ISLAMABAD  -   Pakistan said yesterday that India was promoting terrorism in the region and beyond. Speaking at a weekly news briefing here, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch raised concerns about India’s alleged involvement in extraterritorial and extrajudicial killings.

She said, Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi last week had shared credible evidence linking Indian agents to extraterritorial and extrajudicial killings of two Pakistani nationals on Pakistani soil.

“These cases have exposed the increasing sophistication and brazenness of Indiansponsored terrorist acts inside Pakistan, with striking similarities with the pattern observed in other countries, including Canada and the United States. India’s assassination of Pakistani nationals on Pakistani soil is a clear violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and a breach of the UN Charter,” she said. 

She added: “It is critical to bring to justice the perpetrators, facilitators, financiers and spon­sors of these extra-judicial and extra-territorial kill­ings. The Indian network of extra-judicial and extra-ter­ritorial killings is now a global phenomenon that needs coordinated interna­tional response. India must be held accountable inter­nationally for its blatant violation of international law.” Responding to India’s accusations labelling Paki­stan as the “epicentre of ter­rorism,” the spokesperson asserted that India had not denied the charges made by Pakistan. To another ques­tion, she said Afghanistan’s claims about the Durand Line were dismissed, em­phasizing the internation­ally recognized border’s validity. The spokesperson said Pakistan had been rais­ing concerns over the terror threat emanating from Af­ghanistan. She urged the Af­ghan authorities to take im­mediate and effective action against the terror entities and handover their leader­ship to Pakistan.

About Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Ab­dollahian’s recent visit to Pakistan, she said, it fo­cused on discussions about counterterrorism, security cooperation, and economic development. The spokes­person condemned the kill­ing of Pakistanis in Iran and confirmed ongoing inves­tigations. Baloch reiterat­ed commitment to working with Iran to combat terror­ism. She highlighted Kash­mir’s right to self-determi­nation and the upcoming Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5. “On Monday, the government and peo­ple of Pakistan will observe the Kashmir Solidarity Day. On this day, Pakistanis and Kashmiris around the world reaffirm their soli­darity with the Kashmiri people in their just strug­gle for realization of their inalienable right to self-de­termination,” she elaborat­ed. Pakistan, she said, “will continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral sup­port to our Kashmiri broth­ers and sisters for the just and peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kash­mir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Coun­cil Resolutions.” Regarding the cypher case judgment, the spokesperson refrained from commenting, citing the sensitivity of such mat­ters protected by the Offi­cial Secrets Act.

She said the suspension of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refu­gees in the Near East (UNR­WA) amid the ongoing war and suffering in Gaza also goes against the spirit of the ICJ’s provisional mea­sures that called for provi­sion of essential services and humanitarian assis­tance to address the chal­lenging conditions faced by the Palestinians in Gaza. “We urge reconsideration of the decision to suspend funding of UNRWA which has a crucial role in pro­tecting and supporting the Palestinian people,” she added. She said Pakistan also calls for the full imple­mentation of ICJ’s provi­sional judgment to uphold human rights, dignity, and identity of the Palestinian people as per the UN Char­ter, relevant resolutions, and international law.