India warned against any misadventure in Gilgit-Baltistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday warned India of a “full spectrum response” in case of any misadventure in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) or Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) as GB gears up for general elections on November 15.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri was responding to “ironic and provocative” statements of senior Indian political and military leaders, where he warned any misadventure by India would invite a befitting response. “In case of any misadventure by India, Pakistan’s actions will speak louder than India’s words,” Chaudhri said at a weekly press briefing. He said the Indian leadership made a career out of issuing provocative statements against Pakistan at the cost of putting regional peace and security at risk.

“India must not underestimate the resolve of Pakistani nation as well as the capacity, professionalism and the level of preparedness of our battle-hardened armed forces,” he said. He urged India to be mindful of its defence limitations that were “embarrassingly exposed first in Balakot and more recently in Ladhakh”.

On “malicious and fabricated propaganda” by Indian mainstream and social media claiming civil unrest in Pakistan, he said planting such baseless stories was reflective of the “Pakistan-obsessed BJP-RSS” mindset.

“Needless to say that Indian media continues to hit new lows,” he said, when asked to respond over the series of fake news flashed as breaking news across the Indian media about a “civil war in Pakistan”.

The spokesperson said through “peddling fake news and running propaganda machinery”, India could not wash away the truth about its own gross and systematic human rights violations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

“Rather than reporting on humanitarian crisis in IIOJK, the Indian media chooses to spread fake and sensational news about Pakistan to detract from core issues,” he said. On India opening a museum in occupied Srinagar to replace the “historic narrative of 1947’s indigenous freedom movement of Kashmiris with Pakistan’s aggression”, the spokesperson said India’s propaganda had already been exposed before the world and such attempts would also go in vain.

He mentioned that oppression and communications blockade in IIOJK entered the 444th day since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 with 18 innocent Kashmiris martyred in the month of October alone and 60 youth arrested on frivolous charges.

He termed the illegal Indian actions a clear violation of the “UN basic principles on use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials” and the “UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials”.