Foreign Office briefs P5 envoys about Indian propaganda against Pakistan

Published September 26, 2019
Acting Foreign Secretary Moazzam Ahmad Khan. — AP/File
Acting Foreign Secretary Moazzam Ahmad Khan. — AP/File

Acting Foreign Secretary Moazzam Ahmad Khan on Thursday briefed resident ambassadors of the P5 countries (permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) in Islamabad about the recent propaganda emanating from India against Pakistan, the Foreign Office (FO) said.

"Referring to the intensified, concerted Indian campaign against Pakistan, especially in the last few days, he (Khan) stressed upon the aggressive, belligerent statements emanating from India, especially the Indian military, including baseless, unsubstantiated allegations of 'terrorist camps'” in Pakistan, the statement read.

Senior Indian military commanders have been giving provocative statements about the presence of alleged terrorists who are "planning to infiltrate India" and the activation of "terrorist camps" in Mansehra, Rawalakot and Muzaffarabad in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the FO, similar "venomous rhetoric" against Pakistan is being shared on Indian media.​ ​ "These Indian statements signify their desperate attempts to divert attention of the international community from the humanitarian nightmare in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir where Indian atrocities, including curfew and communications blockade continue for more than 50 days."

On August 5, the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stripped Kashmiris of the constitutional rights they had for seven decades through a rushed presidential order. Since then, an indefinite curfew has been in place in occupied Kashmir while elected leaders are still under house arrest.

The FO said that the Indian statements "only vitiate an already tense environment" and are a threat to regional peace and stability.

It made it clear that Pakistan does not desire confrontation but will give a befitting response in case of any misadventure or false-flag activity by India. ​ "Pakistan strongly rejects these baseless, unfounded allegations which are being used to build the ground to preemptively justify any Indian misadventure/ false-flag operation by Indian armed forces along the Line of Control or elsewhere," it added.​

The FO called upon the P5 countries to ask India to corroborate its fallacious claims about the presence of so-called “terrorist camps” in Pakistan.

"Pakistan is ready to provide full cooperation to delegates from P5 countries or diplomats from any other country who wish to visit any of the alleged locations to see for themselves that such Indian allegations are totally baseless and a mere rhetoric, to mislead both the international community, as well as Indian domestic audience," it added.

'Will never disappoint our Kashmiri brothers and sisters'

Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that the Kashmir dispute has to be resolved as per aspirations of the people of Kashmir under the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, Radio Pakistan reported.

He was speaking to students and faculty today of various educational institutions of Azad Kashmir, members of Youth Parliament Pakistan from AJK and members of Youth State Assembly from Azad Kashmir in Rawalpindi.

The army chief was quoted as saying that Kashmir is "part and parcel of our soul; it is not an issue of geography but our love with the people of Kashmir".

He said India's deliberate targeting of innocent civilians in AJK and continued siege of innocent people in occupied Kashmir are some of the "worst examples of human rights violations".

"We stand with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters and will never disappoint them," Gen Bajwa added.

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