Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi has said that a recent speech by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “crossed a red line” by opining on Pakistan’s internal issues that further strained relations between the two countries.
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Modi had claimed that people in Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistani Kashmir had been profusely thanking him for highlighting attacks against them by people within Pakistan.
Just like a part of Kashmir, Balochistan is said to be under Pakistan’s control unlawfully for a couple of decades soon after the India-Pakistan partition in 1947.
“Since facets associated with cross border terrorism are essential to the present situation in J&K, we’ve proposed that talks between the foreign secretaries be focused on them”, said an Indian government source according to Indian media.
He said most of the UN Security Council members had already been taken onboard on the continued violation of human rights in Indian-held Kashmir.
However, while welcoming any UN team that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights may wish to send to AJK, we can not accept equating the rampant human rights violations in IOK with the situation in AJK, he said. Reacting sharply to the Indian premier’s Independence Day speech, leader of the Pakistan-based terror outfit stressed: “Pakistan has become a war zone and innocent Kashmiris are being killed while Modi is talking of separating Balochistan”.
“I swear on the blood of the dead, wherever these terrorists are, we will hunt them down”. Pakistan observed a “Black Day” on 20 July to protest alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.
Khalil Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement, said in a statement that the “policy of indifference towards Pakistan’s war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adapted by the worldwide community is worrying”.
When asked on India approaching China on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said that project of broad-based economic cooperation between the two countries would also benefit other countries.
He said all Kashmiris have been demanding their right to self-determination, whereas in Balochistan, “not even one per cent of people support the insurgency”.
FO Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Pakistan was open to the idea of United Nations high commissioner visiting AJK.
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“On this, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah ordered his commander-in-chief to respond by sending troops but he refused (to obey his orders)”.
