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The Associated Press of Pakistan
Pakistan strongly condemns desecration of Holy Quran
ISLAMABAD, Mar 24 (APP): Pakistan Thursday once again condemned desecration of the Holy Quran in the United States saying that this fanatic act is a serious threat to religious harmony. Foreign Office spokesperson Ms. Tehmina Janjua in her weekly briefing here said Pakistan ambassador at Washington and Permanent Representative at New York have written strong demarche to the US Government and the United Nations in which they have highlighted the views of Muslim Ummah on the issue.
She said even President Asif Ali Zardari started his address to the joint sitting of the parliament with condemning the incident of desecration of Holy Quran.
She said Pakistani ambassador at Geneva has also taken up the issue at Human Rights Council by condemning this act on behalf of OIC and Pakistan.
Spokesperson said this act is totally unacceptable which is also a threat to peace and security besides disturbing inter-religious harmony.
Replying to a question the spokesperson said Pakistan has great concerns over the regional stability in North Africa and Middle East.
She said Pakistan supports reconciliation and dialogue process initiated by the government in Bahrain as it wanted peace and security in the region.
Highlighting Pakistan’s position on Bahrain, the spokesperson said, its the government of Bahrain and Gulf Economic Council, who had decided to invite the security forces to maintain peace and security in there.
“It is internal decision of the GCC” she said adding that the security issue of Pakistanis living there was being discussed with Bahrain government.
She said Pakistan wants that reconciliation process started by the Bahrain government should be continued to ensure peace and stability in the region.
She said there are 65,000 Pakistanis living in Bahrain and working in different fields and even some are working in Police.
Replying to a question about killing of people in Bahrain and Libya, she said, no one can support violation of human rights in any where.
Answering a question, Tehmina Janjua said Pakistan has never tried to block negotiations on disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation and it intends to have assurance on the security of the non-nuclear states.
She said, “In fact some other countries have been engaged in blocking these negotiations since decades,”
On the issue drone attacks she said Pakistan has always opposed them and killing of innocent people is totally unacceptable to it.
She said despite differences on the drone issue Pakistan has made serious efforts to upgrade its relations with the United States. She said Pakistan conveyed strong protest to the American and US ambassador was summoned to the foreign office to convey the feelings of Pakistan in this regard.
The spokesperson said there is no further development on the tri-lateral meeting between Pakistan, Afghanistan and United Stated being held in Brussels on March 26 as Pakistan had conveyed to the US that Pakistan will not attend this proposed meeting due to recent drone attack.
Responding questions on Afghanistan, she said, “Pakistan strongly supports the process of transfer of responsibility including security to the Afghan government in that country.”
She said, “Pakistan’s diplomacy is centered on promoting stability and peace in its immediate neighbours and hope that people and government of Afghanistan will take on the responsibility to ensure security in their country.”
The spokesperson said interior secretaries of Pakistan and India will be meeting on the 28th and 29th of this month in New Delhi focussing on issues of terrorism, counter narcotics and humanitarian issues.
She said, “Pakistan believes that dialogue is the only way forward which must be uninterrupted and uninterruptable.”
“We will approach the talks with an open mind and constructive spirit,” she said.
She said, “we look forward to positive results from the Interior and Home Secretaries’ talks.”
The spokesperson said that a meeting of commerce and trade secretaries of both the countries will be held in Islamabad next month followed by foreign secretaries and foreign ministers meeting in July in New Delhi under the revival of full fledged dialogue process between the two countries.
She said, “Pakistan attaches immense importance to promote relations with Central Asian Republics particularly trade and economy besides common development of the people.”
Replying to a question about return of Pakistanis from Libya, she said, so far 5322 Pakistanis have been repatriated through special flights.
She said, last flight from Libya was not full, therefore, the mission has to be stopped because all those who were willing to come back, have been repatriated.
She said due to ‘no fly zone’ in Libya, it is not possible to arrange any flight but if Pakistanis are still interested they could go to nearby states and Pakistani Missions would extend them full help and cooperation to them.
Answering a question about security to the Pakistani cricket team for its semi-final match, the spokesperson said, Indian government has assured Pakistan that adequate arrangements have been made to provide security to Pakistani team.
She said Pakistan’s High Commissioner to New Delhi has been in touch with the Indian government to ensure security to the Pakistani cricket team during its next matches being played in India.
Talking about Pakistan’s relations with Central Asian States, the spokesperson said, “Pakistan is also focusing intently on further strengthening relations with its Central Asian neighbours, with which we are enjoying strong, historical links.”
She said President of Tajikistan was in Pakistan recently while Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani visited Kyrgyzstan and now he is in Tashkent.
“Pakistan attaches immense importance to forging comprehensive partnerships that are mutually beneficial with the brotherly states of Central Asia,” she said.
She said, “We have promoted the concept of trans-regional development cooperation, which we believe is essential not only for promoting stability and peace but also holds a great promise for common development and shared prosperity for the peoples of the region.”
The spokesperson said Pakistan has also expressed solidarity with the people of Japan on the loss of lives due to recent earthquake.
She said Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani visited the Japanese embassy a few days ago and President Asif Ali Zardari is visiting the embassy today.
She said as an expression of solidarity, two C-130 aircraft loaded with 24 tones of relief supplies left for Tokyo to provide aid to the Japanese.
The spokesperson congratulated the nation on behalf of the Foreign Ministry on the very convincing win in the quarter finals of the ICC World Cup.
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