ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Foreign Office said on Thursday that water disputes between Pakistan and India are very important and need to be discussed.
“We want meaningful dialogue with India on the issue as water is Pakistan’s lifeline,” the Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said at her weekly media briefing in Islamabad on Thursday.
The foreign office spokesperson said that in his response to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s letter, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif underlined the need for cooperation in not only facing the natural calamities but also the underlying issues that impact our climate and environment.
In response to a question that is any agreement going to be signed between Pakistan and China at Dushanbe where the prime minister’s adviser Sartaj Aziz currently is, she said that she doesn’t have specific information that any agreements between Pakistan and China would be signed in a third country.
“We clarified that the visit of the Chinese President has been postponed not cancelled, there is a difference. It was clarified both in Islamabad and Beijing that through diplomatic channels new dates for the rescheduling of the visit would be worked out,” Aslam said.
The spokesperson further said that Pakistan has not launched an appeal to the international community for foreign assistance for flood affectees.
“We have not launched an appeal for international assistance but our missions have been asked to open an account – the Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Fund 2014,” she said.
Tasnim Aslam said that accounts for collection of funds are being opened by Pakistani missions abroad, so that Pakistani Diaspora can participate in flood relief activities.
