No backdoor diplomacy between Pakistan and India, says Aziz
- By Web Desk -
- Oct 14, 2016
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz in a televised interview on Thursday said that Kashmir would remain a focus of Pakistan’s foreign policy and elucidated that there was no backdoor or track-II diplomacy between Pakistan and India as such contacts were established only when conditions were favourable.
The adviser said India had a history of blaming Pakistan after every terror incident that hit its soil without providing evidence and this was the reason why several peace talks between the two neighbouring countries halted on several occasions.
Aziz said that Pakistan would soon present a dossier to the UN Secretary General on the issue of Indian involvement in the troubled province of Balochistan and Kulbushan Yadav, the Indian spy who was arrested in Pakistan.
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He said that Pakistan was moving forward effortlessly with the ongoing political realignments on global and geostrategic fronts.
The adviser clearly rubbishes the perception that the country was facing any sort of seclusion or rejection at the diplomatic level, saying it was not easy as some countries think to isolate Pakistan.
Development of Eurasia by Russia and China, activation of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and the formation of AIB (Asian Investment Bank indicated major realignments, he said.
Aziz added that Pakistan was also pursuing several connectivity projects in the region, for instance, CASA-1000 (Central Asia South Asia) electricity transmission line and TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline.
By 2017, Pakistan would also become a permanent member of SCO, announced the adviser.
Although Pakistan enjoyed good bilateral ties with the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), European Union (EU), the Middle East and other regions of the world, few countries of the Western world were not happy with Pakistan’s growing relations with China, Aziz said.