ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday demanded an immediate truce in the Gaza Strip as the holy month of Ramadan is around the corner.
During the weekly press briefing, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Islamabad strongly denounced the massacre of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army. The spokesperson called for the provision of help and medical facilities to the victims of war on an urgent basis.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that Israeli forces were committing grave violations of human rights in the Gaza Strip. She said that they demanded an immediate truce during the fasting month in the Gaza Strip.
Pakistan welcomed the Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held yesterday in Jeddah and supports its strong condemnation of the unprecedented Israeli aggression against civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory. The spokesperson said that the CFM has held the occupying power, fully responsible for the ongoing genocide of civilians in Gaza.
“We join their call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of Israeli aggression and the provision of unimpeded and adequate humanitarian, medical and relief aid, the provision of water and electricity, and the opening of humanitarian corridors to deliver urgent aid,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that as the world celebrates International Women’s Day tomorrow, Pakistan would remember the strong women of Kashmir who have faced the brunt of Indian atrocities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. “They have endured widespread devastation and confronted obstacles that impede their access to essential needs and their capacity to lead a dignified life,” she added.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that the Kashmiri women widowed and orphaned because of fake encounters by Indian forces do not even get time to mourn for their dead husbands and fathers and are forced to become the sole breadwinners for their families. “Women activists including Hurriyat leaders including Aasiya Andrabi, Naheeda Nasreen and Fehmeeda Sofi remain incarcerated in different jails of IIOJK and India,” she said.
The spokesperson said that the Kashmiri women deserve to live their lives as they choose and enjoy their rights and freedom including the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. “Pakistan will continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to our Kashmiri brothers and sisters for the just and peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions,” she said.
Regarding India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesperson further said Kashmiris are being martyred in staged encounters.
Regarding the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Srinagar, the spokesperson said that the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to IIOJK seems to be part of India’s efforts to portray normalcy in IIOJK. “We believe that these efforts to project normalcy are a facade and tourism cannot be promoted in a situation where local people are being intimidated and their rights and freedoms are being denied,” she maintained.
To a question, the Foreign Office spokesperson said that India is only one country which is hindering the development of SAARC. “India is the hurdle in the success of SAARC and any kind of regional cooperation,” she said. She said that India’s belligerent posture towards its neighbours has paralyzed regional cooperation, including SAARC. “We all remember it was India that scuttled the 19th SAARC Summit, scheduled to take place in Pakistan in 2016. India has made every effort to make SAARC dysfunctional. Pakistan has said time and again that India’s negative posture in the region is a threat not just to Pakistan but other countries in South Asia,” the spokesperson expressed.
Earlier, a top Pakistani envoy called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to join Islamabad in demanding that the Afghan Taliban terminate their ties with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is responsible for persistent attacks against Pakistan.
Pakistan’s permanent Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram warned the UNSC, “Left unchecked, the banned TTP, supported by Al-Qaeda and some State sponsors, could soon pose a global terrorist threat.”
