Pakistan rebuffs India’s latest diatribe

ISLAMABAD: Once again on Wednesday, the Foreign Office outright rejected what it said were “frivolous accusations” by Indian Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to malign Pakistan.

“Pakistan rejects the baseless and frivolous accusations made by the Indian External Affairs Minister. His latest tirade is a reflection of growing frustration over India’s failure to malign and isolate Pakistan,” said the Foreign Office.

While in Vienna with his Austrian counterpart, Jaishankar, without naming Pakistan in a veiled attack, had said: “We spoke on the threats to international peace and security that are posed by terrorism, including its cross-border practices, violent extremism, radicalisation, and fundamentalism. Their effects cannot be contained within a region, especially when they are deeply connected to narcotics, the illegal weapons trade, and other forms of international crime. Since the epicentre is located so close to India, naturally our experiences and insights are useful to others,” he alleged.

India, says the Foreign Office, has in the last several years engaged in a malicious campaign to mislead the international community through a fictitious narrative of victimhood and vile anti-Pakistan propaganda.

“India’s continued anti-Pakistan diatribe cannot hide its brazen involvement in fomenting terrorism on Pakistan’s soil, nor can it conceal the reality of state-sponsored terrorism in Indian-occupied illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK),” the Foreign Office added.

Pakistan once again demanded that India end its involvement in terrorism, subversion and espionage against Pakistan instead of pointing fingers at others. It referred to the dossier, which had been distributed among the diplomatic community in Islamabad and copies of which had been sent to the UN Secretary-General. It contained irrefutable evidence that pointed to India’s involvement in the 2021 terrorist attack in the Lahore neighbourhood of Johar Town. “From the death of over 40 Pakistani nationals on Indian soil in the 2007 Samjhota Express tragedy to the arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving commander of the Indian Navy, from within Pakistan in 2016, the evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism and sabotage is irrefutable and spans over decades and geographies,” the Foreign Office remarked.

Earlier, the state minister at the Foreign Office, when she made the dossier public, had criticised India for “nefarious terror activities in Pakistan,” adding that “We are also at a unique place because nobody is willing to call the bluff. Nobody is willing to call out the clear, simple, glaring hypocrisy in this whole act.”The FO also strongly condemned the insensitive and provocative visit of Israeli Minister of National Security to the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

It said: “Al-Aqsa is a holy site revered by Muslims around the world. Violation of its sanctity offends the religious sensitivities of Muslims and inflames an already tense situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“Israel must cease its illegal actions and respect the sanctity of Muslim religious sites in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The FO added: “Pakistan reiterates its strong support for the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people. Pakistan renews its call for a viable, independent and contiguous Palestinian State, with pre-1967 borders, and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, in accordance with the relevant United Nations and OIC resolutions.”