Pakistan calls for trial of Indian forces, extremist groups in IoK

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The Foreign Office on Thursday called for the trial of Indian occupation forces in Kashmir and Hindu extremist groups for “their crimes against humanity” in the occupied valley.

“India is issuing residence certificates to outsiders in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) for changing demography, which is a sheer violation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions” Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria.

He said the settlement of outsiders in IHK is taking place with fast pace after the extra-judicial killing of Burhan Wani by the Indian occupation forces in IHK, which is the complete violation of the UN Charter and International law on fundamental rights.

He said over 150 Kashmiris had been killed since the start of the uprising in July, while another 6,000, including children, had been victims of pellet guns that rendered hundreds permanently blind.

“We call upon the UN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other such organisations to call India to account for its blatant violations of human rights.

To a question regarding Indian prime minister’s statement for the disintegration of Pakistan, he said the interference by Indian state actors in Pakistan was a proven fact that India was involved in the separation of Bangladesh. He said India was still involved in Pakistan and sponsoring subversive activities in Pakistan and the arrest of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadev from Balochistan proved it.

To another question, he said that Foreign Affairs Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry would lead Pakistani delegation during talks with China and Russia, which are scheduled to be held in Moscow on December 27, where the issues relating to common concerns in the region and situation in Afghanistan will be discussed.

Zakaria said Pakistan wanted peace and stability in Afghanistan, which was in the favour of the entire region and Pakistan as well. For this purpose Pakistan would continue its efforts to bring various Afghan factions on the negotiation table, he added.

-Taliban not operating from Pakistan-

The Foreign Office dismissed Pentagon’s latest assessment that the Taliban and Haqqani network were freely operating from Pakistan and instead accused Afghanistan of being an epicentre of terrorism in the region.

“This is more of a rhetoric than anything else. Afghanistan is infested with most terrorist organisations due to the instability there, which has created space for these terrorist elements,” Zakaria said.

He was reacting to the recent biannual report of the US Department of Defence on security and stability situation in Afghanistan, which had said: “Afghan-oriented militant groups, including Taliban and Haqqani network’s senior leadership, retain freedom of action from safe havens inside Pakistani territory. The United States continues to be clear with Pakistan about steps it should take to improve the security environment and deny safe havens to terrorist and extremist groups.”

Mr Zakaria recalled the counterterrorism operations undertaken by Pakistani security forces in the tribal areas, which had restored peace there. But he also acknowledged that a large number of terrorists had moved to Afghanistan after the start of the operations.

The number of “senior commanders of Haqqani network, Taliban, Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups killed in Afghanistan this year,” he stressed, by itself told where the leadership of these organisations was currently based.

A senior FO official, in a testimony at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee earlier in the week, had said that the Haqqani network and Taliban had been told to end violence in Afghanistan.

The spokesman in his briefing avoided commenting on the reported statement and said: “we remain committed and extend all cooperation to the efforts towards bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan”.

It should be further recalled that Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry had in a rare admission told a TV interviewer that some of Haqqani network/Taliban militants were in Pakistan, but had been instructed not to indulge in any terrorist activity or violence in Afghanistan.

Mr Zakaria renewed Pakistan’s offer to facilitate the Afghan peace process.

Senior officials from Pakistan, Russia and China would meet in Russia on Dec 27 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, besides the overall regional security situation.

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