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In statement, Foreign Office claims Islamabad is ‘fully prepared’ to respond to any Indian provocations but opts to act responsibly
Pakistan on Sunday rejected “highly irresponsible, provocative and gratuitous” comments by the Indian defense minister, stressing that India’s “smear campaign” against Islamabad had already been exposed and discredited.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had, on Saturday, claimed that this was a “new and powerful” India. “Pakistan makes all efforts to destabilize peace in India but we have sent a clear message to them that we will hit back,” he had said during an event in Uttarakhand.
“While fully prepared to respond to India’s provocations and irresponsible behavior, Pakistan will continue to act responsibly and contribute to all efforts for promoting peace, security and stability in the region and beyond,” read the rejoinder issued by the Foreign Office. Describing Singh’s statement as “delusional,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it reflected Delhi’s “characteristic hostility” toward its neighbors.
“It is no secret that Indian leaders engage in falsehoods and fantasies while pointing fingers at neighbors, including Pakistan,” it said. “In doing so India wants to divert the attention of the international community from the widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed by the Indian occupation forces in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” it said, adding that the entire world saw Pakistan’s capability of defending itself against aggression in February 2019.
“It is a well-documented fact that Indian occupation forces have been committing egregious human rights violations and grave crimes against innocent Kashmiris in IIOJK including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, torture, arbitrary detentions, using people including innocent children as human shield, and collective punishment by demolishing homes,” it said, noting that Islamabad had provided a dossier to the international community in September 2021 proving Indian abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Indian government’s frustration is evident from the fact that despite its unabated state-terrorism in IIOJK, it has utterly failed to silence the peaceful voices of Kashmiris demanding their right to self-determination promised to them by the United Nations Security Council in its various Resolutions,” it added.