Pak Military on board over MFN status to India
By: Mubashir Hassan | Published: November 06, 2011
Military on board over MFN status
LAHORE - While conceding that the Army was a major stakeholder in Pak-India relations, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Saturday said that all stakeholders including the Army had been taken on board before cabinets decision on granting MFN status to India.
Talking to reporters at State Guest House here, she said that all state institutions including the Army were supportive of the dialogue process on normalisation of trade links with the neighbouring country.
She clarified that it was wrong to depict the Army as something different from the government. The Army is part of the government, she affirmed, adding We should have trust in our institutions.
Talking about a recent briefing held at Foreign Office, she said it was part of the consultative process with all stakeholders ahead of the MFN talks with India. She said it had been scheduled three weeks back and was not convened in haste as a section of the media had tried to portray. She said operational aspect of the MFN would be discussed at Commerce Ministry level talks between the two countries. She further explained that no notification was needed to grant MFN status to India, as it would become operational as soon as the commerce ministries in the two countries withdraw discriminatory tariffs imposed on each others goods.
She said it was not a one-way affair, as India will also remove all non-tariff regimes on Pakistani goods. The foreign minister said that if Pakistan had agreed to normalise trade ties with India, the latter had also conceded concessions to Pakistan. She said India had assured to withdraw its objections regarding Pakistani goods access to the European markets besides supporting Pakistans case to have non-permanent members seat in the UN Security Council.
Hina refuted the impression that Pakistan had backtracked from its decision regarding MFN status to India, saying that Pakistan was a responsible country and all important decisions were taken after due consideration.
She said that resumption of dialogue process with India was not without its tangible outcome.
To a question about drone attacks, she said that Pakistan was firm on its earlier stance that drone strikes were uncalled for and counter-productive. She was asked to comment on media reports that USA had told Pakistan that from now onwards it would carry out such attacks with prior knowledge of Pakistan.
She said it was a matter of great pride for Pakistan that over 40 countries including India supported its membership of the UN Security Council.
Speaking in the context of Pak-Afghan and Pak-India relations, she said regional peace and security was of paramount importance to Pakistan and formed its primary national interest. She said Pakistans foreign policy was proactive rather than reactive, as someone has to take the first step forward to resolve the issues.
Briefing journalists about the outcome of recent Istanbul Conference attended by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey, she said the three countries have agreed to enhance trade relations through mutual cooperation in different fields. Hina said an agreement has also been signed to run a trade train that will start from Islamabad and reach Turkey after passing through Kabul. She said the three countries will also sign MoUs regarding cooperation in military training and exchange of currencies. She said modalities would be settled in the follow-up meetings.
To a question about Haqqani network and murder allegation about former Afghan President Porf Burhanuddin Rabbani, the foreign minister said that the allegation was ridiculous as Pakistan had suffered a great loss in his death. She said Pakistan was ready to provide cooperation to probe the murder.
She reiterated Pakistans stance that it would not take action against Haqqani network under foreign pressure. We are a sovereign country and will take a right decision at the right time keeping in view our own priorities and interests, she maintained.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with Reuters, Hina said countrys most troubled foreign relationships have improved in recent months, pointing to upcoming trade talks with New Delhi and broad agreement on regional security goals with Washington as evidence.
Hina said negotiations to normalise trade with India would allow progress on other issues between the two South Asian countries. I think its broadly agreed that we need to make some simultaneous progress on these issues, she said.
Trade has long been tied to political issues between the neighbours. The hope is that an increase in trade will feed into wider trust between the two countries and help them resolve major flashpoints, like the Kashmir issue. But there has been a great improvement in the environment, she said. I think we can move forward.
She strongly denied that Pakistan was not committed to finalising Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for India, as alleged by an unnamed Indian government official on Friday.
There is absolutely no question of backtracking of cabinet approval of trade normalisation with India, she said. I want to completely dismiss any indication that theres any retraction on what we said.
Hina said the two countries commerce secretaries would meet in mid-November to hammer out the details of the trade agreement, but that there was no lack of commitment to the agreement itself.
Hina said relations with the United States were also on the mend, with a complete convergence of stated interests on Afghanistan. Nothing would make us happier than a strong government in Afghanistan, she said. I look at the last few weeks, and relations with the US have been generally positive. Its basically the operational details to agree on.
