ISLAMABAD: Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz on his return from India on Sunday night after attending the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference in Amritsar ex­pres­sed serious reservations over the remarks and attitude of the Indian prime minister and Afghan president.

However, the prime minister’s aide said in categorical terms that the conference was unanimous in its decision that all elements involved in terrorist activities on either side of the border should be dealt with and eliminated to ensure lasting peace in the region.

The statement adopted earlier in the day said the conference was concerned over the gravity of the security situation in Afghanistan and the region and the high level of violence caused by the “Taliban, terrorist groups, including ISIL/Daish and its affiliates, the Haqqani network, Al Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, East Turkistan Islamic Movement, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP [Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan], Jamaatul Ahrar, Jundullah and other foreign terrorist fighters”.

Addressing a press conference soon after his return from India, Mr Aziz described as shocking the Afghan leader’s criticism of Pakistan at the meet and said that Ashraf Ghani’s remarks were in fact an outcome of Indian provocation.

Adviser not allowed to hold press conference in Indian hotel for security reasons

Mr Aziz said that Pakistan forcefully presented its point of view at the conference on the issues of Kashmir, Line of Control and Afghanistan, adding that India’s ‘nefarious designs’ to create differences between Pakistan and Afghanistan would fail.

“India wants to create differences between Pakistan and Afghanistan but will not succeed...as peoples of both the Muslim countries will foil all such designs,” he said.

The Afghan president had said: “We need to identify cross-border terrorism and a fund to combat terrorism. Pakistan has pledged $500 million for Afghanistan’s development. This amount can be spent to contain extremism.

“Afghanistan suffered the highest number of casualties last year. This is unacceptable...Some still provide sanctuary for terrorists. As a Taliban figure said recently, if they had no sanctuary in Pakistan, they wouldn’t last a month.”

Mr Ghani then said: “I don’t want a blame game. I want clarification on what is being done to prevent the export of terror.”

Mr Aziz said that Mr Ghani’s anti-Pakistan statement was quite shocking. “We can understand their anxiety and I also understand Mr Ashraf Ghani’s statement against Pakistan on a soil hostile to Pakistan. But I think our relations with Afghanistan stand independently and we have lot of interaction because we are next door neighbours, a number of people coming and going. We have trade, we are...twins so [to] that extent India’s efforts to divide us will not go very far in the long run,” he said.

Mr Aziz said that peoples of Pakistan and Afghanistan must show solidarity beca­use people of Afghanistan had really suffered over the past thirty-five years and they need peace. “We should do everything in our power to promote peace, but I think the situation is much more complex.”

Mr Aziz said that during his meeting with Mr Ghani the recent Pakistani pledge of $500m came under discussion and he suggested a trilateral mechanism comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and China for utilisation of the amount. He said Mr Ghani supported the suggestion.

He said the main message given by the conference was that everyone wanted peace in Afghanistan. “We have asked the Afghan government that without proper border management we cannot stop terrorism, extremists, drug peddlers and gunrunners to infiltrate Afghanistan,” he said.

Tension with India

The conference, Mr Aziz said, agreed that both Pakistan and India should hold bilateral talks to resolve issues between them.

“We...asked Indians to settle issues on table and in bilateral meetings but India’s agenda is a political one due to forthcoming elections,” he said.

The adviser elaborated that no improvement was expected in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad in next two months because of Indian elections, adding that there was an international pressure that there must be talks between the two countries.

“Indians always talk about terrorism, despite knowing that...we have done a lot [in this regard]. In fact, India wants to divert world’s attention from Kashmir issue,” he added.

“If Kashmir is not the issue then why India has deployed over 700,000 troops there and why everything has been shut down in Kashmir for the last four months. Even now India’s commentators are saying that this issue must be resolved,” he said.

It was reported by the media that Indian authorities did not allow Mr Aziz to hold a press briefing after the HoA conference citing security reasons.

Mr Aziz said that Indian security arrangements were ‘very strange’ as nobody was allowed to enter the hotel where he was staying and therefore he had to arrange a press conference at another hotel.

“But in that hotel security people came and said there was a wedding ceremony there so they were committed to them and nobody else could come in. That’s why I decided that I will hold a press conference soon after landing in my country,” he said.

Answering a question about his meeting with Indian policy makers Ajit Doval and Arun Jaitley, he said: “As I went there a day before... I preferred to join a dinner hosted for the foreign delegates but there was nothing substantial. It was quite friendly but obviously it was not a structured meeting to say about any outcome.”

He said Indians welcomed his presence and all appreciated that.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2016