is no lack of effort on our side and we expect the same level of commitment from Afghanistan.

- Asked about the time of initiation, venue and frequency of the Pak-US strategic dialogue, the Spokesperson said:

You would have seen the Joint Statement, and also the separate statements on the launching of the Strategic Dialogue and other dialogue. What we would expect now is that the officials of the two Governments will get in touch and work out the details. This will be regular and frequent.

- Asked, with reference to her response to an earlier question, what expectations of Pakistan had been met during President Bush's visit to Pakistan, the Spokesperson said:

We have now formal, structured, strategic dialogue mechanism in place. Under this dialogue process, the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan and the US Under Secretary of State would discuss bilateral relations in all their aspects, and what needs to be done to further enhance and also for implementation of these broad principles that have been agreed upon during this visit. They will also discuss peace and security in South Asia and beyond as agreed in the Joint Statement. We would be discussing our cooperation in
terrorism. We would be discussing ways and means to further enhance our trade, investment and US cooperation in education, environment sector, science and technology and defence cooperation. We already have good defence relations, but to make them more robust, this new relationship would also include transfer of technology. Apart from that we have launched Energy Dialogue.
Under this different proposals and options will be discussed. We have also established a Joint Committee on Science and Technology as well as Economic Dialogue and Dialogue on Energy. As the Foreign Minister said the other day, the US Fulbright scholarship performance already is largest in Pakistan at the moment. There is also agreement for Reconstruction Opportunity
Zones. This is not related to the earthquake areas, but all the remote and underdeveloped areas in Pakistan. Whatever industry we established in these areas, whatever is produced in these areas would have free access to the US market. That means it is going to generate industrialization of many underdeveloped areas in Pakistan including the tribal areas, Baluchistan and other places. This is no mean achievement. We have also agreed that further efforts will be made to turn Pakistan into a trade hub; institutional linkages that Pakistan would be providing for Central Asia, for South Asia. That again is something that we had wanted to do for a long time.

- Asked, in the backdrop of Afghan complaints despite the deployment of more than 80,000 Pakistani troops along Pak-Afghan border, whether there was not a need to increase the number of deployed troops, the Spokesperson said:

I am sure ISPR would have more information. However, if these terrorists are coming from Afghanistan into Pakistan, then what we require is that the US troops, ISAF forces and the Afghan forces to take action, stop these movements. Besides, we can also work on fencing the border. If Afghan refugees are able to return to Afghanistan in conditions of peace and dignity, probably the cross-border movement would lessen. It would be more controlled and monitored. It is not possible for Pakistan to continue increasing forces on the Western border - 82,000 is a large enough deployment, and the Foreign Minister said the other day that this deployment is more than the combined troops of Afghanistan, US and ISAF. We need action from the other side as well.

- When her comments were sought on the general perception that Pakistan had lost its image and status as a frontline state against war on terror, the Spokesperson said:

First of all, the presumption is wrong that we have lost our image. First and foremost, what we are doing is in our national interest.
Secondly, if you are talking about these minor problems, you have to look at what President Karzai had to say. What President Bush has said repeatedly and what other leaders have said again and again. The appreciation and gratitude for what Pakistan has done has been expressed again and again. Let me remind you that we have done more than any other country to defeat terrorism in the world.

- Asked about Pakistan's expectations from the third round of the Composite Dialogue Process in the backdrop of the outcome of the first two rounds, the Spokesperson said:

We have expectation that we would be able to move forward on a number of issues, particularly on Siachen and Sir Creek. We hope that these two issues can be settled at the earliest. There have been some discussions, and we have emphasized that some guidance at the political level was needed to settle these issues.

- Asked whether Afghanistan had concurred to the Pakistani proposal on fencing the Pak-Afghan border, because she had hinted to that effect earlier, the Spokesperson said:

If we fence our side of the border, we do not need anyone's permission. But given these repeated allegations and incursions which are taking place into Pakistan, we would have to consider it as an option.

- Asked whether by declaring that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir can be resolved by Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris, we have conceded to the longstanding Indian demand that it is a bilateral issue, the Spokesperson said:

Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute. It is on the UN agenda. We want to resolve it bilaterally; we are making efforts towards that end. Surely, when we say that any solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be acceptable to all the stakeholders i.e. Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris, that makes it clear there is no change in our policy.

- When her comments were sought on the US comments suggesting that owing to its poor track record in the domain of non-proliferation, Pakistan cannot receive cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear technology, the Spokesperson said:

First of all, yes there was reference to history and to proliferation record. However, let me remind you that no country, which has a nuclear know-how, can claim that it has perfectly impeccable record. There have been leaks from every country. There is ample evidence of that, You may look at the IAEA documents. Also names of people who have been arrested. You just have to read the history of proliferation and you will get the response. In this region, we were not the first to proliferate and that is a fact. I would say it again that leaks have occurred everywhere.

- Asked what other options were available to Pakistan for having cooperation in the sphere of peaceful nuclear technology, the Spokesperson said:

There are options that we are discussing I would not like to go into the details and specifics of the options.

- Asked whether there was not a sense of urgency in Pakistan regarding the civilian nuclear technology in the wake of India-U.S agreement to that effect, and whether Pakistan envisaged enhancing its deterrence capability, the Spokesperson said:

Our nuclear deterrence is in place. There should be no doubts about that, it is working well. Here, we are talking about civilian nuclear technology to meet our energy requirements. It has nothing to do with Washington-New Delhi deal. We formulated our energy security policy long time ago, and it was basically done taking into account our increasing energy requirements and our depleting gas resources. This policy envisages production of 8800 MW electricity from nuclear power plants in the next 20 years. At the moment, we have one facility, which is 300 MW. The other one of 300 MW is under construction. In the next twenty years, we have to augment that. Our quest for civilian nuclear power plants is in that context.

- Asked about the status of the IPI gas pipeline in the wake of Bush-Musharraf Summit meeting, the Spokesperson said:

The gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan is intact. We are fully committed to it.