Indian’s noise about surgical strike merely foolish talks: FM Qureshi

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Minster for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said on Thursday that the noise of India about surgical strikes is not more than foolish talks, adding dialogue is the only option to resolve all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan. The Senate session was held in the chair of Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandiwala. Responding to Senator Raza Rabbani’s objection, the minister said the prime minister immediately after assuming power offered India to come to dialogue table in order to remove illiteracy and poverty from the region. The foreign minister said that Pakistan needs peace at both eastern and western fronts. He said said our response was very measured and mature in which we said Pakistan is willing to engage when they are ready as engagement is the only solution to our bilateral outstanding issues. Shah Mehmood Qureshi said two neighbors, that are also nuclear powers, have been acknowledging of their bilateral issues since the last many decades. Dialogues were also held in the past and these were stalled due to various reasons. Regarding the opening of Kartarpur Corridor, he said the gesture by Pakistan was made for peace and completing the long-standing demand of Sikh community to visit one their holiest places. The minister said the Indian cabinet held a meeting and decided to reciprocate this gesture and did the groundbreaking a day earlier than Pakistan. “India also sent two of their ministers to attend the ceremony in Pakistan. A group of 50 Indian journalists also attended the Kartarpur Corridor ceremony in Pakistan.” FM QUreshi said a stable and peaceful neighborhood is our requirement in order to improve our socio-economic conditions. He said India must realize the high price Pakistan has paid in fighting the war against terror. He said no other nation has sacrificed 75,000 people in this war, besides suffering losses of billions of rupees. The House was informed today that government of Pakistan is regularly in touch with Afghan government for access to information regarding Pakistani prisoners in Afghanistan and their repatriation to Pakistan. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a written response during the Question Hour said the government has raised this issue as one of the agenda points of all bilateral engagements with Afghanistan. The minister said Afghan government arranged a guided tour for Pakistan embassy officials in Bagram Detention Centre earlier this year, in which Afghan authorities claimed that around 200 inmates were Pakistani nationals. However, no individual interaction was allowed to ascertain the charges and terms of sentences handed down to them. On another question, Shah Mehmood Qureshi informed that the number of Pakistanis executed in Saudi Arabia on account of drug smuggling during the last five years is 62. He said one thousand seven hundred and sixty four Pakistani prisoners are in Saudi jails on charges of drug trafficking. The minister said a coordination office exists in Saudi embassy in Islamabad for formal liaison with anti-narcotics authorities in Pakistan.