Recent leaks ‘further exposed India’s anti-Pakistan designs’

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday the recent developments regarding WhatsApp chats leaks had further exposed India’s sinister designs against Pakistan and vindicated the latter’s long-held position.

Addressing a weekly briefing, Foreign Office Spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said the latest revelations confirmed what Pakistan had consistently pointed out that the BJP government staged “false flag” operations, maligned Pakistan with terrorism-related allegations, stoked hyper-nationalism in the country and also deviously manipulated national sentiment in its bid to win elections.

“We had, at the outset, rejected India’s malicious propaganda against Pakistan and highlighted that the biggest beneficiary of the Pulwama attack in February 2019 was the BJP government, as it secured landslide victory in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections,” he said. Chaudhri added the transcripts also illustrated the unholy nexus between the ‘Hindutva’ regime and its cronies in the Indian media.

The spokesman urged the world to hold India accountable for its actions vitiating the regional environment and endangering peace and stability in South Asia.

“The RSS-BJP regime in India continues to be exposed internationally for its negative propaganda against Pakistan and irresponsible actions, imperiling peace and stability in the region.”

The spokesman said the international community must take full cognisance of the situation and hold India accountable for its actions. On the situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), he said the military siege, communications blockade, media blackout and every possible violation of the human rights of Kashmiri people continued till date since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019.

“In a new low, the RSS-BJP regime has merged the civil services in IIOJK with civil services of certain other Indian states in violation of the international law,” he added. The spokesman said India could not hide its true intention behind such decisions, which was further disempowerment of the Kashmiris through weeding out of Kashmiri civil servants from IIOJK.

He said Pakistan firmly condemned the framing of Shabbir Ahmad Shah by the Indian authorities in a fake (six-year-old) case under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Chaudhri said Pakistan demanded that the fake charges against Shabbir Shah be immediately withdrawn, the political victimisation of Kashmiri political leaders be seized and he along with other incarcerated Kashmiris leadership be released without further delay.

He mentioned that Pakistan had approached the United Nations secretary general in New York to seek immediate release of Kashmiri leader Muhammad Yasin Malik.

He also mentioned that Human Rights Watch in its report of 11th January 2021 had underlined that seven human rights and humanitarian organisations had called upon the European Union to take a strong stand and press India to immediately end systemic human rights violations. He said the report also called upon India to free all detained human rights defenders and others arrested on politically motivated charges.

The spokesman further said India continued to remain evasive on the horrific incident of the killing of Pakistani Hindus in Jodhpur, where 11 members of a Pakistani Hindi family died in India under mysterious circumstances. “Since the deceased were Pakistani nationals, it is incumbent upon the government of Pakistan to be fully aware of the circumstances under which its nationals died in India,” he added.