Pakistan “categorically rejected” on Sunday Indian government’s attempts to “portray normalcy in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir”.
A press release issued by the Foreign Office today said that despite the Indian government’s claims, occupied Kashmir was still under a lockdown while Kashmiri leaders remained under house arrest.
“Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir continues to be the largest prison in the world with the heaviest deployment of Indian occupation forces since the coercive, unilateral and illegal Indian actions of August 5, 2019 aimed at altering the internationally recognised disputed status of IOJ&K and changing its demographic structure to preempt the results of a UN plebiscite,” the press release read.
The Foreign Office also termed Indian reports that portrayed two farmers, who had inadvertently crossed the border in August, as terrorists as a “farcical attempt”.
“This was despite the fact that the incident was discussed during the weekly military hotline contact between both sides on August 27, 2019 when Indian authorities acknowledged that they were inadvertent crossers and informed Pakistan that routine formalities are taking place after which they will be returned.”
On August 21, two farmers in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, identified as Muhammad Nazeem, 21, and 30-year-old Khalil Ahmed, had unintentionally crossed the Line of Control near Hajipir while they were out for cutting grass.
Last month, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar had claimed that Pakistan was trying to create “an alarmist situation” after Indian media, citing unidentified Indian intelligence sources, said that Pakistan-trained commandos have allegedly entered Indian waters to attack port facilities in western Gujarat state. Pakistan Army spokesperson Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had rubbished the claims.
Yesterday, the military’s media wing had also issued a press release on the matter and said that the Indian media’s reports were “yet another attempt to fabricate facts”.
The Foreign Office press release issued today highlighted that Islamabad had “sensitised the international community” about India’s efforts to raise a false flag operation to divert attention from the situation in occupied Kashmir and blame Pakistan for “[India’s] indefensible actions”.
The statement also denounced “a false and fabricated story”, where Indian authorities had “blamed deaths of some Kashmiris in [the occupied territory] on ‘Pakistani militants'”. The statement referred to a briefing by Indian army officials that was held on September 4.
‘Kashmir issue is a dispute left from history’
A Chinese delegation led by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which came to Pakistan on a two-day visit, said that Beijing “opposes any unilateral actions that [would] complicate the situation” in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, a press statement said on Sunday.
A joint press release issued by foreign ministries of Pakistan and China, said that the former briefed the Chinese delegation on the situation in India-occupied Kashmir — that has been under a strict lockdown for the past month — “including [Islamabad’s] concerns, position, and urgent humanitarian issues”.
The Chinese side assured Pakistan that it was paying “close attention” to the situation developing in the occupied territory, the press release said. Chinese delegation further said that the “Kashmir issue is a dispute left from history” and must be solved according to the United Nations resolutions.
