Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated on Thursday the need to find a way out of the Line of Control (LoC) trade standoff and said the issue was under discussion.
“You are well aware that the allegation was that in one of the trucks, within some edible item, some narcotic drugs were discovered. Discussions are on and obviously there will be investigation,” said spokesperson Tasnim Aslam.
Even if there had been drugs on the truck, she said, the question was how to proceed further. “Do we bring everything to a halt or find a way out? Our view is that the driver be handed over — he may be innocent and even if there were drugs on the truck, he may not be aware of it,” she said.
If at all it had happened, it should not be repeated and for that Pakistan also needed to conduct investigations, she pointed out. If there was a possibility that some people other than the driver were involved, who was in a better position to investigate? she asked. She expressed the hope that a solution would be found and trade would be resumed soon.
Earlier New Delhi had sought information about Pakistani investigations to find those who had sent the drugs in a consignment of almonds. Ms. Aslam said she was not aware of India’s request. She also raised the question what was India going to do with that information. “How would they investigate it in Indian-occupied Kashmir? I don’t know,” she said.
