Pakistan-India dialogue only option, says Qureshi

The foreign ministers briefs Senate on raising the issues of Pakistani prisoners with Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has stressed that dialogue is the only option to resolve all outstanding issues between Pakistan and India, saying Islamabad is willing to engage with New Delhi whenever "they are ready".

Responding to a call-attention notice in the Senate on Thursday, the minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan immediately after coming to power offered India to come to the dialogue table in order to banish illiteracy and poverty from the region.

He told the house that India had initially agreed to a meeting between the two foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York but later backtracked due to domestic political compulsions. He added that India had in mind six state elections and the general elections next year.

"Pakistan needs peace on both its eastern and western borders," the foreign minister 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," he added.

"A stable and peaceful neighborhood is our requirement in order to improve our socio-economic conditions. India must realise the high price Pakistan has paid while fighting the war against terror. No other nation has sacrificed 75,000 people in this war, besides suffering losses of billions of rupees."

Regarding the opening of Kartarpur corridor, Qureshi said that the gesture by Pakistan was made to promote peace between the two neighbours and meeting the long-standing demand of the Sikh community to visit one of their holiest places.

The Indian cabinet reciprocated this gesture and did some groundbreaking one day before the main ceremony in Pakistan, he added. "They also sent two of their ministers to attend the Kartarpur Corridor groundbreaking ceremony in Pakistan. A group of 50 Indian journalists also attended."

During the Question Hour later, Qureshi said that that government was in touch with Afghan authorities for access to information about Pakistani prisoners in Afghanistan and their repatriation to Pakistan. "The government has raised this issue as one of the agenda points of all bilateral engagements," he said.

Referring to the inaugural session of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace in Kabul in July, he said the issue was discussed with the Afghan deputy foreign minister. He added that the government was working on a memorandum of understanding with Afghanistan for transfer of offenders.

"The Pakistan embassy in Kabul arranged repatriation of 17 Pakistani prisoners between February 20 and August 30 this year. From the period of August 20th to this month, four more Pakistani prisoners have been released and repatriated to Pakistan," the minister said.

"The Afghan government arranged a guided tour for the embassy officials to Bagram Detention Centre earlier this year, in which Afghan authorities claimed that around 200 inmates were Pakistani nationals, but no individual interaction was allowed to ascertain charges and sentences handed down to them."

Responding to another question, Qureshi said that the number of Pakistanis executed in Saudi Arabia on account of drug smuggling in the last five years was 62, while 1,764 Pakistani prisoners were languishing in Saudi jails on drug trafficking charges. He added that there was a coordination office in the Saudi embassy in Islamabad for liaison with anti-narcotics authorities in Pakistan.

Senator Hasil Bizenjo presented a privileged motion over reports that the National Accountability Bureau was preparing action against him on allegations of purchasing properties worth billions of rupees.

The house adopted a motion for giving authority to the Senate Chairman to nominate six senators for the Public Accounts Committee of the Upper House. The motion was jointly moved by Leader of the House Shibli Faraz and the Leader of Opposition Raja Zafarul Haq.