ISLAMABAD  -  Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri Friday said that Indian claims alleging a drone flying over Indian High Commission in Islamabad had no basis in facts and no proof has yet been shared with Pakistan in this regard.

In response to queries from media regarding the Indian propaganda, the spokesperson said they had seen the Indian MEA’s statement and reports in certain sections of the Indian media alleging a drone flying over the premises of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

“These preposterous claims have no basis in facts and no proof whatsoever has been shared with Pakistan to substantiate these allegations,” he remarked. The spokesperson said curiously, this propaganda campaign by India was also happening at a time when evidence so far collected in the Lahore blast of June 23 was increasingly pointing to external forces with a history of perpetrating state-sponsored terrorism against Pakistan.

“Pakistan rejects these patently false allegations and diversionary Indian tactics and will continue to stand by the people of IIOJK in their just struggle for the right to self-determination, as enshrined in the UNSC resolutions,” Chaudhri added.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Friday strongly condemned the extra-judicial killing of a 17-year-old innocent Kashmiri Zakir Bashir by the occupation forces in Kulgam district of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Reportedly, the teenage cricketer was brutally tortured by the Indian occupation forces before being shot dead. The extra-judicial killings, torture in custody, enforced disappearances and incarcerations have become a norm in IIOJK to suppress the Kashmiris.

During this year alone, the Indian occupation forces have extra-judicially killed 57 innocent Kashmiris; arbitrarily detained and arrested 350 Kashmiris; and destroyed 58 houses of the Kashmiri people.

“India’s gross and systematic human rights violations in IIOJK warrant investigation by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI), as recommended by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in its reports of 2018 and 2019,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said.

The FO Spokesperson said India must realize that no amount of brutalization can subjugate the Kashmiris nor break their will in their struggle for the right to self-determination. He called upon the international community to take notice of the heinous crimes of India in shape of extrajudicial killings and illegal abductions of Kashmiri people.

Pakistan rejects inclusion in US’ child soldiers’ recruiter list

Pakistan on Friday categorically rejected the “unsubstantiated and baseless” inclusion of Pakistan in the “Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) List” published in US State Department’s Annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2021.

The Foreign Office spokesperson, in a statement said that Pakistan did not support any non-state armed group; nor any entity recruiting or using child soldiers. Pakistan’s efforts in fighting non-state armed groups including terrorist entities are well recognized, he added.

“The inclusion of Pakistan in the “CSPA List” depicts a factual error and lack of understanding. No state institution was consulted by the U.S. prior to the publication of the report, nor were any details provided on the basis on which the conclusion was reached,” the spokesperson added.

Overall, he said, on the issue of Trafficking in Persons, Pakistan was committed to fighting this scourge both at the national and international levels.

He said the country had taken a range of legislative and administrative actions in that regard during the last one year.

The measures included the approval of Rules under the domestic Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Acts; National Action Plan 2021-25 prepared jointly by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); and enhancement of capacity building and inter-agency cooperation of Law Enforcement Agencies involved in anti-human smuggling.

He said Pakistan had been voluntarily submitting information for the TIP Report to the US Government since 2007 and has actively worked on implementing the practicable recommendations of these reports.

“Pakistan calls upon the authorities concerned in the United States to review the baseless assertions made in the TIP Report, especially with regard to the unwarranted inclusion of Pakistan in the “CSPA List.”

The spokesperson said Pakistan also expected the sharing of “credible information” on cases involving Trafficking in Persons as well as on allegations pertaining to support to armed groups using child soldiers.

He said Pakistan’s views and perspective on the subject had been conveyed to the US side. Pakistan would continue to remain engaged with the US Government through bilateral channels for constructive dialogue on all issues of mutual interest.