First after PM’s trip: In fresh replay, FO hits out at drone strike

Ministry spokesperson reiterates Pakistan’s commitment to IP pipeline project.

ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Office briefing on Thursday only saw a repeat of the ministry’s earlier statement on the US drone campaign, even after a fresh strike killed three people in Miramshah, North Waziristan.

Foreign Office spokesperson Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry condemned the latest drone attack, again, calling it a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

The strike was the first since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Washington recently where he raised the drone issue with US President Barack Obama. The attack also marked how no breakthrough was made on the matter during his official visit.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson said the foreign ministry was in touch with the defence ministry over the set of figures it provided to the Senate on the number of civilian casualties in drone attacks.

Bleak future of IP pipeline

Chaudhry said that Pakistan is still committed to the multibillion-dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, despite a recent indication by Tehran that the project might be abandoned.

The project’s future seems uncertain after the Iranian oil minister said on Wednesday that his country would probably give up plans to supply natural gas to Pakistan.

Iran has almost completed the pipeline to the Pakistan border, but Pakistan has made little progress on laying its leg of the long-planned pipeline.

‘Baradar free to talk to anyone’

About the whereabouts of former Afghan Taliban deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the spokesman said, “he is free to meet and contact anyone to advance the peace process.”

However, he added that the Afghan High Peace Council had not yet informed Pakistan about their planned trip to meet Mullah Baradar.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2013.