No basis, proof on Indian claims of drone flying over high commission: FO

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri on Friday said that Indian claims alleging a drone flying over Indian High Commission in Islamabad had no basis in facts and no proof has yet been shared with Pakistan in this regard.

In response to queries from media regarding the Indian propaganda, the spokesperson said they had seen the Indian MEA’s statement and reports in certain sections of the Indian media alleging a drone flying over the premises of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

“This has been taken up officially with Pakistan. We expect Pakistan to investigate the incident and prevent recurrence of such breach of security,” NDTV quoted the Indian Ministry of External Affairs as saying in a statement.

“These preposterous claims have no basis in facts and no proof whatsoever has been shared with Pakistan to substantiate these allegations,” he remarked.

The spokesperson said curiously, this propaganda campaign by India was also happening at a time when the evidence so far collected in the Lahore blast of June 23 was increasingly pointing to external forces with a history of perpetrating state-sponsored terrorism against Pakistan.

“Pakistan rejects these patently false allegations and diversionary Indian tactics and
will continue to stand by the people of IIOJK in their just struggle for the right to
self-determination, as enshrined in the UNSC resolutions,” Chaudhri added.

Earlier this week, Pakistan categorically rejected an irresponsible and misleading statement by Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy regarding an alleged drone attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement on Wednesday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said while conveniently choosing not to share any evidence, the Indian government has once again levelled serious allegations against Pakistan.

“Pakistan calls upon India to refrain from its reprehensible propaganda campaign as no amount of Indian falsehoods can succeed in diverting attention from India’s serious crimes in IIOJK,” he said.

He said this is yet another manifestation of the unsubstantiated propaganda and smear campaign against Pakistan that is characteristic of the Indian government and an obliging Indian media. He said this is a familiar Indian ploy to externalise any blame, use baseless allegations against Pakistan as a smokescreen, and seek to undermine the indigenous struggle for self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

He said the latest allegations further confirm what Pakistan has consistently pointed out that the BJP government stages “false flag” operations to malign Pakistan with terrorism-related allegations for narrow political gains. He said the use of Pakistan cards either to win an election or to divert attention from an electoral defeat has also, unfortunately, become standard practice.

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