PAKISTAN-IRAN/NEWSER Pakistan, Iran discuss regional peace, vow to enhance bilateral ties
Record ID:
144109
PAKISTAN-IRAN/NEWSER Pakistan, Iran discuss regional peace, vow to enhance bilateral ties
- Title: PAKISTAN-IRAN/NEWSER Pakistan, Iran discuss regional peace, vow to enhance bilateral ties
- Date: 13th August 2015
- Summary: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 13, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF PAKISTAN'S FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, AND PAKISTAN'S ADVISOR ON NATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SARTAJ AZIZ, ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE ZARIF AND AZIZ STANDING AT PODIUMS (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, SAYING: "We are eager to work with Pakistan in order to expand the possibilities. We discussed further in our delegation visit between myself and brother Sartaj Aziz on how we can actually effectuate these decisions that have been made by our leaders in order to enhance and expand the cooperation between the two countries. Our cooperation goes well beyond simply economic cooperation, we have security cooperation, border cooperation, cultural cooperation between Iran and Pakistan which are in the interest of the two peoples as well as in the interest of peace and security in the region." ZARIF AND AZIZ LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, SAYING: "We all have to work for peace. We all have to work against extremism, sectarianism and other divisive measures that have destroyed the unity of the Islamic Ummah. We are all the same people. Sects... sectarian divisions are the instruments of the division that help no Muslim but in fact create divisions that help others. We need to work together, and I am here to send the message from Iran that Iran is prepared to work with Pakistan as well as with all other neighbours." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTAN'S ADVISOR ON NATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SARTAJ AZIZ, SAYING: "The Afghan delegation will be coming here in this afternoon led by the foreign minister. Our priority of course is reconciliation because the first round of talks on the 7th of July made good progress and the second session was scheduled on 31st July but unfortunately the news about Mullah Omar's death at that time, leaked two days earlier, disrupted those talks." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTAN'S ADVISOR ON NATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SARTAJ AZIZ, SAYING: "Our prime minister has always believed in dialogue as far as India is concerned. It was India which suspended the dialogue which was scheduled between the two foreign secretaries on the 25th of August last year. And then at India's request the two prime minister met in Ufa, Russia, on the 10th of July and they agreed that the two national security advisors will meet in Delhi. So I'll be going there later this month, on 23rd of August." ZARIF AND AZIZ LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Pakistan
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA27MNJ86VM7CCLB8GEA4903JVG
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Pakistan and Iran vowed on Thursday (August 13) to expand bilateral cooperation in various fields and work together for regional peace. Meanwhile, Pakistani foreign policy chief confirmed a planned visit to India on August 23, and that an Afghan delegation was due in Pakistan to discuss reviving Taliban peace talks.
The visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a joint news conference with Pakistan's advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, after meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Zarif arrived in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on a day long visit after a two-day trip to Lebanon and Syria.
During Zarif's meeting with Sharif the pair exchanged views on further enhancing of bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual interest, official news agency APP said.
"We are eager to work with Pakistan in order to expand the possibilities. We discussed further in our delegation visit between myself and brother Sartaj Aziz on how we can actually effectuate these decisions that have been made by our leaders in order to enhance and expand the cooperation between the two countries. Our cooperation goes well beyond simply economic cooperation, we have security cooperation, border cooperation, cultural cooperation between Iran and Pakistan which are in the interest of the two peoples as well as in the interest of peace and security in the region," Zarif told the news conference.
"We all have to work for peace. We all have to work against extremism, sectarianism and other divisive measures that have destroyed the unity of the Islamic Ummah. We are all the same people. Sects... sectarian divisions are the instruments of the division that help no Muslim but in fact create divisions that help others. We need to work together, and I am here to send the message from Iran that Iran is prepared to work with Pakistan as well as with all other neighbours," he added.
Pakistan's national security adviser said Afghan officials were due in Pakistan on Thursday (August 14) to discuss reviving suspended peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, days after Taliban attacks killed dozens of people in Kabul.
The attacks followed a change of leadership in the Afghan Taliban and have dashed any hopes of an immediate resumption of peace talks with the government. They suggest new Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour intends to send a message that there will be no let up in the insurgency.
The violence also prompted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to launch a scathing attack on Pakistan, demanding that it take action against the Taliban after the bombings killed more than 50 people.
Many in Afghanistan accuse Pakistan of being host to Taliban bases that are used to plan attacks such as the bombings over the weekend. Pakistan, which faces its own Taliban insurgency, denies that it has actively allowed its territory to be used in this way.
Pakistan last month hosted inaugural talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, who are fighting to re-establish hard-line Islamist rule more than 13 years after the U.S.-led military intervention that toppled their regime.
"The Afghan delegation will be coming here in this afternoon led by the foreign minister. Our priority of course is reconciliation because the first round of talks on the 7th of July made good progress and the second session was scheduled on 31st July but unfortunately the news about Mullah Omar's death at that time, leaked two days earlier, disrupted those talks," Aziz told reporters.
The Afghan delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and include National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar, acting Defence Minister Masoom Stanikzai and intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil.
Aziz told reporters that he understood Ghani's anger, and hoped to remove any "misunderstandings" during the talks.
The foreign policy chief also said he will visit India for security talks on Aug. 23, in the rivals' first attempt in months to restart efforts to improve ties despite intermittent violence on their border.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Sharif, agreed to a new round of talks when they met in Russia last month.
Since the prime ministers' meeting, however, a series of militant attacks and border skirmishes have poisoned the atmosphere.
Nevertheless, Aziz said he would be travelling to the Indian capital, New Delhi, next week and he hoped the talks would at least break the ice on some of a range of outstanding issues.
"Our prime minister has always believed in dialogue as far as India is concerned. It was India which suspended the dialogue which was scheduled between the two foreign secretaries on the 25th of August last year. And then at India's request the two prime minister met in Ufa, Russia, on the 10th of July and they agreed that the two national security advisors will meet in Delhi. So I'll be going there later this month, on 23rd of August," Aziz said.
India has blamed Pakistan for instigating the attacks over recent weeks but Pakistan says India is accusing it without any evidence.
Pakistan has accused India for firing on the border first.
Tension tends to increase ahead of attempts at dialogue, with analysts and diplomats on both sides saying the attacks are engineered by hardline elements within the two countries who oppose rapprochement.
The countries, which have fought three wars since independence in 1947, are approaching the talks with starkly different expectations.
While India sees the meeting as an opportunity for it to prove its long-held view that militants get support from over its western border, Pakistan wants the dialogue to be broader and form the basis for deeper engagement.
India has long accused neighbouring Pakistan of pushing separatist Muslim militants into India's portion of the Kashmir region to foment revolt in India's only Muslim-majority region, which both nations claim.
Muslim Pakistan says it only gives moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in the face of what it says are human rights abuses by Indian forces. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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