ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday rejected Indian comments on Pakistan-China joint statement as “unwarranted and preposterous” and recalled that Delhi had been plotting against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
In a statement, FO spokesman Asim Iftikhar said: “Pakistan categorically rejects the unwarranted and preposterous comments made by the spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on the Pakistan-China Joint Statement of 6 February 2022.”
The Pak-China joint statement issued after a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Imran Khan in Beijing had contained the Chinese assertion that “the Kashmir issue was a dispute left from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements”. China had, moreover, reiterated its opposition to any unilateral actions that complicate the situation.
Beijing and Islamabad had furthermore resolved to safeguard CPEC from “all threats and negative propaganda and to ensure the smooth operation of completed projects and the timely completion of projects under construction”. Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi objected to references to Jammu and Kashmir in the Pak-China statement and expressed concerns about China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Mr Bagchi had said: “We have always rejected such references and our position is well known to China and Pakistan.”
FO says strong evidence of Delhi’s attempts to stir unrest in Balochistan
In his rejoinder to the Indian comments, Mr Iftikhar said that India was engaged in propaganda against CPEC and recalled that Pakistan had presented “irrefutable evidence” of Indian plots to sabotage CPEC in dossiers released in 2020 and 2021.
“There is strong evidence of Indian involvement in recent sinister attempts to stir up unrest in Balochistan by supporting anti-state elements. Besides, Naval Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav is a living and irrefutable proof of how India has been seeking to sponsor and patronize subversive activities in Pakistan and the region,” he further said.
On Indian claims about occupied Kashmir, he said that Delhi through such misrepresentations could neither change the facts of history nor the legal status of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. “IIOJK never was and never will be India’s ‘integral part’. The irrefutable fact remains that India is an occupation force in IIOJK in clear violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and its illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August, 2019, seeking to change the internationally-recognised disputed status of IIOJK and to alter its demographic structure, have been rejected by the Kashmiris, by Pakistan, and by the international community,” he said.
Envoy summoned
Earlier, on Wednesday, the Indian Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey the government of Pakistan’s grave concern and condemnation on the `deeply reprehensible’ act of banning Muslim girl students from wearing hijab in the Indian state of Karnataka, adds APP. The charge d’affaires was urged to convey to the government of India, Pakistan’s extreme concern over the anti-hijab campaign, being spearheaded by RSS-BJP combine in Karnataka.
Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.