India threatening peace in South Asia: FO

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Tuesday said India was threatening peace and urged the world to take notice of the Indian aggression.

A Foreign Ministry statement calls upon the international community to take cognisance of the threat to peace and stability in South Asia posed by India’s irresponsible rhetoric and belligerent posture.

“The world must act to restrain India before the reckless policies of this ideologically-driven RSS-BJP dispensation cause grievous harm to regional peace and security,” it said. The people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir had been suffering under inhuman lockdown and military siege for over nine months, following India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 2019. 

“The entire region has been turned into a prison, with unprecedented restrictions which continue despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement said.

Throughout this period, every single right of the Kashmiri people has been trampled upon by the Indian occupation forces acting with complete impunity under draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Public Safety Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, it said.

“Pakistan has been assiduously highlighting at all international fora the gross and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiri people.

We have also consistently sensitised the world community about the consequences of India’s brutalisation of the Kashmiris and the imminence of their resistance to the cruel and inhuman treatment being meted out to them by the Indian occupation forces, day in and day out,” the statement said.

The recent incidents in held Kashmir, it said, were reflective of the inescapable reality that India’s brutal campaign of violence and repression is meeting its logical consequences.

“Attributing this indigenous Kashmiri resistance to any alleged “infiltration” is a travesty. India’s typical allegations of “infiltration” ring hollow also because all these incidents have taken place deep inside the Valley, several miles behind Indian military’s extensive Infiltration grid, comprising several layers of security,” the statement said.

It says that across the Line of Control, using the pretext of so-called “infiltration” and “launch pads”, Indian forces were deliberately targeting unarmed Pakistani civilians, including women and children.

“In over 975 unprovoked Cease Fire Violations by India since 1 January 2020, six innocent civilians have lost their lives and another 69 have been critically injured. This inhuman war tactic cannot be condemned enough,” the statement added.

India, it says, cannot mislead the international community with its unfounded allegations and aggressive actions on the ground.

“Indian insinuations against Pakistan are patently designed to divert international as well as domestic attention from India’s grave human rights violations in held Kashmir, the treatment of Indian minorities, and mismanagement by the BJP government of COVID-19 related challenges,” the statement said.

Earlier in the day Pakistan summoned a senior Indian diplomat to protest against the Indian violations of ceasefire along the LoC.

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