ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office has rejected the statement made by the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) about the 26th constitutional amendment adding it is based on misinformation as well as inaccurate understanding of the developments in Pakistan.
At her weekly press briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated that the office of the High Commissioner for HR has made unwarranted and misplaced conclusions based on social media posts, media reports, and speculative analysis of manifestly political nature.
She advised the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to focus on actual as well as grave situation of human rights violations where either the international human rights have been rendered ineffective or draconian laws have been enacted to oppress the unlawfully occupied people, Radio Pakistan reported.
IIOJK
Responding to a question, she said Pakistan has never accepted the validity of Indian constitution in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). She added that the people of Jammu and Kashmir shall decide their own future on the basis of the UNSC resolutions.
When asked regarding blacklisting of about two dozen companies by the US, she said Pakistan considers the latest action as politically motivated and biased. Similar listings of commercial entities in the past were based on only suspicion, she said. The spokesperson said that it involved items not listed under export control regime and yet were considered sensitive under broad catch-all provisions. It is widely known that some countries while claiming strict adherence to non-proliferation norms have conveniently waived licensing needs for advanced military technologies to their favourite countries, the spokesperson added. She further said that such double standards and discriminatory practices undermine the credibility of international nonproliferation regimes, increase military asymmetries and endanger global peace and security.
She also confirmed that Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif has written a letter to the US President requesting for a favourable consideration of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s mercy petition on humanitarian grounds. The spokesperson said that Islamabad has remained in contact with Washington to extend all possible support for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s welfare.
