ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has made it clear that it had not entered into any bilateral procurement agreement with India on the purchase of COVID-19 vaccine.
“The procurement and supply mechanism of vaccine doses is undertaken by GAVI, the international vaccine alliance, not the respective countries,” the Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said at a weekly press briefing held here.
The spokesman said GAVI had offered doses to several countries including Pakistan under COVAX, the COVID-19 vaccine programme launched by the World Health Organization to ensure vaccine access to the world’s most vulnerable.
In response to a question regarding the abduction of Pakistani retired army office Habib Zahir, Zahid Hafeez said that on request of the government, Nepal had constituted a special team to look into the incident, but there was no progress in the matter so far.
“There is strong evidence pointing towards the involvement of Indian hostile agencies in the abduction of Habib Zahir, including involvement of Indian nationals who reportedly received him at Lumbini, made his hotel reservations and booked his tickets,” he added.
He further said the website that Habib Zahir was contacted from was also operated from India. “The abduction of Habib Zahir is a serious transnational crime which is in sharp contravention to the international law, especially human rights and humanitarian law,” he added.
Referring to Afghanistan situation, he said Pakistan has continued to emphasize that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict and the only way forward is through a political process.
He said it was important for Afghan parties to continue negotiations and pursue an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. “All sides must work together for an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement,” he added.
