India can’t wash away truth about ‘callousness, inhumanity’ of its occupation forces: FO

ISLAMABAD, Jul 02 (APP):Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui on Thursday said India could not wash away the truth by fake news after the images flashed across the world depicting ‘callousness and inhumanity of the occupation forces’.

“The heart-wrenching picture of the three-year-old boy in Sopore will forever remain seared in the imagination of all those, who believe in humanity, human rights and fundamental freedom,” she said in her opening statement at the weekly press briefing here at the Foreign Office.

A 64-year-old civilian was shot dead in front of his toddler grandson by the security forces in Indian Occupied Kashmir, leaving a big question mark on the human rights situation in the Valley.

Aisha Farooqui said as the Indian Occupied Kashmir braced 332nd day of continued brutalization, the sufferings of innocent people could not remain hidden from the world.

“India cannot wash away the truth by fake news and turning its propaganda machinery faster,” she added.

On the Line of Control, she mentioned, that 1,546 ceasefire violations took place in the first six months of current year, resulting in 14 martyred and 114 seriously injured.

The FO spokesperson said Pakistan categorically rejected the grant of domicile certificates in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJK) by the Indian authorities to reportedly 25,000 Indian nationals.

“The certificates issued to non-Kashmiris including, among others, the Indian government officials under ‘Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure), 2020’ are illegal, void and in complete violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention,” she added.

Farooqui said Pakistan remained ready to engage in endeavours to facilitate closer Pakistan-Afghanistan economic partnership and regional connectivity projects.

About the meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, she said Pakistan’s commitment to continue working with regional and international partners to support efforts for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan was highlighted.

She said the foreign minister highlighted Pakistan’s positive contribution to the US-Taliban direct talks culminating in the peace agreement of February 29 and stressed that the Afghan leaders should seize the historic opportunity and work together to ensure a comprehensive and inclusive political settlement.

To a question, the spokesperson said Ambassador Khalilzad was accompanied by Adam Boehler, Chief Executive Officer of US International Development Finance Corporation during his recent visit. The visit of Boehler is part of Pakistan-US economic engagement in line with the decision of the leadership last July to intensify trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

She said Boehler met Pakistan’s economic team under the leadership of the Adviser on Commerce to discuss specific areas of cooperation for US investments.

The spokesperson said Pakistan had been consistently sensitizing the international community about the Indian leadership’s threatening statements to use terrorism as a tool to destabilize it.

Pakistan had already shared with the international community, incriminating evidence about the Indian intelligence agency RAW’s (Research and Analysis Wing) involvement in terrorist activities, she added.

On repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis abroad in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, she said embassies and consulates were working round the clock in accordance with a comprehensive repatriation plan.

She said 257 Pakistanis in the past few days were repatriated from Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore and Brunei, 9,504 from Dubai and Northern Emirates, 1,430 from Jeddah, 25 from Dushanbe and 96 from Kazakhstan.

So far 113,154 Pakistani nationals had been repatriated from different parts of the world, she added.

About the Pak-US ties, the spokesperson said there had been a marked improvement in the bilateral ties since August 2018. Pakistan had been extending support and facilitation, in good faith, to seek a political solution to the prolonged Afghan conflict.

It was in line with the consistent advocacy and stance of Prime Minister Imran Khan that there was no military solution to the Afghan problem, she added.

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