Headley testimony: FO against ‘baseless speculation’
The Foreign Office on Thursday said there should not be “baseless speculation” from any quarters regarding the testimony of David Headley in a US trial linking Pakistan’s ISI to the Mumbai attacks.
At her weekly news briefing, foreign office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua, responding to a question about David Headley’s testimony, said “Pakistan has not been given access to Headley and hence we are not in a position to determine the details of what he (Headley) is saying or what he is not saying,”
“Therefore, what we can say is that it is our expectation that all sides will refrain from vitiating the atmosphere by baseless speculation from the trial.”
In response to another question, Janjua said Pakistan had given India a non-paper on the Siachen issue during a recent meeting of the Defence Secretaries of the two countries in New Delhi.
“The dialogue process with India is going according to schedule and the two sides are in the process of finalising dates for the Foreign Secretary level talks on peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir, and friendly exchanges,” Janjua said.
“Pakistan is going into the dialogue process with India with an open and constructive mind and with the objective of having result-oriented talks,” she added.
Pak-Afghan transit trade
The foreign office spokesperson, commenting on the new Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, said Pakistan’s commerce delegation has been in Kabul for the last few days in connection with the finalisation of the implementation details of the trade agreement.
Junjua added that Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jaweed Lodin would pay a three-day visit to Pakistan in the coming weeks.
“Both sides will be working to complete the preparations for a visit by the Afghan President in the near future,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2011.
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