ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday rejected the remarks made by the Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) in an interview with a French newspaper and other media outlets in which he alleged that Pakistan had built an “industry of terror”.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Foreign Office (FO) termed “this outburst” as a reflection of India’s “well-known smear campaign against Pakistan.”
“It is deplorable that to further the RSS-BJP extremist ideological and nationalistic agenda, and to divert global attention from the gory reality in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), senior Indian officials continue to manufacture ‘facts’ both with regard to the issue of terrorism and the situation in IOK. If anything, Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav is the face of India’s ‘export’ of terrorism to Pakistan,” the statement read.
“Similarly, India’s frustration is evident from the fact that despite its relentless state-terrorism in IOK for decades, it has failed to muzzle the peaceful voices of the Kashmiri people and their demand for self-determination, promised to them in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions,” the statement added.
Pakistan also said that India continues to be the safe haven for those preaching hate and carrying out hate crimes, including against its own minorities, with impunity and indeed under state patronage.
Regarding the minister’s farcical claim that the “situation is back to normal” in IOK, FO asked why this ‘normalcy’ is not visible to the outside world. “For India, there is no escape from the reality that its state-sponsored repression cannot break the will and indomitable spirit of the Kashmiri people. India would be well-advised to move away from its obsession with Pakistan and also from its continued denial of reality,” the statement further said.
The FO said that Pakistan, for its part, would continue to highlight the plight of the people of IOK and reiterate its call for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
“As a country that has suffered the most from cross-border terrorism, Pakistan would continue to contribute constructively to regional and global efforts to promote peace and prosperity in the region and beyond,” the statement concluded.
