Says Pakistan threatened Taliban to negotiate or face expulsion
WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may have a meeting with his Indian counterpart here next month on the sidelines of the Nuclear Summit, although the meeting programme has not been finalised.
"There are chances of meeting between the two prime ministers," Sartaj Aziz, adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs said here, adding that there's a possibility of the two to interact with each other. He said he was not aware of any structured meeting.
Commenting on the Pakistan and India relations, he said that the US appreciated prime minister's commitment to take prompt and decisive action on Pathankot investigation. He said that India accused that non-state actors were involved in the attack; but "we have shared dossiers proving Indian state actors' involvement in Balochistan, Fata and Karachi."
Sartaj Aziz concluded his trip to Washington where he attended the sixth strategic dialogue between the US and Pakistan. He briefed the media on the outcome of the ministerial meeting and discussed key points of the joint statement.
The adviser said that there were concerns about the Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba; but the US had been told that Pakistan had a different approach to deal with the situation. "TTP directly attack us, so action against them is different; but action against groups that don't directly attack us would be different," he said hinting that Pakistan does not want to open a can of worms and wishes to proceed systematically depending on its capability.
"This does not mean that we are not taking any action," he explained emphasising that the Haqqani network has been destroyed through intelligence based operations, their funding has been disrupted and action against hate speech under the National Action Plan has been placed. Sartaj warned that the network had been decimated and its remaining capacity existed in Afghanistan.
He also insisted that Pakistan could intensify action depending on its capacity, but currently the action was being taken as per UN commitment and obligations.
He said the roadmap to bring all types of Taliban groups to the table had a sequence, which first offered talks and then on the basis of the response from the groups any consequential action could be taken. "The roadmap mentions the process. After the initial talks with these groups we have to see who is cooperating and who is not willing to reconcile," he said.
Sartaj Aziz said that Pakistan could only facilitate the talks. Earlier, however, speaking at a local think tank Sartaj said that Pakistan had some influence because the Taliban leadership is in Pakistan, their families live there, and they get medical facilities. "We can use those levers to pressurise them, to ask them to come to the table," he said adding that they had threatened to expel them otherwise. "We had to use some of these levers and restricted their movements, restricted their access to hospitals and other facilities, and threatened them that if you do not come forward and talk, obviously we will at least expel you, because - or give you the chance to go wherever you want to, because we have hosted you enough for 35 year. We can't do anymore. It's now- the whole world is blaming us just by your presence here," he said.
Briefing the media later he clarified that Pakistan could not negotiate on behalf of the Afghan government because, "we cannot offer them what the Afghan government can," Sartaj Aziz said adding "to pressurise them, to negotiate, will depend on the parties which are actually negotiating. We can advise the Afghan government, if they want our advice, on what might be acceptable and so on and so forth, but in this task I think, and according to the road map, all three of us (US, Pakistan and China) have to share that advice so that we collectively decide what is best."
Referring to the contents of the joint statement he said Secretary Kerry welcomed Pakistan's call on the Taliban to seek negotiated settlement to end the Afghan conflict and hosting the Quadrilateral Coordination Group. "It was agreed that all members of the QCG will intensify their efforts to forge broader regional consensus in support of the Afghan-led reconciliation process as the best way to bring peace and stability to the region," the statement said.