ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said his participation in Heart of Asia Conference was aimed at showing the world that bilateral tensions should not overshadow multilateral forums.
He was speaking in Islamabad tonight after attending two-day Heart of Asia Conference at Amritsar in India.
Sartaj said India could not succeed in its attempts to damage Paksitan’s relations with Afghanistan and creating differences between the two brotherly states.
“Indian attempts cannot impact our relations with Afghanistan, which are based on strong links of religion, history, culture and at people-to-people level,” Sartaj added.
He said Indian efforts to separate the ‘conjoined twins’ – Pakistan and Afghanistan – would not bring any favourable result for it.
He said Pakistan was concerned about terrorism in Afghanistan, a country which had suffered a lot. He, however, stressed that making efforts for stability and peace in Afghanistan was a joint responsibility.
Referring to his meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Sartaj Aziz said he reassured him of the commitment made by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif during his 2015 Kabul visit to not let his country’s soil used against Afghanistan.
However, he said Afghanistan needed to cooperate with Pakistan on border management so as to check movement of terrorists and drug smugglers.
Reacting to the statement of President Ghani at the Heart of Asia Conference, Sartaj Aziz said it was “regrettable” but “understandable” in a way that it was result of the anxiety due to the increased level of bomb blasts and terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.
