Pakistan has reiterated to raise its voice on the continuing grave human rights abuses in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
At her weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan will also continue to extend unstinted moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their quest for self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolution.
She said we pay rich tribute to the sacrifices of martyrs of three massacres committed by the Indian occupation forces in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir during the month of January in the 1990s.
Responding to a question about ban imposed on a BBC documentary by the New Delhi government, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the Indian reaction to the BBC documentary including restrictions on its circulation has once again highlighted the shrinking space for freedom of media in India.
She said all the assertions in the documentary are yet another endorsement of Pakistan’s stance.
Answering a question about any invitation to Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari from India to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, she said India is holding the rotating chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for the year 2022-2023. Every year SCO develops a calendar of activities, which include meetings of Foreign Minister and in that capacity, the chair extends invitation to all member states.
She said as in the past, these invitations are being processed as per standard procedures and a decision will be taken in due course.
She said the SCO is an important trans-regional organization that aims to strengthen economic linkages and cooperation among its member states in different fields.
With regard to situation in Afghanistan, the Spokesperson said Pakistan stresses the importance of peace and stability in our neighborhood.
She said we underscore our desire to work closely with regional countries to pursue continuous and practical engagement with Interim Afghan Government on countering terrorism and to help avert humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
She said during the visit of Russian Special Representative for Afghanistan Ambassador Zamir Kabulov, both Pakistan and Russia reiterated their commitment to work closely to further strengthen coordination and cooperation in promoting peace, stability and economic development in Afghanistan.
Replying to a question, she said we are in consultation with the Afghan interim government on all matters of security including the security of Pakistani diplomats and premises.
The Spokesperson said Pakistan has strongly condemned the recent acts of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden and the Netherlands. She said we see these acts as racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic.
The Spokesperson said far from being a symbol of the freedom of expression and opinion, these acts are provocative and hurtful for the religious sensitivities of over 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
She said we have conveyed our concerns to Sweden and the Netherlands and urged these governments to take concrete steps against Islamophobic acts.
The Spokesperson said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will lead the Pakistan delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 30th of this month.
She said during the visit, Hina Rabbani Khar will highlight Pakistan’s important contributions towards global human rights discourse and norm-building.
Source: Radio Pakistan