Foreign Office denies halting visas for Indian citizens

Pakistan has not stopped issuing visas to Indian citizens and nothing prevents it from giving a visa to the chief minister of Indian Punjab, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said. More than 4,000 Sikh pilgrims have received Pakistani visas this year, he said at the foreign ministry's weekly press briefing in Islamabad.

Khan said Pakistan had received India's invitation to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, which is to be held in New Delhi from 20 to 22 November. The decision on attending will be taken by the leadership after institutional consultation and procedure are complete, he said.

He said the first consultative meeting between members of the Makkah alliance and Iran showed the alliance's defensive and peacekeeping aims. The alliance is not against any country and works to promote peace and stability in the region, he said. No dates have been fixed for further meetings, which will be held at an appropriate time.

On the Pakistan-Iran border, Khan said movement across the frontier was continuing. The present position on the border crossing would have to be established from the agencies concerned, he said.

Asked about the dispute between Iran and the United States, Khan said Pakistan had offered every facility for talks as an honest broker and helped bring to the table two countries that had not spoken to each other for 47 years. He said political negotiation and diplomacy, rather than war, are the way to settle disputes and secure lasting peace in the region, and called the memorandum of understanding signed in Islamabad evidence of Pakistan's peace efforts.

Talks can take time and extreme steps should be avoided meanwhile, Khan said. Asked about a nuclear strike, he said speculation or comment on the subject was not appropriate.

Khan said the foreign ministers of the "R4" countries discussed regional and global challenges, including the conflict among the United States, Israel and Iran, the situation in Israel and Palestine, Houthi attacks in Yemen and maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea. The ministers restated their commitment to negotiations, de-escalation and a peaceful settlement of disputes and agreed to keep consulting on regional peace.

He said the Security Council adopted by consensus on 5 November a presidential statement on diplomacy put forward by Pakistan, which underlined the importance of mediation, diplomatic contacts and continued negotiations.