ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Reacting to a bill introduced in the US House of Representatives to end civilian aid to Pakistan, the Foreign Office on Friday said the sponsors of such bills had a particular mindset.
In his weekly media briefing in Islamabad, the Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal said the sponsors of those bills opposed international assistance and advocated that the money should have been spent inside the United States for infrastructure development.
On Tuesday, the Congressmen Mark Sanford and Thomas Massie introduced a bill in House of Representatives seeking to end US economic aid to Pakistan.
“We are closely monitoring the Bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives to end non-defence aid to Pakistan,” Dr Faisal, adding a similar bill had been introduced in the US Senate a couple of weeks ago.
The Spokesperson said while Pakistan had decided not to seek assistance from the United States, they would like to place on record that the past US assistance had served the mutual interest of the two Countries.
Commenting on the killing of a Chinese national Chen Zhu by unidentified assailants in Karachi on February 5, 2018, Dr Faisal said “We are deeply saddened and shocked at the death of a Chinese national.”
The Foreign Office Spokesman said Pakistan condemned the killing in the strongest possible terms.
“We are committed to taking all possible measures to apprehend the culprits and carry out a thorough investigation against the perpetrators of this crime,” he said.
Dr Faisal said Pakistan attached great importance to the safety and security of the Chinese nationals in the Country.
In reply to a question, the Spokesperson said currently there were 1.4 million registered and an equal number of unregistered Afghan Citizens living in Pakistan. He said the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) was in the process of finalizing a repatriation plan.
“We are also engaged with Afghan government, donors and other stakeholders for the smooth resettlement and reintegration of the returning refugees in Afghan society,” he said.
Dr Faisal said SAFRON was also working on a visa policy, so that the returnees could have proper visa and documents if they wanted to come back to Pakistan.
To address the issue of illegal crossover from Afghanistan to Pakistan, they were working on effective border controls, he said.
“Pakistan will encourage and facilitate legitimate travel and trade while curbing illegal movement across Pak-Afghan border,” Dr Faisal said.
Talking about the Indian ceasefire violations, Dr Faisal said so far in 2018, the Indian forces had carried out more than 190 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary, resulting in the Shahadat of 13 innocent Civilians while injuring 65 others.
“The ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” the Spokesperson said.
The Spokesperson said Pakistan was open to talks and dialogue with India on all matters, principally on the core issue of Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir which must be resolved under relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
