India should allow Kartarpur pilgrimage: FO

The Foreign Office said on Friday the Kartarpur Corridor was open from the Pakistani side and India was also expected to allow the Sikh pilgrims, to attend the upcoming birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak later this month.

Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar told his weekly press briefing that elaborate arrangements had been made for Baba Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary celebrations, which would be observed from November 17-26.

“We are all set to welcome thousands of devotees from India and around the world coming to Pakistan for the upcoming birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak from 17-26 November for which elaborate arrangements have been put in place,” Iftikhar said.

The Kartarpur Corridor, dubbed by the UN secretary-general as the ‘Corridor of Hope’, was Inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2019. Recently Pakistan commemorated the second anniversary of its opening.

“The corridor is a shining example of our efforts to promote interfaith harmony and is reflective of the primacy Pakistan accords to religious minorities in the country,” Asim Iftikhar told the reporters.

The spokesperson noted with growing concern how minorities in India, particularly Muslims, were being systematically persecuted and ostracised under the Hindutva-driven ideology of the BJP-RSS combine.

“Besides closing its eyes to radical mobs, the Indian authorities are also pursuing anti-Muslim citizenship-related policies and actions, including the mischievous NRC scheme aimed at disenfranchising millions of Muslims,” he added.

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On the occasion, the spokesperson apprised the media of the diplomatic engagements, including the meeting of the Troika Plus, the interaction of Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi with the Pakistani leadership and the special envoys under the Troika Plus format.

He also highlighted the visit of OIC’s Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir Ambassador Yousef Aldobeay, accompanied by a high-level delegation, who visited Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir from 7-12 November.

Regarding the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the spokesperson condemned the killing of two more Kashmiris by Indian occupation forces on Thursday. Since October 1, 21 Kashmiris had been martyred in fake encounters,” he added.

Responding to a question about the frozen assets of Afghanistan, Asim Iftikhar said that Pakistan had sensitised all the incoming high-level delegations and all “our interlocutors in the engagements abroad, including the very intensive outreach by the foreign minister”.

The spokesperson reiterated that Pakistan firmly adhered to the One-China Policy. “The affairs related to Taiwan are China’s internal matter. We oppose any notion of ‘Taiwan Independence’ or ‘One China, One Taiwan’,” he said.

“There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China,” the foreign office spokesperson declared. “The issue of lawful representation of the Chinese people at the UN has been settled 50 years ago, as you know.”

Asked about the status of GSP+, he said the current regime would expire in December 2023. The European Commission was reviewing the framework under which the scheme would be renewed beyond January 2024, and that would be relevant to all beneficiary countries.