World taking dossier on India very seriously, says DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj-Gen Babar Iftikhar on Thursday said the international community has taken Pakistan’s proof of India’s involvement in terrorist activities “very seriously”.

In an interview with Global Village Space (GVS), Maj-Gen Iftikhar said since New Delhi’s August 5, 2019 move, India is in a weak position in the world and has received a lot of negative press.

The DG ISPR highlighted the key points of the dossier that Pakistan recently prepared to prove India’s involvement in terrorism across Pakistan. “The world is now talking about India’s state-sponsored terrorism after the dossier was released,” he said. “The international community has taken the matter very seriously.”

Maj-Gen Iftikhar said despite Indian efforts to “come clean the matter is now being openly discussed at international forums and media”. Pakistan presented the dossier at the United Nations to let the world know about India’s activities in Pakistan. “We will not stop here and will take this issue further across the globe,” he stressed. About Pakistan’s next steps, the DG ISPR said the Foreign Office presented the dossier to P5 and UN Secretary General and now Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has released a very strongly worded statement about what is happening in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He further said Pakistan will take the dossier to every possible forum and a series of actions are being taken in this regard. He also shed light on the ongoing situation at the Line of Control (LoC) and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

India has been using the Afghan territory to launch terrorist activities in Pakistan, he said. “We keep talking to the Afghan leadership regarding the issue, but we do not blame them because we recognise Afghanistan’s lack of capacity to deal with the problem,” Maj-Gen Iftikhar added.

He also said India has repeatedly targeted local labourers and the Chinese manpower working at different CPEC projects. “Pakistan is fully prepared to deal with these threats. We are tackling all the challenges,” he said.

The DG ISPR said the state has formed two special division forces to ensure the security of CPEC projects, adding that nine regular regiments have already been deployed to look after the corridor. “Our Chinese partners are satisfied with the security arrangements,” he said.

Answering a question about disinformation on social media, Maj-Gen Iftikhar said it has been a major challenge. “The best way to handle [fake news disseminating] on social media is transparency, not leaving any information voids and passing on credible information. That is exactly what we are doing,” he said.

“[These social media tactics and disinformation campaign to malign Pakistan] is a major onslaught. It is a major part of the fifth generation warfare against Pakistan and we are aware of that,” he added. He said in its fifth generation warfare, India has been targeting Pakistan in the diplomatic, economic and information domains.

When asked about the nature of threat from India’s anti-CPEC cell which reports directly to Indian premier Narendra Modi, the DG ISPR said: “Indians see CPEC as a game changer and with this project Pakistan becoming connectivity hub for the whole region. CPEC is facing security threat and now India has started talking about starting and ending of CPEC route in a bid to make the project controversial. India wants to retard pace of project as it has decided that there is a timeline after which this project becomes irreversible,” he revealed.

Talking about LoC violations, Maj-Gen Iftikhar said India is trying to tag occupied Kashmir’s indigenous freedom struggle as terrorism and link it with Pakistan. “Increase in intensity and lethality of the violation started from 2014 but 2019 and 2020 have seen maximum violations,” he added.

Pakistan is taking diplomats and media to the LoC and showed them that there is no way infiltration can take place from Pakistan and India has 900,000 military personnel in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, while the entire Pakistan Army consists of about 600,000 servicemen.

He also said India is trying to divert attention of world to Pakistan through LoC violations because India understands that “whether they fire at or we fire at them it is Kashmiris that are being hurt and through this they are trying to drive a wedge between Pak Army and people living in the region”.

Answering a question about western border he said that Pakistan wants to ensure better management and for that purpose country is fencing the border as it is very porous. He also revealed that by the end of this month Pakistan will have completely fenced its border with Afghanistan.

Emphasising about the importance of border management for government and military, the DG ISPR said that a Border Management Division has been raised to centrally articulate all points of entry whether it is from land or sea.

Talking about the Afghan peace process, he said Pakistan’s role in the whole process is of a facilitator and everyone including the United States and Afghanistan are acknowledging it. “Now Afghans have to decide about their future,” he added.