 |
|
| Kathmandu, Monday February 10, 2003 Magh 27, 2059. |
|
Pakistan refuses India’s charges of
using Nepali soil
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 9 : Pakistan today strongly rejected India’s
accusation that its ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) was using Nepali soil to pursue its
"anti-India agenda".
However, the Nepal government declined to make comments.
"We have no comments to make now," Foreign Secretary Madhu Raman Acharya told
The Kathmandu Post.
Agency reports on Saturday quoted Indian Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee who reportedly said that Pakistan was using Nepal and Bangladesh’s
territories against India.
"Nothing could be further from truth," Pakistan’s
Ambassador to Nepal Zamir Akram said at an interaction programme here today. "We will
not use friendly countries for such acts. We do not engage in such activities in the first
place."
He further said that the charges were baseless and ridiculous
"because it ignores both political and geographical realities". Explaining
further he said, "If we indeed wanted to do it, then we have a long border with
India. We don’t need to use Nepal whose sovereignty we respect."
The ambassador also questioned why India made such perfidious
and false statements from time to time. Putting forth the Indian reasons for such charges,
Ambassador Akram said that India’s problems at home and its various acts of omission
and commission against their neighbours, "including justifiable concern in
Nepal" makes it issue such allegations.
His remarks came at a programme on Nepal-Pakistan Relations:
Formality and Reality organised today by Nepal Nationalist Front. Terming Nepal-Pakistan
relations as excellent, Akram said relations with Nepal is not only important at bilateral
level, but also because of strategic implications. "We must work with Nepal and other
neighbours to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each of us. No country
has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries." He added that
Pakistan is also committed to protect its neighbours from interference.
Meanwhile, speaking about Nepal-Pakistan relations, the
ambassador said that Pakistan offered Nepal a free trade area last year. "Even as we
are awaiting Nepal’s response, we have unilaterally removed tariff on tea and jute
from Nepal." Speaking at the same programme, Nepal’s ambassador-designate to
Pakistan Pushkar Rajbhandari said Nepal viewed Pakistan with its own eyes. Rajbhandari who
is shortly leaving for Pakistan also stressed on strengthening economic co-operation
between the two countries.
Other Stories
|
