Pakistan rejects Indian FM’s remarks

FO says country’s contribution to world peace widely acknowledged

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan on Monday categorically rejected Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s “irresponsible” and “gratuitous” remarks insinuating the country's so-called involvement in “international terrorism”.

According to The Hindu, Jaishankar, while speaking at an event in Vadodara city on Saturday, had said: “No other country practices terrorism in the manner in which Pakistan has done. You show me anywhere in the world what Pakistan has done for so many years against India.”

According to the report, he said that India was thought of as an “expert in IT (Information Technology)” while Pakistan was known as an “expert in International Terrorism”.

Responding to his “unfounded remarks”, the Foreign Office said, “His [Jaishankar's] unfounded remarks are yet another manifestation of the Indian leaders’ obsession to concoct facts with respect to terrorism for misleading the international community."

The statement further stated that Delhi points fingers at "neighbours in a bid to mask India’s own well-known credentials as a state-sponsor of terrorism and a serial violator of human rights".

It further highlighted Indian atrocities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK).

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“Nowhere is state-terrorism more evident than in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), where over 900,000 Indian occupation forces continue to terrorise, torture and torment innocent Kashmiris with impunity,” added the release.

The FO added that the world is also aware of the “saffron terror” orchestrated and unleashed by the ruling BJP and its ideological parent, the far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), "zealots against Muslims in India".

The ministry said that Pakistan’s contribution to world peace, from successful counter-terrorism operations to our role in the global fight against terrorism, is widely acknowledged by the international community.

“Pakistan is the only country that has stemmed the tide of terror directed against it from elements and states with inimical motives,” added MoFA.

“In reality, India has been involved in supporting terrorism against Pakistan from its own territory and from other countries in the region,” it maintained.

It also said that India’s mischievous campaign to masquerade as a “victim” of terrorism and seeking to hoodwink the world community by hypocritically leveling allegations against Pakistan is "pathological".

While mentioning the spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving Indian navy officer and RAW operative who was involved in planning, supporting, abetting and executing terrorist activities in Pakistan, the statement read that it remains a stark reminder of India’s “true face of a state sponsor of terrorism”.

The ministry called upon the international community to hold India accountable for its patronage of “terrorist entities” and for “instigating unrest in neighbouring countries”.

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“More importantly, rather than leveling baseless allegations against Pakistan, India would be well advised to abjure its policy of state terrorism in IIOJK and against the Muslims in India, and allow the Kashmiri people to exercise their right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and as per their wishes,” concluded he press release.

The statement by the ministry comes a day after Jaishankar made remarks against Pakistan while speaking on 'Rising India and the World: Foreign Policy in Modi Era' in Gujarat.

During his comments, the minister said his country is an expert in information technology and accused Pakistan of being an “expert in international terrorism”.