ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) said on Saturday that the letters received from other countries, including cyphers, were kept in the ministry with great care, and the cypher received from the USA a few months ago was also completely safe in the FO building.
Giving weekly briefing to the media, FO Spokesman Asim Iftikhar said the European Union’s (EU) high commissioner for disasters, in his meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on October 4, 2022, had announced 30 million Euros in aid for the flood-affected people of Pakistan.
The spokesman said that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the occupied Kashmir was an effort to hoodwink the world that ‘all was well’ in the held territory.
He regretted that Muslims in India continued to face persecution at the hands of ruling BJP goons and Hindu extremists. “Incidents of torture of Muslim men and boys took place in several parts of the neighbouring country on the pretext that they tried to disrupt this year’s Navaratri festival,” he added.
The spokesman informed that the Indian Charge de Affairs was summoned to the FO to convey Pakistan’s concern over the deteriorating health of Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmad Shah. “The Indian forces have recently martyred eight more Kashmiris in Baramola, Shopyan and Pulwama,” he said, adding, “As many as 678 Kashmiris have been martyred in the held valley since August 2019.”
He went on to say that India was making deliberate efforts to damage the economy of the people of Kashmir by destroying their businesses and depriving them of jobs. “India is looting the natural resources of the occupied valley,” he said, and added, “The solution to the Kashmir issue lies in implementation on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. We want that the people of Kashmir are given their right to self-determination through a plebiscite.”
Reacting to reports that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has named different divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as ‘Wilayat’, the FO spokesman made it clear that anything against the constitution of Pakistan had no value.
He said that the US ambassador’s visit to Azad Jammu and Kashmir had great significance. “The visit has highlighted the importance of Kashmir issue,” he opined. He said that Pakistan was facing floods due to the phenomenon of climate change. “We are awaiting the donor’s conference so that the flood victims could be rehabilitated and the damaged roads and other infrastructure could be rebuilt,” the FO spokesman concluded.
The FO spokesman informed that Pakistan was appointing new honorary consul generals in its embassies in different African countries under the ‘Engage Africa Policy’. “The purpose of this move is to develop strong economic ties with these countries,” he explained.
