ISLAMABAD – Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria has confirmed that the visit of Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah had been postponed.
He said the new dates for the visit earlier scheduled for May 2-3, would be communicated by the Afghan government later. He condemned the recent terrorist attack in Kabul and prayed for the departed souls. He said Pakistan was also fighting terrorism and mentioned that the Zarb-e-Azb military operation was yielding positive results.
He said the decision for holding on the next meeting of Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) was in the process and added that all four members including Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States, were committed for positive solution to peace in Afghanistan.
About media reports citing shifting of the summit of the Ministerial Standing Committee on Science and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) from Islamabad to Kazakhstan’s capital Astana as a “diplomatic blow” to Pakistan, he said the holding of summit in rotation was a routine matter.
He said the decision was made during the 13th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Istanbul on the offer of Kazakhstan and was greeted by Pakistan. When asked about the reports on reported misappropriation by some Foreign Ministry officials, the spokesman said it had been noted that only one or two journalists were involved in the vilification campaign against the ministry and added that they might be playing in the hands of Pakistan’s adversaries.
He said the ministry had found the media reports as baseless. About the report of the auditor general, he made it clear that there was a distinction between irregularity and corruption. He said the former could be interpreted as observations in terms of rules and regulations, which could be dropped after explanation was given.
About the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, he said Pakistan’s principled position on the situation was favouring negotiations among the states and unity among the Ummah to ensure peace.
