Pakistan on Thursday urged the international community to take practical steps to stop Indian government from pursuing discriminatory and anti-minority policies.
At a weekly news briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said the world community must ensure protection of minorities, especially the Muslims, and their places of worships and properties in India. She said the large-scale targeted violence against Muslims that took place in New Delhi in the backdrop of highly communal statements by BJP leaders has been a matter of great concern for Pakistan and is highly condemnable. She also condemned the desecration of places of worships in New Delhi. She said at least 14 mosques and one Dargah were reportedly burnt down by Hindutva vigilantes within a span of three to four days. She said these sacred places were deliberately rampaged whilst copies of Holy Quran were also desecrated.
Voicing concerns over gross human rights violations in Indian-held Kashmir and attempts to bring about demographic change there, the spokesperson said Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute which has been reaffirmed repeatedly by the UN Security Council, the UN secretary general and most recently by the OIC’s special envoy on Jammu and Kashmir.
Responding to a question about Afghanistan, the spokesperson said Pakistan has felicitated Ashraf Ghani over his election as president of the country. She said Pakistan has maintained that the US-Taliban peace agreement is a historic step towards the ultimate aim of achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan. She said it is now a significant opportunity to move towards the next step of intra-Afghan dialogue. She said Pakistan has played its role of a facilitator and it is now the responsibility of Afghans and their representatives to take the process forward and arrive at a solution for peace and stability in the war-torn country.
To a question, the spokesperson said Pakistan has raised the issue of release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui with US and talks on the matter are continuing.
When asked about coronavirus outbreak, the spokesperson said necessary steps have been taken by the federal and provincial governments at the airports and border areas to contain the virus. “We are also constituting a plan to see how best our diplomats abroad can be protected against the virus,” she said, adding that necessary steps have been taken by the federal and provincial governments at airports and borders to contain the outbreak.
