Pakistan in constant touch with Russian authorities on stranded traders' issue: FO: ISLAMABAB (We...

ISLAMABAB (Web Desk) – Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria on Thursday said that Pakistani embassy in Russia is in constant touch with the Russian authorities on stranded traders’ issue.
Addressing a weekly press briefing in Islamabad, the spokesperson said that currently the authorities are ascertaining as to why these Pakistanis are being deported.
Around 150 Pakistani businessmen were taken to Russia by a private company to take part in an exhibition and later 84 of them were detained at Moscow airport without citing any reason for their detention and 48 were deported to Pakistan.
A video surfaced in social media which showed the group of men kept in a small room complaining that they were detained without any reason.
"Some Turkish nationals who were also held by the authorities were later allowed to leave," a man in the video said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan s Ambassador to Russia, Qazi Khalilullah, has reportedly said that the Pakistan Embassy in Moscow was negotiating with the Russian authorities for their release.
To a question, the Foreign Office spokesperson said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Washington to attend the fourth nuclear security summit on 31st of this month.
He said Pakistan s participation in the summit at the level of the prime minister manifests the importance Pakistan attaches to the nuclear security.
To another question about meeting between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India on the sideline of the nuclear summit, the spokesperson clarified that no formal proposal has been received in this regard from the Indian side.
Nafees Zakaria said Kashmir is a longstanding issue on which there are several UNSC resolutions. These resolutions accept the Kashmiri right to self determination through a plebiscite.
He said the hoisting of Pakistani flags in the held territory is a reflection of what the Kashmiris want.