Military on board over MFN status | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online
By: Mubashir Hassan | Published: November 06, 2011
Military on board over MFN status
LAHORE - While conceding that the Army was a major stakeholder in Pak-India relations, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Saturday said that all stakeholders including the Army had been taken on board before cabinets decision on granting MFN status to India.
Talking to reporters at State Guest House here, she said that all state institutions including the Army were supportive of the dialogue process on normalisation of trade links with the neighbouring country.
She clarified that it was wrong to depict the Army as something different from the government. The Army is part of the government, she affirmed, adding We should have trust in our institutions.
Talking about a recent briefing held at Foreign Office, she said it was part of the consultative process with all stakeholders ahead of the MFN talks with India. She said it had been scheduled three weeks back and was not convened in haste as a section of the media had tried to portray. She said operational aspect of the MFN would be discussed at Commerce Ministry level talks between the two countries. She further explained that no notification was needed to grant MFN status to India, as it would become operational as soon as the commerce ministries in the two countries withdraw discriminatory tariffs imposed on each others goods.
She said it was not a one-way affair, as India will also remove all non-tariff regimes on Pakistani goods. The foreign minister said that if Pakistan had agreed to normalise trade ties with India, the latter had also conceded concessions to Pakistan. She said India had assured to withdraw its objections regarding Pakistani goods access to the European markets besides supporting Pakistans case to have non-permanent members seat in the UN Security Council.
Hina refuted the impression that Pakistan had backtracked from its decision regarding MFN status to India, saying that Pakistan was a responsible country and all important decisions were taken after due consideration.
She said that resumption of dialogue process with India was not without its tangible outcome.
To a question about drone attacks, she said that Pakistan was firm on its earlier stance that drone strikes were uncalled for and counter-productive. She was asked to comment on media reports that USA had told Pakistan that from now onwards it would carry out such attacks with prior knowledge of Pakistan.
She said it was a matter of great pride for Pakistan that over 40 countries including India supported its membership of the UN Security Council.
Speaking in the context of Pak-Afghan and Pak-India relations, she said regional peace and security was of paramount importance to Pakistan and formed its primary national interest. She said Pakistans foreign policy was proactive rather than reactive, as someone has to take the first step forward to resolve the issues.
Briefing journalists about the outcome of recent Istanbul Conference attended by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey, she said the three countries have agreed to enhance trade relations through mutual cooperation in different fields. Hina said an agreement has also been signed to run a trade train that will start from Islamabad and reach Turkey after passing through Kabul. She said the three countries will also sign MoUs regarding cooperation in military training and exchange of currencies. She said modalities would be settled in the follow-up meetings.
To a question about Haqqani network and murder allegation about former Afghan President Porf Burhanuddin Rabbani, the foreign minister said that the allegation was ridiculous as Pakistan had suffered a great loss in his death. She said Pakistan was ready to provide cooperation to probe the murder.
She reiterated Pakistans stance that it would not take action against Haqqani network under foreign pressure. We are a sovereign country and will take a right decision at the right time keeping in view our own priorities and interests, she maintained.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with Reuters, Hina said countrys most troubled foreign relationships have improved in recent months, pointing to upcoming trade talks with New Delhi and broad agreement on regional security goals with Washington as evidence.
Hina said negotiations to normalise trade with India would allow progress on other issues between the two South Asian countries. I think its broadly agreed that we need to make some simultaneous progress on these issues, she said.
Trade has long been tied to political issues between the neighbours. The hope is that an increase in trade will feed into wider trust between the two countries and help them resolve major flashpoints, like the Kashmir issue. But there has been a great improvement in the environment, she said. I think we can move forward.
She strongly denied that Pakistan was not committed to finalising Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for India, as alleged by an unnamed Indian government official on Friday.
There is absolutely no question of backtracking of cabinet approval of trade normalisation with India, she said. I want to completely dismiss any indication that theres any retraction on what we said.
Hina said the two countries commerce secretaries would meet in mid-November to hammer out the details of the trade agreement, but that there was no lack of commitment to the agreement itself.
Hina said relations with the United States were also on the mend, with a complete convergence of stated interests on Afghanistan. Nothing would make us happier than a strong government in Afghanistan, she said. I look at the last few weeks, and relations with the US have been generally positive. Its basically the operational details to agree on.
Military on board over MFN status | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online
