Pak national security adviser quoted out of context

ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser (NSA) Lieutenant General (R) Nasser Janjua on Thursday said that conflicts between Pakistan and India could not be left unresolved for the future generation as both the countries should move forward by forgetting the bitterness of the past.

He termed the meeting held between Pakistan and Indian delegations a ‘new beginning’.In an interview to an Indian newspaper, Nasser Janjua advised both countries to reduce tensions by forgetting the past events and to move forward with new hope and dedication.

He said that the future of India and Pakistan was most important, therefore, both the states had to cooperate in different fields to boost their relations. He said that the meeting of both the countries’ delegation was a positive step towards the development.

“The conflicts have to be resolved by the present governments instead of leaving them for future generations,” he added.Talking about the recently held meeting with his Hong Kong counterpart on December 6, he said that both the sides agreed on strengthening the ties with harmony and said, “We believe that we will do better work together.”

Meanwhile, Press Information Department (PID) in its press release maintained that the statement of National Security Adviser (NSA) Lt General (R) Nasser Janjua in recent telephonic conversation with the editor of an Indian newspaper was given out of context.

The NSA statement actually emphasised, “We need to engage with each other and resolve our disputes to move forward.” In the same context of dispute resolution, the adviser said, “We need to belong to the future and not remain frozen in the past. Let us resolve our disputes ourselves and let us not leave it to our future generations.”

The context of dispute resolution was unfortunately omitted all together by the journalist.“It is very well understood that for moving forward and belonging to the future, we need to resolve our disputes.”