Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri. Courtesy Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Foreign Office spokesperson also slams India’s decision to forcibly impose the Hindi language on the residents of Jammu and Kashmir
Pakistan on Thursday stressed the need to depoliticize the United Nations sanctions regime after five members of the Security Council’s Sanctions Committee blocked its bid to get two Indian nationals placed on it.
“We regret the decision by some members of the UNSC Sanctions Committee to block the designation of two Indian nationals, Gobinda Patnaik and Angara Appaji, to the sanctions list on Sept. 2, 2020,” Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri told a weekly media briefing.
He said the two men were wanted criminals in Pakistan for their involvement in high-profile terrorist attacks, alleging they were currently residing in India under state protection. He claimed Islamabad had provided sufficient evidence to the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee about India establishing training camps to foment terror and instability in Pakistan and vowed to continue “exposing” Indian support to terrorist entities such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
According to media reports, the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Belgium blocked Pakistan’s request to list the two Indian nationals as global terrorists under the U.N. Security Council 1267 sanctions committee on the pretext that evidence was not provided.
Pakistan’s concerns about the ‘politicization’ of the U.N. sanctions regime have also been voiced by India in the past when China has blocked Delhi’s attempts to get Pakistani nationals sanctioned.
India-held Kashmir
The Foreign Office spokesperson also slammed India’s ongoing siege and communications blackout of India-held Jammu and Kashmir, and condemned the “forcible imposition” of the Hindi language on Kashmiris. He claimed the Jammu and Kashmir Languages Bill 2020 was part of Delhi’s plans to change the demography of the region and deprive Kashmiris of their identity.
Chaudhri urged the international community to take notice of India’s actions and act to protect the human rights of Kashmiris.
To a question, the spokesperson said Pakistan was committed to fully implement the International Court of Justice’s judgment in the Kulbushan Jadhav case, adding consular access would be provided to the convicted Indian spy.
To another question, he reiterated Pakistan’s condemnation of the desecration of the holy Quran in Sweden and Norway, as well as French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s decision to reprint offensive caricatures of Islam’s Prophet.