US-Iran tensions: Pakistan asks all sides to show restraint

Pakistan Thursday described the developments in the Persian Gulf as "disturbing" and asked all sides to show restraint as a miscalculated move can transmute into a large-scale conflict.

"The US decision to deploy aircraft carrier and bombers has added to the tensions and the existing precarious security situation in Middle East. We expect all sides to show restraint as a miscalculated move can transmute into a large-scale conflict," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said.

He said the issues between US and Iran should be resolved through negotiations and talks as war was not an option.

Responding to a question, Faisal said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Heads of State meeting being held on June 13-14 in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

He said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi would pay an official visit to Bishkek from May 21 to 22 to participate in the SCO Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Faisal said that the issue of deportation of Pakistani nationals from US has been part of the bilateral agenda between the two countries for quite some time.

He said Pakistan's position has been consistent and clear that only those individuals can be deported to Pakistan who have exhausted all legal remedies to stay in the US and have also been duly verified by the government of Pakistan as Pakistani nationals.

He also confirmed that around 50 deported Pakistani arrived in Islamabad through a chartered flight on Wednesday.

Faisal clarified that the interior ministry and Chinese Embassy were jointly working towards streamlining the procedures for marriages involving Chinese and Pakistani nationals.

He said a probe was going on against those involved in fake marriages but said that there were no reports regarding trafficking of women from Pakistan for organ harvesting.