ISLAMABAD   - Pakistan on Thursday gave a shut-up call to India as the New Delhi blamed Islamabad for supporting the Khalistan movement and sponsoring terrorism.

Speaking at a weekly news briefing, the Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Muhammed Faisal asked India to ‘put its own house in order’ rather than accusing Pakistan and its intelligence agencies for every other happening. “India should grow up and stop blaming Pakistan for everything,” he said.

The spokesperson said that India was involved in stoking terrorism in different parts of Pakistan. “Arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav is ample evidence in this regard.

India is carrying out ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC) to divert world attention from its atrocities in Occupied Kashmir,” he said. Strongly condemning Indian brutalities in the Occupied Kashmir, the spokesperson urged New Delhi to permit the UN commission of inquiry to visit the valley and find facts on the ground.

Responding to reports of India accusing Pakistan for backing the recent Khalistan movement in Canada, the spokesperson said that India would benefit more by putting its own house in order and addressing the atrocious maltreatment of Indian minorities rather than attacking the imaginary shadows.

“Whether it is a flood or a plague, India puts blame on ISI (Inter Services Intelligence),” he said, adding that this practice was nothing new and Pakistan passed through this experience for long in the past as well. The spokesperson said that tendency of Indian media to make false allegations against Pakistan could only be considered “elusive”.

“Instead, India should immediately halt its continuing atrocities in Kashmir where curfews and suspended communication are a norm and innocent Kashmiri women are harassed and raped with impunity in the guise of search and cordon operations,” he said.

To a question of Indian claim of over 1,400 ceasefire violations at border by Pakistan, he said that in fact 30 persons had been killed and 120 injured on Pakistani side.  He mentioned that the report of UN Office of High Commission on Human Rights was a clear manifestation on Indian violations. He urged India to let the Inquiry Commission monitor the ceasefire violations.

Faisal said that it was a standard practice of Pakistan’s Foreign Office to share with UN Security Council data on ceasefire violations by India every December. He also rejected Indian media’s criticism of prime minister-in waiting Imran Khan.

Dr Faisal said that Pakistan was ready to host South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit at the earliest so that the matters could move forward. Regarding Afghanistan, the FO spokesperson said: “Pakistan and Afghanistan are engaged in developing a time-bound repatriation plan for early and complete return of Afghan refugees to their homeland.

An Afghan delegation will soon be visiting Islamabad for consultations in this regard”, he said. In response to a question, Faisal rejected as ‘baseless’ Afghan officials’ allegations that elements from Pakistan were involved in a recent terror attack in Ghazni.

“There is no evidence to back up the spurious accusations,” he contended. Pakistan, he said, had always supported an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process and it will welcome any ceasefire agreement between the parties there. Further, speaking about delegation of Financial Action Task Force currently visiting the country, Dr Faisal said that Ministry of Finance officials were working with them.

The FATF delegation is in Islamabad to review implementation of an action plan it issued earlier this year. The delegation, comprising members of Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, is visiting to have a detailed review of a report submitted to the global watchdog by Islamabad.

In June, Pakistan was formally added to grey list of countries involved in providing monetary assistance to terrorism and related causes after a FATF meeting in Paris. According to FATF’s statement, following the decision, Pakistan had committed to ‘address its strategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies.”

Regarding attack on Pakistani student in Australia, he said that the Foreign Office was in touch with the Australian High Commission in Islamabad about well being of the assailed student, adding that a strong protest was also registered over the incident.

About update on assistance by the United States, the spokesperson said that all security assistance had been suspended and the particular training programme, International Military Education Training, for Pakistani military officers had also been affected by the development.

 

SHAFQAT ALI