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In statement, Foreign Office cites ‘strong evidence’ of Indian involvement in recent attempts to stir up unrest in Balochistan
Pakistan on Thursday categorically rejected the “unwarranted and preposterous comments” of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ spokesman on a joint statement issued by Pakistan and China following an official visit to Beijing by Prime Minister Imran Khan last week.
“We also strongly reject India’s persistent propaganda against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” read a statement issued by the Foreign Office. Noting that Pakistan had already shared dossiers with “irrefutable evidence” of India’s attempts to sabotage CPEC, it added: “There is strong evidence of Indian involvement in recent sinister attempts to stir up unrest in Balochistan by supporting anti-state elements.”
The Foreign Office also recalled that former Indian Naval Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was convicted of espionage, “is a living and irrefutable proof of how India has been seeking to sponsor and patronize subversive activities” in Pakistan and the wider South Asian region.
The statement similarly rejected India’s “baseless” claims on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. “IIOJK [Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir] never was and never will be India’s ‘integral part’,” it said. “The irrefutable fact remains that India is an occupation force in IIOJK in clear violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and its illegal and unilateral actions of Aug. 5, 2019, seeking to change the internationally recognized disputed status of IIOJK and to alter its demographic structure, have been rejected by the Kashmiris, by Pakistan, and by the international community,” it added.
The Foreign Office stressed that Pakistan would continue to extend all possible support to Kashmiris in their just struggle against India’s illegal occupation. “Rather than resorting to false and misleading assertions without success, India must vacate its illegal occupation of the disputed territory, immediately reverse its illegal and unilateral actions of Aug. 5, 2019, and let Kashmiris exercise their inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations as enshrined in the relevant UNSC resolutions,” it added.
On Wednesday, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Shri Arindam Bagchi issued a statement taking exception to the mention of occupied Kashmir and CPEC in the joint statement issued by Pakistan and China. “We reject reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the joint statement. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh have been, are and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India,” he said, adding, “We expect the parties concerned not to interfere in matters that are internal affairs of India.”
With regards to CPEC, he said, Delhi had “consistently conveyed our concerns to China and Pakistan on the projects in the so-called CPEC, which are in India’s territory that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan.” Claiming that CPEC sought to “change the status quo” of the region, he added: “We call upon the parties concerned to cease such activities.”