Pakistan Reaffirms Security for Chinese Nationals, Rules Out TTP Talks

The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch while addressing a weekly media briefing said that Pakistan has reassured China on the safety and security of Chinese nationals who are in the country for different projects. Information on the assurance has come at a time when the region is increasingly developing a nervous disposition and has been passed at the highest level in China. The spokesperson also continued Pakistan’s policy of not holding talks with banned terrorist organisations, especially dismissing any chances of dialogue with the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Pakistan has given credible information to Afghan government about the groups using Afghan soil for terrorism and it is not Pakistan’s claim only that Afghan soil is being used by militants but the whole world knows about this. In a recent statement with a reference to recent utterances of an Afghan diplomat in Islamabad, the FO spokesperson underscored that it is Afghan government’s obligation to act against these terror groups.

The position of the country does not change as it denies any idea or recommendation concerning possible talks with the banned TTP citing efforts made before that have been in vain. In this position, Pakistan reaffirms its stance towards the stability of the region to which it expects the interim Afghan Government to assist in combating insecurity.

Pakistan has strongly condemned the Israeli aggression on Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and Baalbek territory in which number of civilians have been killed and scores of others displaced. The statement by the spokesperson of the Foreign Office said that Israel was trying to undermine the UNRWA and accused it of carrying out systematic campaign against Palestinians. Pakistan has also expressed its desire in becoming a member of BRICS mainly due to its perception that it is a forum for the multilateralism.