{"id":11303,"date":"2016-09-01T18:59:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T18:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/?p=11303"},"modified":"2016-09-01T18:59:12","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T18:59:12","slug":"us-india-defence-pact-should-not-disturb-south-asias-strategic-balance-fo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/2016\/09\/us-india-defence-pact-should-not-disturb-south-asias-strategic-balance-fo\/","title":{"rendered":"US India defence pact should not disturb South Asia\u2019s strategic balance: FO"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 696px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-11303-1\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/x-flv\" src=\"http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/FO-Briefing-01-09-16.flv?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/FO-Briefing-01-09-16.flv\">http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/FO-Briefing-01-09-16.flv<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>ISLAMABAD, Sep 1 (APP): Pakistan on Thursday said it would<br \/>\nlike to see the recent defence deal between the United States and India did not disturb strategic balance of South Asia.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said \u201cPakistan<br \/>\nhoped the set arrangements do not contribute to polarizing the region by disturbing the strategic balance in South Asia and escalating the arms build up\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Spokesman at a weekly press briefing said though<br \/>\nthe defence pact was an agreement between two sovereign countries, \u201cPakistan hoped it would contribute to peace and stability in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On Kashmir dispute, he said Pakistan would continue<br \/>\nto extend support to Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir till \u201cjustice is done\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to extend political and diplomatic support<br \/>\nto Kashmiris till justice is done to the people of Kashmir and the brutalities against them are ended,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Spokesman said Pakistan\u2019s efforts to highlight the<br \/>\nKashmir cause was a \u201cmatter of commitment\u201d for it.<\/p>\n<p>He mentioned a letter written by Prime Minister Nawaz<br \/>\nSharif to the United Nations Secretary General on Wednesday\u00a0 in response to his letter acknowledging Pakistan\u2019s commitment to the Kashmir cause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Prime Minister has called upon the UN Secretary<br \/>\nGeneral to send a fact finding mission to Kashmir, stressing<br \/>\nthat Azad Kashmir cannot be compared with Indian Occupied<br \/>\nKashmir, having grim situation of human rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The letter has also pointed that Indian Prime Minister<br \/>\nNarendra Modi\u2019s remarks on Balochistan are \u201can attempt to divert international community\u2019s attention from the Kashmir dispute\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On nomination of 22 parliamentarians by the Prime<br \/>\nMinister to highlight Kashmir issue abroad, the Spokesman said it would be an effective and direct political channel in addition to the already in place efforts of diplomatic envoys.<\/p>\n<p>Zakaria said Pakistan was ready to hold dialogue with<br \/>\nIndia whenever the latter was ready, however, stressed that Kashmir issue would be part of agenda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot accept pre conditions in talks,\u201d he said when<br \/>\nhis attention was drawn to the statement of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj saying that India would not engage with Pakistan in talks unless it hands over those involved in Pathankot incident.<\/p>\n<p>The Spokesman said international community needed to<br \/>\nplay its role in resolution of Kashmir dispute, adding that the United Nations had a responsibility upon it to play in this regard.<\/p>\n<p>To a question on India\u2019s decision to replace the use of<br \/>\npellet shotguns with chilli filled PAVA shells, he said Indian decision was acknowledgement of the heinous crimes being committed against innocent Kashmiris, that killed hunderds and left around 570 with eye injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Updating on situation of stranded Pakistani workers<br \/>\nin Saudi Arabia, the Foreign Office Spokesman said continued efforts were being made for their welfare.<\/p>\n<p>He dismissed the impression that Pakistan government was<br \/>\nnot making ample efforts and said \u201cNo other country matches with what we are doing for our stranded citizens\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Pakistan embassy is doing its best with ensuring<br \/>\nmedical treatment and provision of food, and also 200 riyal each person per month where food supply is not possible, he said.<\/p>\n<p>He mentioned that Saudi Labour Ministry had set up<br \/>\nfacilitation desks at the factories to assist the workers for filing their financial claims.<\/p>\n<p>Nafees Zakaria made it clear that not a single Pakistani had been expelled on expiration of visa, rather the Saudi government was flexible in allowing them to get another job, if available, other than the worker\u2019s original employer.<\/p>\n<p>He said Pakistani workers were staying on their own wish<br \/>\nin Saudi Arabia, in hope of refund of their dues.<\/p>\n<p>On re-opening of Friendship gate at Chaman border, he<br \/>\nsaid the gate was reopened this morning as Afghanistan expressed condemnation on the 18th August\u2019s incident that saw the Afghan civilians desecrating Pakistani flag and pelting stones at Pakistan side.<\/p>\n<p>The gate has been reopened as a \u201cgoodwill gesture\u201d in<br \/>\nappreciation of Afghanistan as the incident was condemned by the Afghan government.<\/p>\n<p>The Spokesman said Pakistan was in favour of<br \/>\nAfghanistan\u2019s political and economic stability and whole<br \/>\nheartedly supported the Afghan led peace process.<\/p>\n<p>He said Pakistan believed that activities of Heart of<br \/>\nAsia and the Quadrilateral Coordination Group would contribute to finding a peaceful solution to Afghan conflict.<\/p>\n<p>When asked on statement of Advisor on Foreign Affairs<br \/>\nSartaj Aziz saying former ambassador to U.S Hussain Haqqani was lobbying against Pakistan, the Spokesman said \u201cWe are mindful of the elements working against Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>APP\/Zaheer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD, Sep 1 (APP): Pakistan on Thursday said it would like to see the recent defence deal between the United States and India did not disturb strategic balance of South Asia. Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said \u201cPakistan hoped the set arrangements do not contribute to polarizing the region by disturbing the strategic balance in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"video_url":["http:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/FO-Briefing-01-09-16.flv"],"featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/t-4-1024x576.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11306,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11303\/revisions\/11306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vid.app.com.pk\/vid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}