Pakistan remains engaged with brotherly states to resolve Middle East, Gulf crises: FO

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi has said Pakistan remains engaged alongside its brotherly states in sincere efforts to resolve the crisis in the Middle East and the Gulf. At his weekly news briefing in Islamabad today, he said Pakistan is making all-out efforts to bring the two parties to the negotiating table, Islamabad MOU and pave the way for peace and stability in the region. He said Pakistan will continue to offset spoilers using direct and indirect channels and enable continuation of constructive dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues. When asked about the attack on a commercial vessel in the Red Sea, the spokesperson said Pakistan supports freedom of navigation and maritime security of international waterways under international law. He said Pakistan is signatory of maritime coalition announced by Saudi Arabia. He said Pakistan is ready and willing to assist Saudi Arabia and other coalition partners in operationalization of the communique of the maritime coalition to preserve the safety and security of the global supply chain as well as the maritime traffic. As regards Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, Tahir Andrabi said this is purely defensive in nature and allows unified efforts to confront threats and security challenges to the member states. He said this agreement is in accordance with the wishes of the people of Pakistan. When asked about the remarks of the spokesperson of Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Azad Kashmir, the spokesperson categorically rejected them as baseless saying India’s deliberate exaggeration and politicization of recent developments in AJK is quite misleading. He said India cannot divert attention from the stark realities in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Tahir Andrabi said India would be well advised to honor the commitments made by its founding fathers and uphold the right of the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir to freely determine their future through a UN-administered plebiscite in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.