ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Foreign Office has strongly responded over the Indiangovernment allegations of harassment of Indian diplomats in Islamabad.

The Foreign Office has rejected claims of harassment of Indian diplomatsbased in Islamabad.

Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal, speaking at a weekly press briefing, saidthe allegations of harassment of Indian diplomats are ill-founded. “Indiandiplomats are freely working in Pakistan. Pakistan respects the ViennaConvention on Diplomatic Relations,” he asserted.

Speaking about Islamabad’s peace overtures, he said the country madeefforts to begin talks with India on a host of issues, including theKashmir dispute, as Prime Minister Imran Khan also wrote a letter to hisIndian counterpart in this regard, but Delhi was not ready for talks.

Mr Faisal said the prime minister undertook two successful visits of thekingdom of Saudi Arabia, adding that his visit to Beijing also remainedvery successful.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi embarked on several foreign trips inthe past three months, he said and added Mr Qureshi paid a very successfulvisit to Kabul, Tehran, Beijing and Moscow and it would help generateconsensus among all the stake holders to advance the peace process inAfghanistan.

He said the visit was essentially part of the government’s policy tostrengthen relations with all neighbors and regional countries. He said theforeign minister will also visit Qatar soon.