Dates of Pak-India secretary-level talks being finalised: FO

He told that Pak-India Foreign Secretary talks are expected to be held somewhere between mid of January 2016 while the session for the restoration of peace process in Afghanistan will be held in Islamabad between 15th and 31st of the same month, reported Dunya News.

“Pakistan and India have serious issues and outstanding disputes that need to be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy”, Khalilullah said while responding to a question.

Pakistan released 163 Indian fishermen in August past year and India released 16 Pakistani prisoners including nine fishermen following the exchange of the prisoners list.

The FO spokesman elaborated and stated that the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan during their meeting in Islamabad will finalise a schedule of meetings of various segments of the comprehensive bilateral dialogue in accordance with the joint statement issued on December 9.

About the core contentious issues between two nations, he said, “I do believe it is important for both countries to look ahead and move forward and not go over the same pattern which we had done in past”.

Asked to comment on media reports about arrest of some people linked to Islamic State or Daesh, he said investigation was underway but he was not in a position to say who had left Pakistan to its ranks. The country’s security agencies had been already alerted on the threat posed by it and the steps had been taken in this regard.

He added that the Pakistani embassy in Turkey is working to gather the details of the Pakistani nationals said to be involved in the terrorist attacks in the country.

During 2015, he said that the prime minister visited Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Turkey, the US, China, the UK, Russia, France, Belarus, Malta, Central Asian Republics and attended the UN General Assembly session. However, the number of the prisoners of the two countries in each others jails could not be confirmed officially.